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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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Paul Copan

Killing Canaanites? Debriefing the Copan/Rauser Debate

October 12, 2022 by Randal

In this post-debate debrief, I review one key section of my debate with Paul Copan and explain how his view of Joshua entails that Israelites targeted and killed an indiscriminate number of Canaanite civilians. ?

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: biblical genocide, biblical violence, debate, Paul Copan

Debating the Canaanite Genocide with Paul Copan

October 7, 2022 by Randal

I think this is my eleventh appearance on “Unbelievable” with Justin Brierley. It was also one of the most enjoyable and lively debates in which I’ve had the privilege to participate. ?

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: biblical violence, debate, Jesus Loves Canaanites, Justin Brierley, Paul Copan, Unbelievable

Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan Don’t Want to Debate Me. But if They Did, I’d Ask Them This

July 31, 2021 by Randal

Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan offer extensive critiques of my views in their book Did God Really Command Genocide? In turn, I devoted most of a chapter on what I called “The Just War Interpreters” to an extensive critique of their ‘kinder, gentler’ interpretation of the Canaanite genocide by demonstrating that it collapses into ethnic cleansing […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: biblical violence, Did God really command Genocide?, Jesus Loves Canaanites, Matthew Flannagan, Paul Copan

Killing the Children of Jericho: How Paul Copan Avoids the Question

May 22, 2021 by Randal

In this video, we listen to an excerpt of a debate in which Paul Copan is asked directly about the killing of children as referenced in the slaughter of all the residents of Jericho, men and women, young and old (Joshua 6:21). Rather than address directly the ethics of slaughtering children and infants, Copan deflects […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, biblical violence, hermeneutics, Jericho, Paul Copan

Strawmen, the Golden Rule, and Apologetic Hypocrisy

June 13, 2018 by Randal

A couple months ago I was sent a copy of Josh and Sean McDowell’s new edition of Evidence that Demands a Verdict. It’s a mammoth book (798 pages) and I hope to review it soon. But I keep finding myself getting distracted as I read, and often it isn’t for a good reason. Consider, for example, […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, hypocrisy, Josh McDowell, Paul Copan, Sean McDowell

1 Samuel 15 and Paul Copan’s Middling Compromise

January 30, 2018 by Randal

This week  “Unbelievable” featured Part 2 of an exchange between Paul Copan and Greg Boyd on Boyd’s new book The Crucifixion of the Warrior God. In Part 2, Justin Brierley and his two guests focus in on particular biblical texts to see how each position deals with the text in question. The first major text under discussion is 1 […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: biblical violence, ethics, Greg Boyd, hermeneutics, Justin Brierley, Paul Copan

The Violent God Debate: An Unbelievable Review

January 22, 2018 by Randal

This week’s episode of Unbelievable features a debate between Paul Copan and Greg Boyd regarding Boyd’s new book The Crucifixion of the Warrior God. I will not be rehearsing the various arguments here, so I definitely advise you take the time to listen to this excellent exchange (the first of two rounds). Instead, I will offer […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: biblical interpretation, biblical violence, ethics, Greg Boyd, Justin Brierley, Paul Copan

Can divine wrath explain divinely commanded genocide?

May 11, 2017 by Randal

In his 2005 book Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace theologian Miroslav Volf provides a penetrating reflection on the extraordinary challenge and inestimable rewards of acquiring a robust understanding of grace and forgiveness. I first became aware of Volf’s book some years ago when I was critiquing evangelical apologetic readings of […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: biblical ethics, biblical violence, ethics, genocide, Miroslav Volf, Paul Copan

My review of Did God Really Command Genocide?: The Shorter Version

February 12, 2015 by Randal

Yesterday I posted my review of Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan’s Did God Really Command Genocide? as an Amazon review. Alas, Amazon required me to shorten the review since it was a couple thousand words too long to fit on Amazon’s platform. But after some diligent work I managed to pare it down in length. […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, biblical ethics, biblical violence, divine command theory, genocide, God, Matthew Flannagan, Paul Copan, review, theism

Did God Really Command Genocide? A Review (Part 3)

February 10, 2015 by Randal

Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan. Did God Really Command Genocide? Coming to Terms with the Justice of God. Baker, 2014, 351 pp. Welcome to the third (and final) installment in my review of Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan’s book Did God Really Command Genocide? For part 2 click here. The second installment of this review ended […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, biblical ethics, biblical violence, Did God really command Genocide?, divine command ethics, ethics, genocide, Matthew Flannagan, Paul Copan, review

Did God Really Command Genocide? A Review (Part 2)

January 30, 2015 by Randal

Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan. Did God Really Command Genocide? Coming to Terms with the Justice of God. Baker, 2014. 351 pp. This is the second (and penultimate) installment in my review of Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan’s book Did God Really Command Genocide? For part 1 click here. I recommend readers begin with part […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, biblical violence, divine command ethics, ethics, genocide, hermeneutics, Matthew Flannagan, Paul Copan

Did God Really Command Genocide? A Review (Part 1)

January 27, 2015 by Randal

Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan. Did God Really Command Genocide? Coming to Terms with the Justice of God. Baker, 2014. 351 pp. Given the spate of books recently published on the Bible and violence, you might think this is a newly discovered problem. That would be a misreading, however, for theologians have wrestled with this […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, biblical ethics, biblical violence, divine command ethics, ethics, genocide, Matthew Flannagan, morality, Paul Copan, review

33. Paul Copan on Apologetics

January 24, 2014 by Randal

“Always be prepared,” Saint Peter said, “to give a reason for the hope that lies within.” (1 Peter 3:15) Christians refer to the pursuit and articulation of such reasons for faith as apologetics. Given that Peter commended the pursuit of apologetics, you might think that Christians would be enthusiastic about the discipline. But for many the reception is […]

Filed Under: Podcast, Podcast-The Tentative Apologist, The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, interview, Paul Copan, philosophy, theology

The chief end of Man in Reformed perspective

March 22, 2013 by Randal

I’m currently reading through a new book called God and Evil (InterVarsity, 2013) for review in the blog. However, a comment by Paul Copan in his essay on the origin of evil caused me to pause. He writes of what he calls “strong Calvinists” that they find themselves in tension with “the Westminster Catechism’s own […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Calvinism, election, Paul Copan, reprobation

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