Randal Rauser

Home of progressively evangelical, generously orthodox, rigorously analytic, revolutionary Christian thinking (that's what I'm aiming for anyway)

Podcast-59 Second Apologist

13. What about the ontological argument?

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Can the existence of God be proven by reason alone? Anselm believed so, and for the last 900 years a long line of philosophers and theologians have lined up on both sides of this question. In this episode of the 59-Second Apologist we take on the ontological argument for God’s existence. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tentativeapologist/59+Second+Apologist+13-The+Ontological+Argument.mp3Podcast: Play in new […]

12 Minutes with the 59 Second Apologist

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I started the 59 Second Apologist Podcast just over one year ago. What better way to celebrate than to offer all 12 episodes from the first year, back to back, in one hyper-compressed breathless monologue of expository apologetic goodness? Episodes are arranged topically rather than chronologically so as to provide a single, seamless apologetics education in […]

11. The 59-Second Apologist: Is the incarnation a contradiction?

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John 1:14 declares that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” But how can it be that the eternal, infinite divine Word became a temporal, finite human being?  In this episode of the 59-Second Apologist we seek to bring some illumination to this perennial theological question. For further discussion of the account provided here, see chapter four of […]

10. The 59-Second Apologist: Will we have free will in heaven?

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Mark Twain once quipped: “Let us swear while we may, for in heaven it will not be allowed.” That piece of advice, however questionable it may be, does raise an interesting philosophical question: when a person becomes unable to sin, must they give up their free will? Some theologians have supposed so. To note one […]

9. The 59-Second Apologist: If the Bible is God’s Word, then why isn’t it clearer?

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It’s a great question: If the Bible is God’s Word, then why isn’t it clearer? Here’s one good answer: to keep seminary professors employed. While I am partial to that response, in this podcast we consider two other (admittedly more serious) solutions. To begin with, just as a human author can have reasons to be less […]

8. The 59-Second Apologist: Perfect Being Theology

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Anselm famously described God as that being than which none greater can be conceived. That definition, both simple and profound, is the inspiration for the contemporary project of perfect being theology which is among the most vigorous areas of research in contemporary philosophy of religion. After you’ve listened to the 59 Second podcast at the […]

7. The 59-Second Apologist: The Argument from Divine Hiddenness

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The Argument from Divine Hiddenness, first developed by philosopher J.L. Schellenberg, seeks to argue that God doesn’t exist based on the existence of reasonable non-belief. In this episode of the 59-Second Apologist Randal offers a quick summary of the argument along with two replies. Click here to read J.L. Schellenberg’s forthcoming paper “Divine Hiddenness and Human […]

6. The 59-Second Apologist: How does the atonement work?

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The good news of the Christian gospel is that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:19) so that through him those who are separated from God can be made at-one with him. But how is the atonement supposed to work, exactly? https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tentativeapologist/59+Second+Apologist+6+(atonement).mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS

5. The 59-Second Apologist: God, Santa Claus and Absurdity

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These days it is increasingly common to find belief in God being compared to any manner of fanciful entities from flying spaghetti monsters and invisible pink unicorns to such familiar denizens of the holiday season as the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. But is there any legitimacy to the comparison? For further discussion see my article […]

4. The 59-Second Apologist: What are Calvinism and Arminianism?

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Have you seen the t-shirt that explains Calvinism and Arminianism? On the front it declares “Calvinism: This shirt chose me”. And on the back it says, “Arminianism: I chose this shirt.” In case you’re looking for a bit more, in this episode of The 59-Second Apologist, Randal explains the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tentativeapologist/59+Second+Apologist-4+Calvinism+and+Arminianism.mp3Podcast: Play in new […]