Introduction Our next installment in my series on mere Christianity comes from Eric Reitan. Dr. Reitan is Professor of Philosophy at Oklahoma State University and author of The Triumph of Love: Same-Sex Marriage and the Christian Love Ethic and Is God A Delusion?: A Reply to Religion’s Cultured Despisers. He is also coauthor of God’s Final Victory: A Comparative Philosophical Case […]
Martin Luther
Reading the Bible informed by conscience
In “A review of “God or Godless”, inerrancy, and begging the question” I defended myself against a reviewer of God or Godless who opined that I had made a “major mistake” in my theology by rejecting the doctrine of inerrancy. I pointed out that I don’t reject inerrancy, though I do reject indefensible articulations of […]
Quote-mining Luther, Einstein and Feyerabend
In my last post I expressed my dissatisfaction with the way that “anti-reason” quotes from Martin Luther get thrown around without context by atheists and skeptics as a way to marginalize Christianity and the concept of faith. Ray Ingles responded like this: I dunno. You got any quotes where he says something different? Or expresses the […]
Quote others the way you would have them quote you
Martin Luther is a darling of the internet infidel community not least because he provided many quotable tidbits which can be invoked at will to marginalize Christians as being “irrational” or “anti-reason”. Take the case of Jag. In reference to the claim that faith is opposed to reason he noted “Martin Luther would have strenuously […]
The Intolerable Martin Luther
Here is another entry from my forgotten back catalogue. In this article I critique the way that we airbrush our chosen heroes. I make the point by focusing on the hero of Protestantism, Martin Luther. However, the problem extends far beyond religious traditions. For the sake of truth we would all do well to heed […]
Calvinism preaches a God of love, and yet…
The central objection to Calvinism has always been, and will always be, that God’s decision to elect some people to salvation whilst leaving (or electing) others to damnation is inconsistent with the notion of divine love. But Calvinists are not without their rebuttals. One common rejoinder is to argue that our understanding of love is imperfect. It […]