Think Theism

In this episode from the vault, noted Christian philosopher and apologist Dr. William Lane Craig is interviewed about his contributions to the field, particularly his work on the Kalam cosmological argument, as well as a variety of other topics in the Q&A. The audio is from The Veritas Forum 2013.

For more from The Veritas Forum: veritas.org

For more from Dr. Craig: reasonablefaith.org

For more from Ratio Christi TAMU: rc-tamu.org

In this guest talk, Rob Reed discusses Divine Command Theory and the question of whether or not it makes morality arbitrary. He considers the way the Euthyphro dilemma is commonly posed and shows that when we take DCT to be a theory of obligation and not a general theory of goodness, the dilemma disappears. A good God gives commands consistent with his good nature. Most of the historical proponents of divine commands grounding obligations Suarez, Pufendorf, Cumberland, Culverwell, Locke, had a theory of the good that was prior to their theory of the right. Rob discusses the contemporary Christian philosopher Robert Adams who defends this sort of DCT in his book “Finite and Infinite Goods”. Adams uses a Platonic theory of the good to ground his divine command theory of the right and surely Plato’s theory of the good does not fall prey to the Euthyphro dilemma! One might wonder what theoretical work a divine command theory of the right does if it depends upon a prior theory of the good. Rob concludes with how the problem of sin makes the divine commands useful.

Imam Islam Mossaad guest lectures on the Islamic conception of divine attributes, comparing and contrasting with Christian concepts.

On March 30, 2017, Ratio Christi was privileged to host Dr. Paul A Nelson of the Discovery Institute.

Why don’t dead cells come back to life? “Because they’re dead!” is the obvious answer, sometimes followed by “what a stupid question” – but the obvious answer conceals a remarkable fact. The material or physical components of a cell, even when present in their entirety, do not constitute the living state. Moreover, there is no known causal pathway from the physical components alone, no matter how complete, to a functioning cell, an abiogenesis conundrum we can call “the Humpty-Dumpty Effect.” For decades, origin of life researchers have observed the Humpty-Dumpty Effect, drawing from the phenomenon conclusions that range from “It’s trivially true, but so what?” to seeing profound consequences about the direction of future investigations into the origin of life. In his talk, Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Paul Nelson will review the nature and history of the Humpty-Dumpty Effect, looking at the spectrum of scientific reactions to its reality, and conclude with possible implications about the existence of an intelligent cause for life, usually named God – although Neil deGrasse Tyson says it could be a computer simulation.

N.B. We would like to reiterate that Ratio Christi TAMU does not endorse or promote one view of origins over another and has members of all perspectives including young-earth, old-earth, and evolutionary creationists. Dr. Nelson will explain that, given one’s assumptions, an array of differing positions on origins can and do exist within Christianity and the culture at large.  Specific views in this talk will be those of Dr. Nelson’s only.

Zach and Andrew talk with Dr. Paul Nelson about creationism, intelligent design, and Illustra Media’s new movie Origin.

The Pentateuch contains the divinely revealed governing laws of the nation of Israel. All Christians recognize that part of that law has been fulfilled in Christ’s redeeming work on the cross and no longer is required by the people of God (for example, animal sacrifices). At the same time, we recognize some elements are still applicable today, for example the Ten Commandments and loving your neighbor as yourself (Levitcus 19:9-18). The question is where do we draw the line?

One highly controversial view is called “theonomy” (from theos meaning God and nomos meaning law). Theonomists claim that not only the moral commands of the Pentateuch but also the civil code regarding property, criminals, and slaves obtain today. Is this a valid position? Should Christians instate the Levitical law in 21st century America? In this episode of Think Theism, Caroline guides us through the discussion.

In this episode of Think Theism, Zach and Andrew discuss the origins of the Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Were they copied or written independently? What’s this “Q” document? Does it matter?

Zach and Andrew sit down with Dr. Luke Barnes after the A Fortunate Universe talk to discuss life, the universe, and everything

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