Randal Rauser

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

providence

If You Call a Natural Event a Miracle is that “God of the Gaps”?

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Some people think any description of a natural event as miraculous should automatically be censured as “God of the gaps”. That’s just wrong. Here’s an example. The land is locked in a devastating drought and forecasts all say there will be no rain in the next two weeks. But if Farmer Brown doesn’t get rain […]

Actually, God Can: A Response to Thomas Jay Oord (Part 1)

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Last week, I posted a review of Thomas Jay Oord’s book God Can’t. While the book was well written with admirable pastoral sensitivity and compassion for those who suffer, I wasn’t particularly taken with the main argument. Not surprisingly, Dr. Oord was not particularly taken with my review and he posted a response here. Since I […]

The Questionable Comfort of Impotent Love: A Review of God Can’t

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Thomas Jay Oord. God Can’t: How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils. SacraSage Press, 2020. “Why God?” It is a question that has been asked by countless people. “Why did you allow me to get cancer?” “Why do you allow children to starve?” “Why do you allow a pandemic like […]

Does God answer the prayers of nice rich people who want to purchase a new luxury?

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Let me tell you about Jones. He’s a very wealthy businessman, a respected philanthropist who has established an effective and impacting charitable foundation for disadvantaged youth, and a generous Christian who tithes north of 10% of his income to the church as well as an NGO that is providing clean drinking water to villages in […]

Is Preachability at the Gates of Auschwitz a Proper Measure for Good Theology?

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On several occasions, I have seen Arminians make the following objection to Calvinism: if you can’t preach this to those who suffer, you shouldn’t believe it. Here’s an example from Roger Olson: “Someone has said that no theology is worth believing that cannot be preached standing in front of the gates of Auschwitz. I, for one, […]

Why doesn’t God give everyone a miracle?

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Some years ago, a friend of mine told me how, after losing his wife to cancer, he encouraged his embittered young adult children to return to church. On their first visit to a small group, several people shared their recent answers to prayer — miracles, they said — while the two young visitors sat quietly. When they […]

Calvinism and God’s Love: A conversation with Guillaume Bignon

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In this article I have a conversation with Guillaume Bignon about Calvinism and the concept of God’s love. Bignon is a French analytical philosopher (yes, there are such things!) and an executive committee member of Association Axiome, a society of French-speaking Christian scholars. He also works in New York in the financial industry. Perhaps most importantly for this […]

Failed Prayer Studies: A Response

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The topic of scientific prayer studies recently came up on Twitter. As an outcome of that exchange, I committed to responding to the failure of one particular prayer study to establish a link between prayer and healing. The study in question is discussed in an article titled “Power of prayer flunks an unusual test” where […]