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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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God

I feel love. It’s about love: Still Alice as Theodicy

January 9, 2017 by Randal

Lisa Genova’s 2007 novel Still Alice tells the story of Harvard professor and scholar Alice Howland and her journey living with early onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Howland is a few months into her fiftieth birthday when she receives the terrible diagnosis. From there the book follows her on her slow and painful decline into dementia. At first […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Alzheimer's Disease, dementia, God, natural evil, problem of evil, Still Alice, theodicy

God, Serial Killers, and Natural Evil

December 10, 2016 by Randal

Most of my readers will know of Stephen Law, the respected atheist philosopher who has made some perspicuous contributions to philosophy of religion, perhaps most notably in his evil God argument. (In the past I reviewed Law’s book Believing Bullshit and I’ve offered several critiques of his evil God argument, including here and here.) Today Law offered […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: divine action, God, natural disaster, prayer, problem of evil, Stephen Law

Do average Christians believe in the God of classical theism?

November 28, 2016 by Randal

In his review of An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar John Loftus claimed that Justin Schieber and I are debating “a belief system no one holds”. Loftus is referring there to the alleged irrelevance of God as defined in classical theism to God as understood in Christian devotion. We can summarize Loftus’ claim with the […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar, classical theism, God, Justin Schieber

Belief in God as Properly Basic? The Debate Continues

August 22, 2016 by Randal

I just finished listening to this week’s episode of “Unbelievable”, titled “Is belief in God ‘properly basic’? Tyler McNabb vs Stephen Law.” Incredibly, Justin mentioned that this is the first time they’ve devoted a show to the epistemological question of whether belief in God can be properly basic. Given that it is a topic which […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: epistemology, God, properly basic, Stephen Law, Tyler McNabb, Unbelievable

Andy Bannister on God, Human Beings, and Intrinsic Value

July 8, 2016 by Randal

This evening Andy Bannister posted another strikingly bold assertion about the connection between theism and value: On a first pass, this tweet appears to me to be obviously false. For two statements to be contradictory, one must make an assertion that is directly inconsistent with the other such that they could not simultaneously be true. For […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Andy Bannister, atheism, God, meaning, theism, value

Cursing the Killer: On Praying the Imprecatory Psalms

June 19, 2016 by Randal

Over the years I’ve preached my sermon on the imprecatory psalms on several occasions. Not surprisingly, when you return to an issue on multiple occasions, your position is liable to develop in particular ways. And so it is here. Initially my assessment followed that of C.S. Lewis: the imprecatory psalms represent a wicked desire for […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: biblical violence, curse, evil, forgiveness, God, imprecatory psalm, problem of evil, sermon

Does God demand love under threat of damnation?

June 2, 2016 by Randal

A reader emailed the following question to me. With permission, I’m reproducing and responding to the question here: One recurring thought I keep having that I’d be interested in reading your thoughts on relates to the nature of salvation vs punishment and the way in which Scripture seems to call us to respond to God. Now, […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, God, heaven, hell, theodicy, theology

91. Andy Bannister on Atheism, Morality, and the Meaning of Life

April 13, 2016 by Randal

In his famous essay “A Free Man’s Worship,” Bertrand Russell describes the plight of our species in a godless universe with a haunting eloquence that ranks among the most memorable passages of twentieth century philosophy. As Russell puts it, man’s “origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome […]

Filed Under: Podcast-The Tentative Apologist, The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Andy Bannister, atheism, Euthyphro dilemma, existentialism, God, meaning, morality, theism

The omniscient God as the jilted lover

March 23, 2016 by Randal

In “God in the terrifying image of a jilted lover” I provided some reasons why readers of the Bible should not interpret descriptions of God’s tumultuous emotional life literally. The focus of my analysis in that article was to point out how this yields a picture of God as unpredictable, emotionally needy, and threatening. In […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: God, hermeneutics, omniscience, passibility, suffering, theology

God in the terrifying image of a jilted lover

March 19, 2016 by Randal

Aristotle famously referred to deity as the unmoved mover. And countless Christian theologians have agreed with him as they have described God as impassible such that he is not acted upon by creation. As the Westminster Confession succinctly put it, God is “without body, parts, or passions.” What this means is that God does not […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: God, impassibility, love, Philip Yancey

Atheist Arguments and Uncritical Anthropomorphism

November 13, 2015 by Randal

A couple days ago Justin Schieber tweeted the following sentiment: “A lack of privacy in principle surely has some weight in the question of whether we should want God to exist.” The great thing about a pithy tweet like this is that it succinctly summarizes a very common objection to God’s existence. Apparently there is […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: God, Justin Schieber, omniscience, privacy, providence

Should you hope God doesn’t exist so you can have some privacy? (Part 1)

November 10, 2015 by Randal

If I’m ever at a loss for what to talk about, my twitter feed always delivers. Today Justin Schieber tweeted the following: “A lack of privacy in principle surely has some weight in the question of whether we should want God to exist.” I have two responses to this tweet. The first response will be […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: God, Justin Schieber, omniscience, privacy, providence

How to damn God with faint praise

November 3, 2015 by Randal

Emcee: “And now, finally, I’d like to welcome our 2015 winner. Please give a very warm welcome to Dave Smith!” [Applause] Dave Smith: “Thanks very much. I’m honored to be here tonight. It wasn’t easy. And there’s a long list of people to thank.” [unfolds a piece of paper, takes a breath, and starts reading] “First, thanks […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: God, praise, thanksgiving

Calvinism is perfectly coherent. In which I continue defending a view I reject

September 29, 2015 by Randal

In “Calvinism as a logical contradiction,” I reproduced Zeno’s very detailed attempt to demonstrate that Calvinism entails a logical contradiction. I’m grateful for Zeno’s efforts and his clearly evident acumen. Despite this fact, I’m wholly unpersuaded by his efforts. In this response I’m going to direct my criticism at premise (10) of Zeno’s argument. To […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Calvinism, election, God, Zeno

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