In my last post, Tooley, The Euthyphro Objection and Divine Commands: Part I, I made some critical remarks on Michael Tooley’s critique of William Lane Craig’s version of the divine command theory. Tooley contends that this theory implies the conditional that if God had commanded mankind to torture one another as much as possible then […]
Entries Tagged as 'Philosophy of Religion'
Tooley, The Euthyphro Objection and Divine Commands: Part II
March 25th, 2009 8 Comments
Tags: Divine Command Theory · Ethics · Euthyphro Dilemma · God and Morality · Philosophy of Religion · Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
Tooley, The Euthyphro Objection and Divine Commands: Part I
March 23rd, 2009 12 Comments
In a debate with William Lane Craig at the University of Colorado, Michael Tooley stated, There is a theory which has the consequence that there cannot be objective moral laws unless God exists—that’s the so-called ‘divine command theory of morality’. What it says is that an action is wrong because and only because God forbids […]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · Ethics · Euthyphro Dilemma · God and Morality · Philosophy of Religion · Selection · Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
Christian Philosophy as Necromancy
March 9th, 2009 Comments Off on Christian Philosophy as Necromancy
I believe my vocation as a Christian Philosopher and Theologian is to provoke people to wrestle with the existential questions they face regarding themselves and God and to challenge them to take Christian answers to these questions seriously. I was thinking about metaphors for the conversation my vocation requires me to engage in and I […]
Tags: Philosophy of Religion · Theology
On a Common Equivocation
January 12th, 2009 6 Comments
Recently I did a post on relativism and in earlier posts I have defended a divine command theory of ethics against various objections. In the comments section Mark V raised an interesting and thoughtful response. I hope Mark does not mind if I pick up on his points because the themes he raises are well […]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · Ethics · God and Morality · James Cornman · Keith Lehrer · Louise Anthony · Mark V · Patrick Nowell Smith · Philosophy of Religion · Walter Sinnott-Armstrong · William Lane Craig
Some More Thoughts on Religion and Public Life: Robert Audi’s Critique of Wolterstorff
January 6th, 2009 12 Comments
In two earlier posts, I discussed John Rawls’ defence of the contention that theological premises should be bracketed or excluded from public discourse. In particular, I appropriated the criticisms of Rawls’s position made by Nicholas Wolterstorff. In “Wolterstorff on Religion, Politics, and the Liberal State” in Religious Beliefs in the Public Square, Robert Audi argues […]
Tags: John Rawls · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Philosophy of Religion · Religion in Public Life · Robert Audi
Rawls on Religion and Public Life Part 2
December 27th, 2008 Comments Off on Rawls on Religion and Public Life Part 2
In part 1, I outlined Rawls’ position on Religion and Public Life and now I will offer some critical comments on this position drawing from Nicholas Wolterstorff. There are numerous problems with Rawls’ contention here. Wolterstorff sums some of them up. Suppose, then, that someone has followed that strategy; she has analyzed our political mentality […]
Tags: John Rawls · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Philosophy of Religion · Religion in Public Life
Rawls on Religion and Public Life Part 1
December 26th, 2008 Comments Off on Rawls on Religion and Public Life Part 1
In a two part series I will reflect on John Rawls’ widely celebrated discussion on religion and public life. In part 1, I will outline Rawls’ position and then in part 2 I will offer some critical comments on this position drawing from Nicholas Wolterstorff. One common line of argument for excluding theological premises from […]
Tags: John Rawls · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Philosophy of Religion · Religion in Public Life
A common objection to belief in the God of the Bible is that a good, kind, and loving deity would never command the wholesale slaughter of nations. In the tradition of his popular Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages.
