POST PUBLISHED INDecember, 2009
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  • “God Exists” ... still properly basic after all these years

    December 31st, 200902:14 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    In my last post I pointed out that certain claims do not require evidence. Rather, their denials do. Such is the case with (1) There are minds other than my own.(2) An external world exists. The solipsist who denies (1) owes us an argument as does the idealist or antirealist who denies (2). But then I pointed us to (3) God exists. Is it at least ...

  • If you're gonna believe somethin' then prove it ... or else!

    December 30th, 200906:46 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    First off, something that doesn't relate to anything: I saw "Sherlock Holmes" yesterday. Enjoyable, stylish movie, but also forgettable in a "Star Trek the Reboot" kinda way. I did uncover a blooper but nobody I have told cares. Indeed, they think I need to get a life. Nonetheless I will share it with you all. Ready? (drum roll) There is a modern b...

  • Mysteriously moved keys and theistic explanations of the world

    December 30th, 200903:18 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    There is a chilling scene early in the blockbuster horror flick "Paranormal Activity" where Katie walks into the kitchen in the morning and finds keys on the floor. We've all been in a similar situation. Our keys (or some other personal item) is not where it should be. And so we seek for an answer. What ... or who moved my keys? Unfortunately for ...

  • On pulling teeth and asking AnAtheist for some evidence

    December 28th, 200902:33 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    In the thread to "An Atheist Pot, a Christian Kettle, and an ironic charge of blackness" I critiqued atheist inconsistencies. Who would have thought that the thread of the discussion would provide further evidence for these ironic consistencies? In the thread I noted some of the evidence I had provided for Christian theism. "I have discussed innu...

  • Was Jesus Christ blastocyst innately omniscient?

    December 28th, 200912:19 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Now that the presents are opened and the turkey is eaten, we can get back to business. But first a moment's frivolity. I made this joke up a few days ago to wide acclaim in my household. In the spirit of Christmas giving, you are free to use it ... so long as you send me a royalty cheque: What did Whitney Houston hang on her door at Christmas?A-wr...

  • A theologian muses on “Avatar”

    December 23rd, 200911:43 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    I've seen some great films in the last few months (e.g. "The Road," "Paranormal Activity") but nothing I've seen on a big or small screen prepared me for "Avatar". This is not a movie, it is an event. My only request: see it in 3-D.If you're like me, you are a skeptic of 3-D technology. It's gimmicky, it washes out the colors and blurs the picture....

  • Was Jesus of two minds ... literally? (Part 1 and a half)

    December 21st, 200902:44 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    In my last post I laid down the raw materials for an account of how Jesus could be simultaneously omniscient (qua his divinity) and finite in knowledge (qua his humanity). I did so by outlining the dual consciousness of split brain patients. In those fascinating cases people who suffered from severe seizures were given a corpus callosotomy, an oper...

  • Was Jesus of two minds ... literally? (Part 1)

    December 16th, 200907:53 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    We continue our reflection on the paradoxical notion of God becoming incarnate in Jesus Christ (with special attention to the property of omniscience and finite human knowledge). Our last foray focused on the unsatisfying "reduplicative formula" which really does little more than label the paradox at issue. According to this "model" (if it can be c...

  • Was God the Son merely close friends with Jesus?

    December 14th, 200909:58 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Thus far we have been considering the logical puzzle of how an omniscient God could possibly become a human being. The basic problem we face is one of incompossibility of properties: i.e. there are many properties that Christians believe God exemplifies of necessity which are incompatible with attributes human beings exemplify. (Note I haven't yet ...

  • An Atheist Pot, a Christian Kettle, and an ironic charge of blackness

    December 12th, 200912:53 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    In my last couple posts I initiated a discussion on theories of incarnation. In the threaded discussion to the post "Did Baby Jesus know more physics than Einstein?" I made the following comment: "The challenge is to explain what this [incarnation] means qua human and divine knowledge in a way that is both orthodox and coherent." In other words, ...

  • Did Baby Jesus know more physics than Einstein?

    December 10th, 200903:59 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Christians have classically defined God as omniscient. That is, they have affirmed that God has all knowledge; more specifically, God knows all true propositions and believes no false propositions. According to that classic understanding of God, which theologians often refer to as "classical theism", God is not only omniscient but essentially so. T...

  • All I want for Christmas is … a coherent account of the incarnation

    December 08th, 200901:22 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. (John 1:14, The Message)   At the core of Christian faith is the doctrine of the incarnation according to which God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, incarnated and became the man Jesus Christ. But what does it mean to say that God became man? Could this really be tr...

  • On taking people seriously

    December 06th, 200910:04 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    In "Does God speak today? A Case Study" I recounted (or rather, reproduced) Kevin's story in which he reported receiving information from God about future events which later occurred as predicted. Conversational Atheist (henceforth "CA") then commented: "Are you seriously expecting anyone to take you seriously when you seriously propose that God ta...

  • Why do many people consider Calvinism to be monstrous? An allegorical exploration (Part 2)

    December 04th, 200902:34 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    "I must say that I find exactly half of the parable of the breeder to be completely wonderful. And that, not surprisingly, is the half where the breeder treats the lost dogs and then grants them a beautiful life beyond their wildest imaginings." Yes, that part is nice. "However, I cannot accept the other half of the story in which the breeder ref...

  • Why do many people consider Calvinism to be monstrous? An allegorical exploration (Part 1)

    December 04th, 200902:27 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    The breeder was the kindest, gentlest, most skilful, most wise and most loving breeder of dogs in all the land. One day a litter of six puppies was born to one of the breeder's dams. The birth of these puppies was surprising in certain respects, for they possessed a genetic predisposition which the breeder knew would eventually express itself in ...

  • Does God speak today? A Case Study

    December 02nd, 200908:39 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Over the years I have spent much time studying the epistemic status of religious belief. Certain religious beliefs are wholly subjective (i.e. bereft of immediately veridical elements). Such is the case with a belief like "God loves me". From a philosophical perspective, cases that are at least modestly veridical, (e.g. which involve the commu...
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An exploration of faith, knowledge, reason and doubt (with the occasional trite pop culture reference thrown in for good measure).