Trinities

Professor Swinburne is famous for his many books which carefully develop and defend Christian claims. In this talk given to the Evangelical Philosophical Society in March of 2018, he gives his latest thoughts on the Trinity . Swinburne's is usually called a "social" Trinity theory , what I call a "three self" theory . For him, the "Persons" of the Trinity are so many selves, three conscious, intel...

If God were only one Person would he fail to be "perfectly loving," and so fail to be a perfect being, even though he's  supposed to be perfect? Some have recently wielded arguments like this to try to show that any unitarian theology, Christian, Jewish, or Islamic, collapses into incoherence, or at least is less plausible than a theology on which God "is" more than one Person. On the popular leve...

In this second part of their conversation ( Part 1 here ), Mr. Buzzard and Dr. Hurtado focus on how New Testament authors apply what were originally texts about Yahweh to Jesus . What is the significance of this? Is this how they tell us, indirectly, that Jesus is Yahweh himself? Or is something else going on? They also discuss Dr. Hurtado's ideas that the NT shows a dyadic worship pattern, a tria...

In this episode, biblical unitarian author Sir Anthony Buzzard dialogues with leading scholar of early Christianity Dr. Larry Hurtado . (This happened in October of 2016 and was posted on the Restoration Fellowship YouTube channel .) I've edited the audio for clarity and length, and I jump in a few times with observations about the views of each, and even with a few objections. I focus particularl...

Which of these three arguments is sound? Argument 1: Only God should be worshiped. Jesus should be worshiped. Therefore, Jesus is God (i.e. Jesus is God himself, "they" are numerically one.) Argument 2:  Jesus isn't God (i.e. they are numerically two). Only God should be worshiped. Therefore, Jesus should not be worshiped. Argument 3: Jesus isn't God (i.e. they are numerically two). Jesus should b...

Did you know that in the field of Christian theology, the following terms are ambiguous , with different sources using them to refer to different (purported) realities? "God" "Father" "Trinity" "God the Son" "the Son of God" "Jesus" "Messiah" "Yahweh" In this episode, I explain these different meanings, and describe three responses to these ambiguities : correlate, eliminate, and obfuscate. [spp-t...

In this talk, the second of a three part series on ambiguities in words used for God and for his Son, I discuss the words translated in your English Bible as "Lord" or "LORD." In the Old Testament "the Lord" or "the LORD" is Yahweh himself, the only God. But in the New Testament, we see a new usage of the Greek word kurios ("Lord" or "lord"), based on the most referred to OT text in the NT. Now, "...

Did you know that in both the Old and New Testament beings other than the one God are referred to as "God" or "gods"? In this first of three talks about disambiguating scriptural terms, I look at the Hebrew word elohim and the Greek word theos , each usually translated into English as "God." I also introduce a new term, " monotheosism ," and distinguish this from " monotheism ." I also interact wi...

This and the previous episode are based on my conviction that in weighing competing speculations, we must go by more than creativity and seeming coherence. We ought, in my view, to also consider their fit or misfit with common sense, with truths which should be obvious to just about anyone . Over many years of studying and weighing various theories about the Trinity and the Incarnation, a number o...

Not everything should be up for debate. Debates must start somewhere. As Christian philosopher Thomas Reid pointed out , humans are made such that, when we're fully mature, and when we have certain common experiences, we will, on auto-pilot, know certain truths. He called this first principles, or principles of common sense. We can also call the self-evident truths - things that we, so long as our...

In this podcast, we hear the end of Essay VI of Thomas Reid's Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man (1785): Chapter 8 "Of Prejudices, the Causes of Error." Following a scheme concocted by Francis Bacon (1561–1626), Reid divides prejudices into four classes of "idols" : idola tribus, idola specus, idola fori, and idola theatri . But don't worry - he explains each group without recourse to any mo...

In this episode, 18th c. Christian philosopher Thomas Reid gives examples of what he calls "first principles," truths which adult humans ordinarily know without having reasoned their way to them, and even without being able to argue for or to defend them. They are part, in Reid's view, of our God-given "common sense." Many if not all of these self-evident truths which he things any of us ought to...

Thomas Reid (1710-1796) was the founding figure in what came to be called "the common sense" tradition in philosophy, a tradition which lasted through most of the 19th century, in places such as Scotland, the United States, and France. Many of his ideas about theory of knowledge have been further developed recently by the leading Christian philosopher Dr. Alvin Plantinga (b. 1932). A Christian min...

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul argues that it is foundational to Christianity that Christ was raised from the dead. In this March 2018 talk called "If Christ be not Raised, If Peter was not the First Pope: Parallel Cases of Essential Doctrinal Foundations," Christian philosopher Dr. Jerry L. Walls argues that similarly, it is foundational to Roman Catholicism that Peter was the first Pope , the first bi...

If a Calvinist view of divine providence and human freedom is correct, which Dr. Guillaume Bignon understands to require compatibilism about human freedom and determinism, does this imply that you and I are not blameworthy for our sins, and that God is ? If so, it would seem that any Christian should reject that view of divine providence and human freedom. In this episode, part two of our conversa...

Does God's unchangeable plan for his cosmos specify every last event that shall occur in it? Does he unilaterally ordain all that shall come to pass, including your sins? Is all that occurs exactly according to God's secret will, though not in line with his revealed will? This view can be called "theological determinism," and when it is added to some doctrines about election, grace, and salvation,...

Do you say that a or the main point of the New Testament is that "Jesus is God," like David Wood , Greg Koukl , J. Warner Wallace , Ravi Zacharias , Robert M. Bowman Jr. or Scot McKnight? If so, how you evaluate this argument ? Do you agree with each premise? Do you agree that each conclusion follows from what went before? God and Jesus differ. Things which differ are two (i.e. are not numerically...

In this second half of Dr. Bauckham's 2017 presentation at the Logos conference at the University of St. Andrews, we hear the commenter, theologian Dr. Jeremy Begbie , Dr. Bauckham's reply, and then Q&A time with the philosophers and theologians present. Among others, he fields questions from Drs. Timothy Paul and N.T. Wright. Many tough questions are raised here, and Dr. Bauckham answers some...

According to Dr. Richard Bauckham , traditional, Nicene language ought to be replaced by clearer, more contemporary language about God and Jesus. In a long series of publications, he has argued that we should read the New Testament as "including Jesus in the divine identity." Although this thesis has been criticized as unclear , many evangelical scholars have rushed to embrace this new language, s...

In this episode, goaded by several listeners, I give some of my own thoughts about God and time . For the most part I don't take the time to explain the various competing views. Without giving a big lecture of philosophies of time, a make a few basic distinctions, and focus on our knowledge of real change . I'm on the side of those philosophers who advocate Presentism and an "A-theory" approach to...

Dr. Johannes Grössl is a a Systematic Theologian and Philosopher of Religion at the University of Siegen in Germany. In this cutting-edge talk he explores four of what he calls in-between views on God and time, discussing work by philosophers including Dean Zimmerman, and William Lane Craig, among others. Did God wait around for an infinitely long time before creating? Or does he exist in his own...

Dr. Ludger Jansen specializes in ontology, metaphysics, and ancient and medieval philosophy. He is on the faculty of  Catholic theology at the Ruhr-University Bochum, and he also teaches at the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Rostock. In this talk he discusses what, ontologically speaking, is required for God to act , i.e. to perform intentional actions such as creating the cosmos. He...

In traditional catholic theologies, the popular view is that God is timeless, that God is not at all "in" time , like we are. In this episode, German philosopher Dr. Ludwig Neidhart defends and tries to establish this view of God as timeless. While his conclusion is old, some of his arguments are new - he invokes the ideas of surfers, the Matrix , and parallel universes. He not only discusses God...

Dr. Natalja Deng   is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Underwood International College, Yonsei University, Seoul/Incheon, South Korea. In this talk she presents a portion of a paper in progress on God and time. Dr. Deng first discusses and criticizes recent work on clashing views about divine eternity and God's life , focusing on Stump and Kretzmann, Leftow, Padgett, and McTaggart. She also...

In this special episode Dr. Ryan Mullins makes a case that God should be understood as "in" time, and not as timeless, as asserted by traditional catholic theologians ("classical theists"). In classic Protestant fashion, he argues from scripture and reason against certain longstanding theological and philosophical traditions. Are you convinced? Why or why not? [spp-tweet tweet="Is God in time, yet...