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177The Oxford handbook of philosophical theology (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2008.Philosophical theology is aimed primarily at theoretical understanding of the nature and attributes of God and of God's relationship to the world and its inhabitants. During the twentieth century, much of the philosophical community had grave doubts about our ability to attain any such understanding. In recent years the analytic tradition in particular has moved beyond the biases that placed obstacles in the way of the pursuing questions located on the interface of philosophy and religion. The r…Read more
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150Compatibilism and the argument from unavoidabilityJournal of Philosophy 84 (August): 423-40. 1987.
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117A Death He Freely AcceptedFaith and Philosophy 18 (1): 3-20. 2001.Traditional Christians face a puzzle concerning the freedom and perfection of Christ. Jesus the man, it seems, must have possessed significant freedom forhim to serve as a moral example for us and for his death to have been truly meritorious. Yet Jesus the Son of God must be incapable of sinning if he is trulydivine. So if Jesus is both human and divine, one of these two attributes - significant freedom or moral perfection - apparently needs to be surrendered. In thisessay, it is argued that if …Read more
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83Divine providenceIn Thomas P. Flint & Michael Rea (eds.), The Oxford handbook of philosophical theology, Oxford University Press. 2008.This article attempts to spell out more clearly the Thomist, the Openist, and the Molinist approaches to divine providence, and to indicate the strengths and weaknesses of these three positions. It begins by discussing both the traditional notion of divine providence and the libertarian picture of freedom. The article then argues that each theory of divine providence has its advantages and disadvantages. Each has had numerous able and creative defenders. As with most philosophical disputes, one …Read more
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69A Death He Freely AcceptedFaith and Philosophy 18 (1): 3-20. 2001.Traditional Christians face a puzzle concerning the freedom and perfection of Christ. Jesus the man, it seems, must have possessed significant freedom forhim to serve as a moral example for us and for his death to have been truly meritorious. Yet Jesus the Son of God must be incapable of sinning if he is trulydivine. So if Jesus is both human and divine, one of these two attributes - significant freedom or moral perfection - apparently needs to be surrendered. In thisessay, it is argued that if …Read more
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63Orthodoxy and Incarnation: A Reply to MullinsJournal of Analytic Theology 4 180-192. 2016.R. T. Mullins’s “Flint’s Molinism and the Incarnation is too Radical,” published by this journal in 2015, attempts to summarize some speculations I have offered regarding Christology and eschatology, to show that these speculations are independently implausible, and to demonstrate that they are at odds with the pronouncements of the Fifth Ecumenical Council and hence incompatible with orthodox Christianity. In this reply, I argue that Mullins’s essay fails in all three of these endeavors: its su…Read more
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43Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom (review)International Studies in Philosophy 26 (1): 107-107. 1994.
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37Risky Business: Open Theism and the IncarnationPhilosophia Christi 6 (2). 2004.The debate within the Christian academic community over open theism, or "openism", has been quite intense of late. Progress in this debate depends upon our examining how openism and its rivals fare when applied to particular Christian doctrines, beliefs, and practices. I hope to further the debate by raising a question regarding the Incarnation: ’Was Jesus Christ free in a morally significant way?’ After arguing that the two principal alternatives to openism (Thomism and Molinism) can offer inte…Read more
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35Is Model T Rattle-Free?Faith and Philosophy 32 (2): 177-181. 2015.In “Getting that Model T Back on the Road: Thomas Flint on Incarnation and Mereology,” William Hasker contends that the reasons I offered for being dissatisfied with Model T, a mereological model of the incarnation, are insufficient. I argue, though, that Hasker’s defense of Model T is inadequate; though Christians may not want to consign it to the junkyard, they should at least be open to trading it in for a better model.
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33Mark C. Murphy an essay on divine authority. (Ithaca NY: Cornell university press, 2002). Pp. X+198. £25.50 (hbk). ISBN 0 8014 4030 (review)Religious Studies 40 (3): 371-374. 2004.
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31Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom (review)International Studies in Philosophy 26 (1): 107-107. 1994.
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26How to Keep Dialectically Kosher: Fischer, Freedom, and ForeknowledgeEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Religion 9 (4): 13-24. 2017.
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24Matters of Faith and Matters of Principle (review)International Studies in Philosophy 20 (1): 120-122. 1988.
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245. Two Accounts of ProvidenceIn Thomas V. Morris (ed.), Divine and Human Action: Essays in the Metaphysics of Theism, Cornell University Press. pp. 147-181. 1988.
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22Providence, Chance, Divine Causation, and Molinism: A Reply to ŁukasiewiczRoczniki Filozoficzne 68 (3): 55-69. 2020.Opatrzność, przypadek, boska przyczynowość i molinizm: odpowiedź Łukasiewiczowi Esej Dariusza Łukasiewicz Opatrzność Boga a przypadek w świecie ma dowodzić, że silne tradycyjne rozumienie opatrzności nie da się utrzymać, zwłaszcza w świetle współczesnego naukowego obrazu świata. W jego miejsce Łukasiewicz proponuje koncepcję Opatrzności, która dopuszcza autentycznie przypadkowe zdarzenia, których Bóg nie kontroluje. Argumentuję, że argument Łukasiewicza jest nieudany. Następnie rozważam dwa spos…Read more
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21Providence and the problem of evilPhilosophical Review 110 (1): 120-122. 2001.Few philosophers this century have been as prolific in their defense of a traditional theistic world-view as has Richard Swinburne. This book, the fourth in a tetralogy on philosophical questions raised by Christianity, is of the quality that readers expect of Swinburne, and will undoubtedly command the same degree of respect and attention as have his earlier works.
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18IntroductionIn Thomas P. Flint & Michael Rea (eds.), The Oxford handbook of philosophical theology, Oxford University Press. 2008.The first half of the twentieth century was a dark time for philosophical theology. Sharp divisions were developing among philosophers over the proper aims and ambitions for philosophical theorizing and proper methods for approaching philosophical problems. But many philosophers were united in thinking, for different reasons, that the methods of philosophy are incapable of putting us in touch with theoretically interesting truths about God.
Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland