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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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metaphysics

Humanism, Christianity, and Human Dignity

July 2, 2016 by Randal

Yesterday my friend Andy Bannister tweeted the following: If tweets are meant to be stimuli for further reflection, this one certainly qualifies. At first I thought Andy was saying Christianity is the only worldview that can provide an adequate account of value and dignity. But that can’t be right since Judaism shares with Christianity an appeal […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Andy Bannister, anthropology, Christianity, ethics, humanism, image of God, metaphysics

Is God the same thing as “magic”?

March 5, 2015 by Randal

The last decade has seen a noticeable deterioration in the level of public discourse about God. (Thanks a lot, new atheists.) For a great example of this, consider the fact that appealing to God as an explanation is commonly derided as appealing to “magic”. Consider this instance of the charge which comes from the podcast […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: atheism, God, magic, metaphysics, theism

Scientism and Metaphysics-of-the-Gaps

May 19, 2014 by Randal

In this article I am going to address the concept of “God-of-the-gaps”. Any person who spends any time reading in the theology/science literature will find that the term God-of-the-gaps is often wielded as a sort of accusation. In other words, people don’t typically accept God-of-the-gaps. Instead, they accuse others of falling into the God-of-the-gap-trap (aka […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: God of the gaps, metaphysics, philosophy of science, science, scientism

Does the Copernican Principle favor atheism?

April 5, 2014 by Randal

The other day I linked folks back to an article I wrote three years ago titled “You’re not special because the universe is really, really big.” This resulted in Jeff Lowder taking note of this humble, old article and offering a comment. (As an aside, the article is tickled pink to be receiving all this attention […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: atheism, Carl Sagan, cosmology, Jeffery Jay Lowder, metaphysics, naturalism, universe

A Review of William Alston, “A Sensible Metaphysical Realism”

November 2, 2013 by Randal

William Alston, A Sensible Metaphysical Realism. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 2001. 65 pages. $15.00. Unfortunately, when it comes to philosophy, common sense almost always takes a backseat to self-confessed Copernican revolutions. As such, William Alston’s 2001 Aquinas Lecture at Marquette University, titled A Sensible Metaphysical Realism, might seem to have the deck stacked against it. But […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: A Sensible Metaphysical Realism, antirealism, metaphysics, philosophy, realism, review, William Alston

Have atheologians made a single contribution to knowledge?

July 27, 2013 by Randal

Several of the comments in response to my article “Have theologians made a single contribution to knowledge?” have focused on a comparison between theology and science. It’s an extraordinarily presumptuous comparison: that is, it seems to presume that those who are atheistic or agnostic somehow have a claim to the success of science. Having just […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: metaphysics, science, scientism, theology

A Journey in Mindandcosmosia: God as explanatory posit

December 27, 2012 by Randal

As I continue my journey reading Thomas Nagel’s book Mind & Cosmos I will pause here and there to make various observations. If it makes things more interesting, think of the book as a mystical land called Mindandcosmosia which we have come to by passing through a magical wardrobe. After squeezing between musty fur coats […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: argument from sufficient reason, cosmological argument, God, metaphysics, Mind & Cosmos, theism, Thomas Nagel

On people who retain unreasonably bad definitions

March 4, 2012 by Randal

This morning I was taken aback to read the following comment from the Atheist Missionary: “Secularists make no claims of metaphysical certainty – if they did, they would be “religious” and the tenets of their claims would be a theology.” I assume that TAM’s phrase “metaphysical certainty” means “epistemically certain of a metaphysical claim” (as I […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: metaphysics, religion, theology

On the pap people say when other people die

November 7, 2010 by Randal

Jim Clench was a fixture on the Canadian classic rock scene as a bass player and song writer for both April Wine and Bachman Turner Overdrive. Perhaps his best known song is April Wine’s perennial concert favorite “Oowatanite”. Not exactly Gershwin, but the song, and Clench himself, have earned a mention in the liner notes of modern arena […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: April Wine, comfort words, death, Jim Clench, metaphysics

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