•  432
    Supernatural Resurrection and its Incompatibility with the Standard Model of Particle Physics: Second Rejoinder to Stephen T. Davis
    with Robert Greg Cavin
    Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry 3 (2): 253-277. 2021.
    In response to Stephen Davis’s criticism of our previous essay, we revisit and defend our arguments that the Resurrection hypothesis is logically incompatible with the Standard Model of particle physics—and thus is maximally implausible—and that it cannot explain the sensory experiences of the Risen Jesus attributed to various witnesses in the New Testament—and thus has low explanatory power. We also review Davis’s reply, noting that he evades our arguments, misstates their conclusions, and dist…Read more
  •  1682
    The Implausibility and Low Explanatory Power of the Resurrection Hypothesis—With a Rejoinder to Stephen T. Davis
    with Robert Greg Cavin
    Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry 2 (1): 37-94. 2020.
    We respond to Stephen T. Davis’ criticism of our earlier essay, “Assessing the Resurrection Hypothesis.” We argue that the Standard Model of physics is relevant and decisive in establishing the implausibility and low explanatory power of the Resurrection hypothesis. We also argue that the laws of physics have entailments regarding God and the supernatural and, against Alvin Plantinga, that these same laws lack the proviso “no agent supernaturally interferes.” Finally, we offer Bayesian arguments…Read more
  •  1703
    Assessing the Resurrection Hypothesis: Problems with Craig's Inference to the Best Explanation
    with Robert Greg Cavin
    European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 11 (2): 205-228. 2019.
    The hypothesis that God supernaturally raised Jesus from the dead is argued by William Lane Craig to be the best explanation for the empty tomb and postmortem appearances of Jesus because it satisfies seven criteria of adequacy better than rival naturalistic hypotheses. We identify problems with Craig’s criteria-based approach and show, most significantly, that the Resurrection hypothesis fails to fulfill any but the first of his criteria—especially explanatory scope and plausibility.
  •  80
    Swinburne on the Resurrection: Negative versus Christian Ramified Natural Theology
    with Robert Greg Cavin
    Philosophia Christi 15 (2): 253-263. 2013.
    We consider the impact of negative natural theology on the prospects of Christian ramified natural theology with reference to Richard Swinburne’s argument for the Incarnation and Resurrection. We argue that Swinburne’s pivotal claim—that God would not allow deceptive evidence to exist for the Incarnation and Resurrection—is refuted by key evidence from negative natural theology. We argue, further, that Swinburne’s argument omits dominating items of evidence of negative natural theology which s…Read more
  •  489
    Negative Natural Theology and the Sinlessness, Incarnation, and Resurrection of Jesus
    with Robert Greg Cavin
    Philosophia Christi 16 (2): 409-418. 2014.
    We respond to Swinburne’s reply to our critique of his argument for the Resurrection by defending the relevance of our counterexamples to his claim that God does not permit grand deception. We reaffirm and clarify our charge that Swinburne ignores two crucial items of Negative Natural Theology (NNT)—that God has an exceptionally weak tendency to raise the dead and that even people with exemplary public records sometimes sin. We show, accordingly, that our total evidence makes it highly probable …Read more
  • Global Problems and International Cooperation
    Dissertation, University of California, Irvine. 1992.
    The development of the global system has given rise to a class of moral problems which can best or only be resolved by establishing cooperative arrangements among nations. Some of these problems are as old as states, many are of recent origin. They include the loss of biodiversity, the degradation of the atmosphere, nuclear deterrence and proliferation, persistent regional conflict, Third World poverty and malnutrition, resource depletion, and many others. ;The dominant school of thought on inte…Read more
  •  431
    Evidence, Miracles, and the Existence of Jesus: Comments on Stephen Law
    with Robert Greg Cavin
    Faith and Philosophy 31 (2): 204-216. 2014.
    We use Bayesian tools to assess Law’s skeptical argument against the historicity of Jesus. We clarify and endorse his sub-argument for the conclusion that there is good reason to be skeptical about the miracle claims of the New Testament. However, we dispute Law’s contamination principle that he claims entails that we should be skeptical about the existence of Jesus. There are problems with Law’s defense of his principle, and we show, more importantly, that it is not supported by Bayesian consid…Read more
  •  28
    Hobbes: War Among Nations (review)
    International Studies in Philosophy 24 (1): 81-82. 1992.