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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

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

Reflections on the Thom Stark-Paul Copan debate

June 21, 2011 by Randal

Robert helpfully supplied a link to Paul Copan’s much anticipated response to Thom Stark’s three hundred page review of Is God a Moral Monster? Having read Paul’s book, the first hundred pages of Thom’s review, and the entirety of Paul Copan’s response (which, thankfully, was much shorter), I have some initial thoughts. First, I think Thom Stark […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Is God a Moral Compromiser?, Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan, Thom Stark

Thom Stark’s review of Paul Copan’s “Is God a Moral Monster?”

April 26, 2011 by Randal

Thom Stark has completed his review of Paul Copan’s Is God a Moral Monster. The review is available here. I haven’t read the review yet because, well, I don’t have ten hours to spare. (Me suspects nobody will ever fault Thom Stark for failing to meet his word count.) Anyway, based on my limited experience […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan, Thom Stark

“Is God a Moral Monster? A Review (Part 4)

April 11, 2011 by Randal

Paul Copan. Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament God. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2011.  ISBN 978-0-8010-7275-8. 252 pp. The time has come to draw this review to a close. In this final installment of the review I’ll focus on Copan’s treatment of human sacrifice, genocide and ethnic cleansing in scripture. […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: ethnic cleansing, genocide, Is God a Moral Monster?, Old Testament ethics, Paul Copan

“Is God a Moral Monster?” A Review (Part 3)

April 5, 2011 by Randal

In this section of the review (a review which will now likely be at least four parts) I want to focus on a dilemma Copan faces: either admit that certain actions undertaken by the Israelites which they attributed to divine direction were morally barbaric and should be rejected, or affirm that these actions really were morally good, […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Is God a Moral Monster?, Old Testament ethics, Paul Copan, stoning

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