Randal Rauser

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

Justin Schieber

An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Feisty Secular Audience

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When I was a kid, I had a cherished Hot Wheels which disappeared one day. I looked around for a few days and then gave up and got on with my life. A year or two later, I discovered that Hot Wheels in our backyard sandbox, and what a joyous reunion that was! Three years […]

The Meaning and Rationality of Faith: A Christian and Atheist Conversation

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Christians and atheists often engage in heated debate over the rationality of faith. Unfortunately, those conversations tend to generate more heat than light, not least because the parties to the discussion often end up talking past one another. If we want to make real progress on debating the rationality of faith, we should begin by […]

Could God command something morally heinous?

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This article is excerpted from my 2016 book An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar (Prometheus), coauthored with Justin Schieber. Support the authors and consider buying a copy! You won’t be disappointed. Well, okay, you might be disappointed —  life gives no guarantees — but I’m betting you won’t be. Anyway, without further ado, let’s […]

Atheism and the Desire for Privacy

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He sees you when you’re sleeping  He knows when you’re awake  He knows if you’ve been bad or good  So be good for goodness sake Those lyrics have disturbed generations of children, and for good reason, too. There is something unsettling about the idea of a person, even a right jolly old elf, who knows […]

What did Jesus believe about Noah and Lot’s wife? A response to Justin Schieber

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Yesterday Justin Schieber tweeted some questions regarding Jesus, Noah, and Lot and his wife and he tagged me requesting a reply: Christian bloggers,If you have a moment, I'd love a post addressing these two questions:Thanks! pic.twitter.com/HhVqHRf51O — Real Atheology Podcast (@RealAtheology) May 22, 2017 Being the obliging chap that I am, I briefly tweeted a […]

Atheism in Arizona: Debriefing the Book Tour

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This morning at 2 am I arrived back in Edmonton having completed the second leg of our modest book tour for An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar. Part 1 unfolded over a couple days (March 10-11) with three events in Edmonton and Sherwood Park, Alberta. Part 2 also unfolded over a couple days […]

Rauser v. Schieber-The 2017 Debate

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On Friday, March 10th I met Justin Bieber Schieber for our second public debate. (The first one unfolded exactly two years ago on the campus of the University of Alberta. You can watch that match-up here.) This second debate occurred at Stencel Hall on the campus of Taylor Seminary in Edmonton. It also differed from […]

An Atheist and a Christian in Church

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On March 11th, Justin Schieber and I had the privilege of taking over the Saturday evening service at Sherwood Park Alliance Church (SPAC) in Sherwood Park, Alberta. Some large suburban churches can feel a bit cold, but SPAC had a beautifully welcoming vibe. For an hour Pastor Greg Hochhalter fielded questions from the audience (via […]

An Atheist and a Christian Debate and then Walk into Two Churches This Weekend!

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Here’s all the info for my three public events with Justin Schieber this weekend in promotion of our book An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar. Friday, March 10th, 7:00-8:30 pm Saturday, March 11th, 10:00-11:30 am Saturday, March 11th, 7:00-8:15 pm

An Atheist and a Christian Do a Ten Minute Interview

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In case you don’t have a lot of time to listen to long interviews, this one’s for you. A couple days ago An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar was featured on the CHRI weekly show “Bookmark” with Brock Tozer. We manage to summarize almost every chapter in just over ten minutes. In other words, […]

The Hiddenness of God: Thoughts on the Giunta-Schieber Debate

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The most recent episode of “Unbelievable” features a very fruitful exchange between Justin Schieber and Christian apologist Blake Giunta on the hiddenness of God. Schieber defends the hiddenness argument from J.L. Schellenberg. (See my review of Schellenberg’s recent book here and his reply here. And just for the heck of it see his endorsement of […]