-
The Emergence of PersonsIn J. B. Stump & Alan G. Padgett (eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Science and Christianity, Wiley-blackwell. pp. 480-490. 2012.This chapter contains sections titled: * Alternatives to Emergence * Emergence and Its Varieties * Emergent Dualism and Emergentist Materialism * Evaluating the Two Emergentisms * Notes * References * Further Reading
-
7Christian Philosophy and Christian Philosophers: Response to GutowskiRoczniki Filozoficzne 71 (2): 25-31. 2023.The essay is a response to Piotr Gutowski’s Creative Thinking about God and Respect for Christian Identity. The author clarifies his understanding of the Christian integrity and responds to some criticisms formulated by Gutowski.
-
17In Defense of the Trinitarian ProcessionsRoczniki Filozoficzne 71 (2): 59-71. 2023.The doctrine of the processions of the Son and the Holy Spirit from the Father, long an integral part of the trinitarian tradition, has recently been challenged by a number of philosophers and theologians, as is shown in the preceding article by Ryan Mullins. In this reply I speak briefly of the place of the doctrine in tradition. I then review biblical evidence supporting the doctrine, and provide a logical analysis which shows that the doctrine is coherent and has the resources to meet the cha…Read more
-
174Reason and Religious Belief: An Introduction to the Philosophy of ReligionOxford University Press. 1991.What is the status of belief in God? Must a rational case be made or can such belief be properly basic? Is it possible to reconcile the concept of a good God with evil and suffering? In light of great differences among religions, can only one religion be true? The most comprehensive work of its kind, Reason and Religious Belief, now in its fourth edition, explores these and other perennial questions in the philosophy of religion. Drawing from the best in both classical and contemporary di…Read more
-
Persons and the unity of consciousnessIn Robert C. Koons & George Bealer (eds.), The waning of materialism, Oxford University Press. 2010.
-
747The Trinity and the New Testament – a Counter-Challenge to Dale TuggyEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Religion 13 (1): 179-199. 2021.Dale Tuggy argues that my trinitarian views are in conflict with the theology of the New Testament; the New Testament, rather, is unitarian. I show several flaws in this argument, and point out the New Testament evidence that eventually led to the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity.
-
61The One Divine NatureTheoLogica: An International Journal for Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology 3 (2). 2019.The doctrine of the Trinity affirms that there are three divine Persons, each of whom is fully God, who have between them a single concrete divine nature. This paper attempts two show that, and how, these claims are coherent rather than contradictory. In the process a model for the Trinity is proposed using the notion of constitution.
-
14A Critique of Thomistic DualismIn Jonathan J. Loose, Angus John Louis Menuge & J. P. Moreland (eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Substance Dualism, Wiley-blackwell. 2018.The Thomistic doctrine of the soul as the form of the body has many of the right intentions. It aims to promote a close integration of soul and body, and more broadly of the human person with the overall world of nature. Emergent dualism responds that all creatures possess souls if the biological organism has developed in a way that enables it to be the “emergence base” for a soul. This chapter explains a brief survey of Aquinas's view of the soul, following the exposition of that view by Eleono…Read more
-
1How Christian Can Philosophy Be?Roczniki Filozoficzne 64 (4): 21-40. 2016.This essay addresses the question, in what sense can and should philosophy be Christian? After considering some views according to which philosophy should not and cannot be Christian, the ideas of three prominent Christian philosophers on the topic are surveyed, and in the light of this some conclusions are formulated.
-
27The Need for ThisnessesPhilosophia Christi 23 (1): 159-171. 2021.Richard Swinburne is an emergent dualist. One feature of his view is the need for a “thisness” or haecceity that makes each soul the soul that it is, distinct from other souls that may be indistinguishable from it in all qualitative respects. I argue that there is no need for thisnesses.
-
71Can eternity be saved? A comment on Stump and RogersInternational Journal for Philosophy of Religion 87 (2): 137-148. 2020.Eleonore Stump and Katherin Rogers have recently defended the doctrine of divine timelessness in separate essays, arguing that the doctrine is consistent with libertarian free will and that timeless divine knowledge is providentially useful. I show that their defenses do not succeed; a doctrine of eternity having these features cannot be saved.
-
1God and Gratuitous Evil: A Response to Klass KraayOxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion 9 54-67. 2019.
-
39Future truth and freedomInternational Journal for Philosophy of Religion 90 (2): 109-119. 2021.It is debated among open theists whether propositions about the contingent future should be regarded as straightforwardly true or false, as all false without exception, or as lacking truth-values. This article discusses some recent work on this topic and proposes a solution different than the one I have previously endorsed.
-
18The Case for Emergent DualismIn Jonathan J. Loose, Angus John Louis Menuge & J. P. Moreland (eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Substance Dualism, Wiley-blackwell. 2018.Emergentism provides a remarkably appropriate fit with an evolutionary account of the history of life on earth. Emergentism presents us with a compelling picture of the co‐evolution of mind and brain. Among the emergentist options, emergent dualism is the one that best satisfies the requirements of both good philosophy and sound theology. The common versions of creationism are generally modeled on the dualism of Rene Descartes, according to which body and mind are two radically different kinds o…Read more
-
11Is the Latin Social Trinity Defensible?Faith and Philosophy 38 (4): 505-513. 2021.Scott Williams has provided a careful and detailed response to my critique of his Latin Social model of the Trinity. I reply to his defense, and I argue that this model is, in fact, indefensible.
-
26Creation, bugs, and emergenceJournal of Philosophical Theological Research 23 (3): 93-112. 2021.An argument is presented, based on a common-sense interpretation of an everyday experience, for emergent dualism as the best available account of the origin of the human mind/soul. Emergent dualism is superior to subjective idealism in that it honors the common-sense conviction that the things we encounter have a real, physical existence, separate from our mental perceptions of them. It is superior to materialism in that it allows for our mental states to have real, physical effects, distinct fr…Read more
-
56Yujin Nagasawa: Maximal god: a new defense of perfect being theism: Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2017, xi + 225 pp, $61.00International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 86 (3): 243-246. 2019.
-
26Molinism’s Freedom Problem: A Reply to CunninghamFaith and Philosophy 34 (1): 93-106. 2017.Arthur Cunningham has asserted that my argument targeting the “freedom problem” for Molinism is unsuccessful. I show that while he has correctly identified two minor (and correctible) problems with the argument, Cunningham’s main criticisms are ineffective. This is mainly because he has failed to appreciate the complex dialectical situation created by the use of a reductio ad absurdum argument. The result is to underscore the difficulty for Molinism of the freedom problem.
-
12Passional Reasoning and the Accessibility of Truth: William Wainwright on Arguing About ReligionJournal of Philosophical Theological Research 24 (3): 29-48. 2022.This essay presents William Wainwright’s conception of religious reasoning. He rejects the view that proper reasoning in religion must be limited to “neutral technical reason” (NTR), modes of reasoning that are neutral and acceptable to all parties in a religious disagreement. He emphasizes that religious reasoning, as seen in outstanding practitioners from different religious traditions, incorporates additional elements, such as appeals to revelation, emphasis on religious reading, rhetoric, ac…Read more
-
41Swinburne’s Are We Bodies or Souls?Roczniki Filozoficzne 69 (1): 67-82. 2021.Richard Swinburne’s Are We Bodies or Souls? presents a sustained case for a view concerning the nature of persons that can be classified as a form of either Cartesian dualism or emergent dualism. This paper comments on two important arguments developed in the book and concludes by considering the problem of the origin of souls.