• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Randal Rauser

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

  • About
  • Books
  • Articles
    • Articles (single)
    • Articles (in series)
  • Audio/Video
    • Audio Interviews, Lectures, and Debates
    • Video Interviews and Lectures
    • Powerpoint Slides
  • Blog
    • Current Posts
    • Blog Archives
  • Podcasts
    • The Tentative Apologist Podcast
    • Archived Podcasts
    • Reviews

truth

Speaking Your Truth? Unpacking Evangelical Apologetic Rhetoric

October 27, 2022 by Randal

In this video, I explain how some evangelical apologists misrepresent a common phrase (and what it really means. ?

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, evangelicalism, relativism, rhetoric, truth

Are Progressive Christians Relativists? Rebutting the Absurd Claims of Alisa Childers

June 25, 2022 by Randal

This article consists of three excerpts from one chapter in my book Progressive Christians Love Jesus Too. To read more, pick up a copy of the book! Time and again, I find a common error among many conservative Christians: they confuse a healthy awareness of our own fallibility in knowledge with relativism about truth. For […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Alisa Childers, progressive Christianity, Progressive Christians Love Jesus Too, relativism, truth

“Speaking Their Truth”? How conservative Christians make false claims to defend truth

May 6, 2022 by Randal

In Progressive Christians Love Jesus Too, I rebut Alisa Childers’ erroneous attempt to claim that progressive Christians widely embrace a radical voluntarist relativism about truth according to which people can make claims true simply by willing that they be true. The example Childers cites is a person who wants bacon to be healthy by declaring “Bacon […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: progressive Christianity, relativism, truth

Looking to Disagree: The Problem of Pugilistic Evangelicals

June 13, 2021 by Randal

The other day, I posted the following tweet criticizing a t-shirt being marketed by evangelical apologist Frank Turek: “Frank Turek is selling a shirt that replaces the “Coexist” logo with one that says “Contradict” as if belief in the truth of Xianity entails that all the claims of other religions are false. That is wrong. […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: dialogue, evangelicalism, truth

Will Truth Win Out? My Interview with “When Belief Dies”

March 31, 2021 by Randal

Here is my recent podcast interview on the “When Belief Dies” podcast. This was a lot of fun: amiable, spirited, and probing the deep questions. You can also listen via Spotify, Apple or other platforms.   ?

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, Christianity, interview, podcast, truth, When Belief Dies

If You Defend Ravi Zacharias and Hucksters Like Him, You are Part of the Problem

December 16, 2020 by Randal

This morning, I received a comment on my February 2019 article “Christians cannot sit on the fence concerning Ravi Zacharias.” It reminded me that even with the most recent shocking revelations about Ravi sexually abusing young women at his massage parlours (see here and here), there will always be people willing to defend the man […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: predator, Ravi Zacharias, sexual predator, truth

Are evangelicals people of truth? Maybe not.

December 7, 2020 by Randal

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: discipleship, evangelicalism, truth

Ravi Zacharias: Apologist or Fabulist? An interview with Steve Baughman

September 16, 2018 by Randal

Ravi Zacharias has long been recognized as one of the most respected of Christian apologists. For forty years he has been a fixture in the firmament of the apologetic pantheon, lecturing worldwide and publishing popular books like The End of Reason and Jesus Among Other Gods. He founded RZIM International, a hugely important apologetics organization, […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, interview, Ravi Zacharias, Steve Baughman, truth

Genuine Inquiry vs. Partisan Advocacy: A Couple Comments

August 9, 2017 by Randal

Jeff Lowder just wrote a helpful article in which he contrasts “genuine inquiry” vs. “partisan advocacy”. Jeff describes genuine inquiry as “reading opposing viewpoints, not with the goal of preparing pithy one-liners for debates, but with the goal of actually trying to learn something or consider new ways of looking at old topics.” He adds […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, indoctrination, Jeff Lowder, rhetoric, truth

False Witness, Lies, Delusions, and Bullshit … and Why the Difference Matters

June 26, 2017 by Randal

A couple days ago the New York Times published an opinion piece grandly titled “Trump’s Lies.” The article purports to chronicle  “nearly every outright lie he has told publicly since taking the oath of office.” The reader is then treated to a chronicle of dizzying length and breadth chronicling all the public instances where the POTUS […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: bullshit, delusion, Donald Trump, lying, truth

The Blustery Word Salad White Noise of Donald Trump’s Campaign Manager

February 23, 2016 by Randal

I was sitting at my computer this afternoon with CNN playing in the background when Erin Burnett asked Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, why Trump retweeted a tweet questioning Marco Rubio’s legal status to become president of the United States. Burnett: “Corey why would he retweet a tweet questioning Marco Rubio’s citizenship if he […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: baloney, Corey Lewandowski, truth

Ted Cruz and Climate Change Denial

February 4, 2016 by Randal

The documentary Merchants of Doubt provides an excellent primer explaining how spin doctors propagate misinformation. What is especially interesting is the close parallel between the methods of big tobacco and of big oil. For years, the former denied a link between tobacco and cancer. The latter has similarly denied a link between the burning of fossil […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: climate change, science, Ted Cruz, truth

Politicians, fascists, and used car salesmen

November 21, 2015 by Randal

In the last two days Donald Trump has “crossed a new line” by endorsing the suggestion of a reporter that the government should begin to compile lists of Muslims living in the United States. Here is a transcript of one of the relevant exchanges courtesy of MSNBC: NBC: Should there be a database system that […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: bullshit, civil discourse, Donald Trump, politics, truth

Gift Shop Wisdom

October 23, 2015 by Randal

Today one of my students stumbled upon this quote attributed to Walt Whitman: This is a great example of “gift shop wisdom”, i.e. the kind of sloganeering which may not mean much, but despite, or rather, because of that fact, it looks great on calendars and coffee mugs. In cases like this, you inevitably wonder, did […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: truth

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Go to Next Page »

Footer

Against Malaria Foundation

Against Malaria Foundation

Support Kiva

Support Kiva

Search this website

Archives



Copyright © 2023 • Randal Rauser • A Steady Site