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Randal Rauser

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

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Alvin Plantinga

Why I Don’t Talk About the Sensus Divinitatis When I Talk About Belief in God

June 7, 2020 by Randal

Alvin Plantinga famously appeals to the existence of a sensus divinitatis, a “sense of the divine”, as the cognitive faculty by which one can form justified and rational belief in God apart from evidence. In this video, I explain why I prefer to argue for properly basic belief in God by way of the more […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Alvin Plantinga, apologetics, debate, epistemology, foundationalism, sensus divinitatis

Here I Stand: On Alvin Plantinga’s Luther Moment

March 29, 2018 by Randal

I took a course with Alvin Plantinga in 1998 (wow, twenty years ago!). The main textbook was an early draft of his book Warranted Christian Belief. By the time the book was published two years later, I was well into my PhD thesis in England in which I was seeking to articulate a fundamental theology […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Alvin Plantinga, Warranted Christian Belief

On Fundamentalism: The Best Thing Alvin Plantinga Ever Wrote

October 5, 2017 by Randal

I was called a “liberal” this week on Twitter. I don’t have any problem per se with being called a liberal. But in this case it clearly wasn’t intended as a compliment. So I asked my interlocutor about his basis for making the charge. He replied by pointing out that I support public healthcare for all. Guilty […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Alvin Plantinga, dialogue, fundamentalism, rhetoric

Alvin Plantinga’s Surprisingly Deflationary Take on his own Ontological Argument

September 28, 2017 by Randal

Living legend Alvin Plantinga was recently a guest on Unbelievable with Justin Brierley. The show was classic Plantinga — clear analysis, dry wit, admirable humility — and surveyed some of the highlights of his impressive career including warrant, proper basicality and Christian belief, the evolutionary argument against naturalism, and the ontological argument. The last choice […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Alvin Plantinga, Justin Brierley, ontological argument, philosophy of religion, theistic proof, Unbelievable

“Why I Became an Atheist”: A Review (Part 8)

July 23, 2014 by Randal

Here begins the eighth installment of my incredibly expanding review of John Loftus’ book Why I Became an Atheist. For part seven click here. In this section I’ve decided to return to some unfinished business on page 44. On this page Loftus endorses a classical foundationalist epistemology. And what is that, exactly? According to foundationalism, […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Alvin Plantinga, epistemology, foundationalism, John Loftus, review, Why I became an Atheist

“Why I Became an Atheist”: A Review (Part 6)

July 22, 2014 by Randal

This is the sixth installment of my meandering review of John Loftus’ book Why I Became an Atheist. For part five click here. In this section I’m going to critique Loftus’ understanding and presentation of Alvin Plantinga’s epistemology in chapter 2. This section begins on page 44. Since I defended Plantinga’s epistemology in my PhD thesis […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Alvin Plantinga, defeaters, epistemology, externalism, foundationalism, internalism, John Loftus

A Quick Response to Randal Rauser’s Critique of Universal Sanction (by Tyler Wunder)

September 2, 2013 by Randal

In this guest post philosopher Tyler Wunder offers a response to my article “Must properly basic beliefs have universal sanction? A reply to James F. Sennett Part 2“. Dr. Wunder graduated with a PhD in philosophy from Boston University in 2007 with a dissertation on “Warrant and Religious Epistemology: A Critique of Alvin Plantinga’s Warrant […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Alvin Plantinga, epistemology, foundationalism, proper basicality, rationality, Tyler Wunder

Must properly basic beliefs have universal sanction? A reply to James F. Sennett (Part 2)

August 26, 2013 by Randal

In “Must properly basic beliefs have universal sanction? A Reply to James F. Sennett (Part 1)” I introduced James F. Sennett’s paper “Direct Justification and Universal Sanction” and stated my intention to offer a critique of it. This is that (long overdue) critique. Let me state at the outset that I share a lot of […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Alvin Plantinga, epistemology, foundationalism, James Sennett, proper basicality, reason

Beliefs that are adaptive but false ain’t that unusual

January 14, 2013 by Randal

The other day one of my readers, David Evans, expressed skepticism toward Alvin Plantinga’s evolutionary argument from naturalism. Plantinga’s argument is a type of argument from reason. This family of arguments aims to show that conceptions of human reason which do not assume that human cognitive faculties are created by a competent and benevolent agent lead to […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Alvin Plantinga, apologetics, argument from reason

Are demons responsible for natural evil?

October 31, 2012 by Randal

In the discussion following my critique of William Dembski’s theodicy Dima asked about Greg Boyd’s thesis that natural evil can be attributed to demonic agency. The relationship between natural evil and demonic agency was memorably proposed by Alvin Plantinga in God, Freedom, and Evil when he noted that Augustine attributed natural evil to demonic agency. Based on […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Alvin Plantinga, alvinize, demons, Gregory Boyd, natural evil, theodicy

The last argument you’ll ever need?

October 14, 2011 by Randal

I just returned from driving the Ontological Argument to the airport when I found the following comment from Jerry: Walter, and then TAM, posted a link to a counterargument to the ontological argument.  I didn’t read it all, but I did notice the following: Plantinga writes: “Our verdict on these reformulated versions of St. Anselm’s […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Alvin Plantinga, atheism, evidence, justification, ontological argument, proof, rationalism, rationality, skepticism, theism

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