I’ve argued that religious outsiders can write theology and be theologians. I still believe this to be true. But I was recently on a panel at a con that explored the intersection of science fiction/fantasy and religion. One of … Read the rest
Tag: Christianity
How Wittgenstein’s Philosophy of Language Complicates Protestant Salvation
One of the members of a Lutheran Bible study group I attend recently said some unkind words about Catholics. That encouraged me to think up a theology that would allow for the salvation of Catholics while implying the damnation of … Read the rest
Biblical Inspiration and God’s Trustworthiness
We’ve determined that God’s trustworthiness can’t be assumed because of how the Bible portrays His character. He does not deceive wantonly, but He has no qualms about deceiving His opponents to further His goals.
How are we to know that … Read the rest
Alchemy and Mud: Arguments in Fiction
I’m regularly surprised when my readers spy ideology lurking in my writing, as if the presence of an argument or even a sensitive topic in a work of fiction is proof that the author is trying to seduce the reader … Read the rest
God As Executive (To Whom We Can Say Nothing)
We construe transcendent God through analogies: God as a loving father, a just or cold-eyed judge, a suffering savior, as Jesus of the Gospel, as victor over Death, as jealous tribal god of the Hebrews, as (war)lord of hosts… Read the rest
The Fine-Tuning Argument for God
Before I discuss the Argument from Moral Knowledge further it’s helpful to explain why I think the Fine-Tuning Argument for God isn’t so great an argument. Why the detour? I read other arguments for God that turn on our relationship … Read the rest
Examples of Backwards Causation
We tend to believe that all causation is forwards; a cause must temporally precede its effect. But there are some delightful examples of at least possible backwards causation. Even if all they do is demonstrate the ridiculousness of backwards causation, … Read the rest
I Must Admit That Some People Believe in God
I am beginning to believe that some people actually believe in God. It’s astonishing, isn’t it? Somehow I gather I should have figured it out sooner.
I have some excuse. I was raised United Methodist, the Northern variety, not the … Read the rest
God, Author of the Bible
In “Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote,” Jorge Luis Borges playfully suggests through an unreliable narrator that Don Quixote could have been written twice, once by Miguel de Cervantes in the seventieth-century and again by a fictional French … Read the rest