Some days it seems like just about everybody wants to be a naturalist. And I’m not talking about folks who drive a Prius and shop at Whole Foods and listen to John Denver. In this context, “naturalist” seems to flag some sort of commitment to atheism, secularism, and/or science. But just what is naturalism exactly, and why would folks want to associate themselves with it?
In this episode of The Tentative Apologist Podcast we seek to sort through the confusion with our guide Michael C. Rea. Dr. Rea is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and he has previously appeared on the podcast to discuss the doctrine of the Trinity and the state of philosophy of religion and analytic theology. In this conversation we focus on Mike’s 2002 Oxford University Press book World Without Design: The Ontological Consequences of Naturalism. As we will see, when it comes to naturalism, not all is as it seems.
