In this three-part series I will look at some different ways of adjudicating conflicts between apparent divine commands and moral beliefs starting with Immanuel Kant. In “Commonsense Atheism and the Canaanite Massacre“ I addressed a question put to me by Luke from Commonsense Atheism, “If Matt did think these events happened literally as described in the [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Divine Command Theory'
God, Morality and Abhorrent Commands: Part I Kant
October 13th, 2010 185 Comments
Tags: Canaanites · Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · Kant · Luke Muehlhauser · Old Testament Ethics · Philip Quinn · Religious History · Robert Adams
Video: Bradley v Flannagan “Is God the Source of Morality?
September 20th, 2010 19 Comments
On Monday 2 August at the University of Auckland Emeritus Professor of Philosophy Dr Raymond Bradley and Dr Matthew Flannagan (of this blog) debated the topic “Is God the Source of Morality? Is it rational to ground right and wrong in commands issued by God?” Here is the video of that debate. Hat Tip: Thinking Matters [...]
Tags: Debates · Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · MandM on Video · Matthew Flannagan · Raymond Bradley
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and the Moral Scepticism Objection to Divine Commands
September 16th, 2010 9 Comments
In responding to William Lane Craig’s advocacy of a Divine Command Theory (DCT) Walter Sinnott-Armstrong makes the objection that,“The divine command theory makes morality unknowable.” He makes the following argument for this: To see why, consider whether or not it is immoral to eat pork. If the divine command theory is correct, we cannot answer [...]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · James Cornman · Keith Lehrer · Patrick Nowell Smith · Walter Sinnott-Armstrong · William Lane Craig
Matthew Flannagan’s Opening Statement: Bradley v Flannagan Debate
August 7th, 2010 11 Comments
On Monday 2 August at the University of Auckland Emeritus Professor of Philosophy Dr Raymond Bradley and Dr Matthew Flannagan (of this blog) debated the topic “Is God the Source of Morality? Is it rational to ground right and wrong in commands issued by God?” For the benefit of those who could not be there, who [...]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Canaanites · Capital Punishment · Chris Tucker · Debates · Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · J J Finkelstein · Joe M Sprinkle · K Lawson Younger · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Philip Quinn · Raymond Bradley · Raymond Westbrook · Robert Adams · Walter Kaiser
SBL Annual Meeting: Navigating Old Testament Ethics
July 9th, 2010 2 Comments
Matt has been invited to participate in a panel discussion at the annual Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, which runs 20-23 November 2010. He will join leading Christian academics Paul Copan, Richard Hess and Randal Rauser in a segment entitled “Navigating Old Testament Ethics.” Matt’s contribution to the panel discussion [...]
Tags: Apologetics · Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · Paul Copan · Randal Rauser · Richard Hess · Society of Biblical Literature
Wolterstorff, the Canaanites and Hyperbole: A Response to Ken Pulliam
June 29th, 2010 47 Comments
Critics of Christianity often ask how can a good and loving God command the extermination of the Canaanites as is taught the Old Testament? A clear assumption behind this question is that the Old Testament teaches that God did in fact command the extermination of the Canaanites, an assumption which is based on a straight-forward [...]
Tags: Canaanites · Divine Command Theory · Genocide · Ken Pulliam · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Old Testament Ethics
Van Inwagen, Divine Duties and the Deontological Argument from Evil
January 9th, 2010 1 Comment
In Tooley, Plantinga and the Deontological Argument from Evil Part I and Part II, I discussed Michael Tooley’s deontological argument from evil. In The Problem of Evil Peter Van Inwagen makes a reference to the type of argument I proposed. In this post I intend to make some critical commentary on Van Inwagen’s comments. Tooley [...]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · Michael Tooley · Peter Van Inwagen · Problem of Evil
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Infantile Religious Morality
September 24th, 2009 71 Comments
In “Why Traditional Theism Cannot Provide an Adequate Foundation for Morality” Walter Sinnott Armstrong criticises William Lane Craig’s contention that theism, if true, provides an adequate foundation for morality. Armstrong contends that Craig’s position is “incredible”[1] and subject to a “cavalcade of devastating objections.”[2] He goes on to conclude that his criticisms do not just [...]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · Ethics · God and Morality · Patrick Nowell Smith · Philosophy of Religion · Richard Mouw · Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
Tekton E-Book: John Loftus’ Why I Became an Atheist Refuted Feat. MandM
September 17th, 2009 5 Comments
Tekton Education and Apologetics ministries have released an online book, John Loftus’ Why I Became an Atheist Refuted, as a special edition for their E-Block Online Journal. While most of the book is authored by JP Holding, Chapter 2 is not completely, Chapter 2: “The Christian Illusion of Rational and Moral Superiority” — Two part [...]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · E-Book · God and Morality · John Loftus · JP Holding · Tekton Apologetics Ministries
