Month: October 2010
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Happy Reformation Day From Choosing Hats!
Introduction
In April 1518 Martin Luther was called upon by the Augustinian order of Germany to set out and defend his theology at the General Chapter of Heidelberg. While Luther was rather thoroughly surrounded by controversy he would be presenting the theological ideas which had produced this controversy to those who shared much of his Augustinian thinking. The name of the presentation Luther delivered is the Heidelberg Disputation. The Heidelberg Disputation consists of a number of theses divided between philosophical theses and theological theses. The theological theses are explained in much greater detail than are the philosophical theses. Luther actually …
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Wallis Debate Recap Continued: Theism, Presuppositionalism, and Induction
Mr. Wallis writes that, “theism is just as ill-equipped as nontheism to answer the epistemic problem of induction.” In this statement is an apparent acknowledgement that non-theism is unable or at any rate “ill-equipped” to “answer the epistemic problem of induction.” We will set aside this concession regarding the problem of induction in a non-theistic worldview and go directly to the objection to justifying induction in the context of the Christian worldview.
The problem Mr. Wallis has with attempting to justify induction in the Christian worldview does not concern the content of the answer Christian theology provides. Rather Mr. Wallis …
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Wallis Debate Recap Continued: Induction
Mr. Wallis claims that, “we simply must use induction, because we have no other means of planning for action in the world.” An interesting claim to be sure, but it is not clear what Mr. Wallis means by this statement or how Mr. Wallis could know that it is true. He nevertheless concludes from this statement that, “no epistemic ‘problem’ of induction need cause us an abundance of concern.” Even more strange is that Wallis offers these statements as constituting an “objection” to the following argument that he quotes from me from our debate:
“Reasoning invalidly is not reasonable at …
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Comments on the Wallis Debate Recap: Agnosticism (Updated! Includes response from Wallis)
Introduction
Ben Wallis has written a post wherein he briefly points out what he believes are serious problems with “two key arguments” I offered during the course of our debate on the existence of God. There are a number of arguments I used for TAG in the debate and it is not my opinion that Mr. Wallis addressed them all either during the debate or in his brief review. That Mr. Wallis has written some of his thoughts concerning the debate and apparently wants to continue some discussion in the future (both of which are perfectly fine with me) allows …
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Coffee Bean Discipleship
Today as I was sitting at my local Starbucks, typing away on an essay, I began to take notice of two guys who had sat down behind me. It was somewhere in between the end of one album I was listening to and the beginning of another that I heard someone mention “the Word”. I paused my iPod and began to listen intently, feeling a bit guilty that I was both listening to someone else’s conversation, and doing so with headphones in my ears as if I was listening to music instead! What I heard, however, was encouraging.
It was …