I’ve previously written, in reference to Ed Feser: I agree that Leprechaunology is not a great analogy for the work of Aquinas or Leibniz. But it’s easy to suggest better analogies: how about Spinozism or Hegelianism? I’d be surprised if Feser took either of those doctrines terribly seriously. The dirty little secret of philosophy is [...]
Category Archives: history
It gets better, but sometimes it gets worse first
Posted by Chris Hallquist on December 12, 2011
1 comment
For several years now, I’ve been wondering if the United States could one day transform into, well, a totalitarian hellhole. But when I’ve had such thoughts, I usually tell myself, “It’s unlikely. When you look at history, the general trend is towards things getting better. That includes governments becoming more free. In the history of [...]
Biblical scholarship is an enterprise for believers
Posted by Chris Hallquist on December 2, 2011
6 comments
A remarkable quotation form an article by Biblical scholar Jacques Berlinerblau: “Show of hands: Who here’s an atheist?” If a keynote speaker were to pose that unlikely query to an audience of 1,000 scholars gathered at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature my guess is only about a couple of dozen or [...]
Sometimes, Craig is just dumb
Posted by Chris Hallquist on October 28, 2011
24 comments
Most of the time, William Lane Craig strikes me as a fairly smart man. He avoids saying anything obviously false, and mostly seems aware of the arguments that can be given in favor of views that aren’t Evangelical Christianity. But then he says something like this: In a bibliographical survey of over 2,200 publications on [...]
Christians misinterpret Genesis 3
Posted by Chris Hallquist on October 14, 2011
6 comments
If you’re a regular reader of Jason Rosenhouse, you’re familiar with his argument that the biggest problem evolution poses for Christianity is not in undermining six-day creation, but in undermining the doctrine of Original Sin. Last week, Andrew Sullivan decided to weigh in on this issue, specifically responding to Jerry Coyne on whether the Garden [...]