Apologetics
What’s Wrong with Apologetics?
I’ve been an apologetics enthusiast ever since I watched William Lane Craig as a sophomore in high school. Like many, I grew up a little Craig-disciple echoing the oft repeated arguments I heard. I loved watching the debates, the conferences, the panels. (In fact, I wrote my high school senior thesis on the moral argument for God’s existence.) That love persisted throughout college as I chose to major in philosophy. At one point I wrote a post titled “4 Reasons Not to Dismiss Apologetics,” and the very first entries I wrote for this blog (six years ago now!) are titled, “Why I Believe in God” where I rehash a few of the standard theistic arguments. After graduate school, I even taught Apologetics at a Christian college. And through my current work, I still desire to engage in the task of defending and explaining the truth of the Christian faith. All of this to say, I have a deep appreciation for apologetics. But something has gone wrong in modern day apologetics, and I think it has something to do with the absence of a sapiential approach… Read More »What’s Wrong with Apologetics?
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4 Reasons to Go to Church and 2 Reasons Not to
Increasingly there are evangelical Christians who are growing irritated with their Christian practices. Women and men who have grown up their whole lives in evangelical culture begin to wonder if they’ve been misled their entire lives. They are tired of shallow, showy Christianity with empty platitudes and pious hypocrisy, and yet continue to dreadfully go to their Sunday services and small group Bible studies. With every Sunday, it’s one more negative experience.
What are frustrated evangelicals supposed to do about church?
Read More »4 Reasons to Go to Church and 2 Reasons Not to
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Confronting Old Testament Controversies, with Tremper Longman III
Was Exodus historical? How should we read Genesis? Listen in with Tremper Longman and Sheb Varghese, on the Faith Colloquium podcast.
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Discovering God’s Existence from Contingency, with Joshua Rasmussen
What is contingency? Can reason lead to God? Listen in with Joshua Rasmussen and Sheb Varghese.
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Public Schools and Religious Autonomy
How much religious autonomy should children be given? How can dialogue and apologetics help Christian parents? Listen in with Amy Davison on the podcast
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Black Panther and the Problem of Evil
The problem of evil is a challenge to religious belief, and yet the New Testament writers felt that the death and resurrection of Jesus effectively disempowered the forces of evil in the world, and evil should not be a hindrance to trust in God.
How does this make sense?
Read More »Black Panther and the Problem of Evil
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How to be an Atheist and Sola Scriptura, with Mitch Stokes
Are skeptical atheists skeptical enough? Is the doctrine of sola scriptura coherent? Listen in with Mitch Stokes and Sheb Varghese on the Faith Colloquium Podcast.
Please comment with your own thoughts, share, and subscribe.
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God, the Undercover Agent?
I will be honest: I find the problem of evil and suffering deeply intellectually and emotionally troubling as someone who is committed to Christian theism.
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Believe the Right Things for the Right Reasons
One of my favorite passages in Plato’s Republic is in Book II immediately after Thrasymachus’ argument with Socrates concerning justice. Thrasymachus argues that justice is only the advantage of the stronger, and Socrates breaks down Thrasymachus’ argument. However, Glaucon, one of Socrates’ friends is unsatisfied with Socrates’ response and he says to him “Socrates, do you want to seem to have persuaded us that it is better in every way to be just than unjust or do you want to truly convince us of this?” Socrates says, “I want truly to convince you if I can.” Glaucon then renews the argument of Thrasmymachus, not because he thinks it is true, (in fact he thinks it is untrue) but rather he wants the argument to receive the strongest response. Glaucon says, “It isn’t Socrates that I believe any of this myself. I’m perplexed, indeed, and my ears are deafened listening to Thrasymachus and countless others. But I’ve yet to hear anyone defend justice in the way I want, proving that it is better than injustice. I want to hear it praised by itself, and I think that I’m mostly likely to hear this from you.” He wants to put forward the strongest possible version of the argument so he can hear how Socrates might take it down.
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In Defense of Beauty and the Beast: A reply to John Mark Reynolds
John Mark Reynolds wrote a critique of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast here, and here. Dr. Reynolds has been tremendously influential in my own intellectual formation, and I am nearly always in agreement with him. So I was somewhat surprised by his critique of Disney’s Beauty and Beast.
Read More »In Defense of Beauty and the Beast: A reply to John Mark Reynolds
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Batman v Superman: A Reason for Hope (Guest Post, Samuel Varghese)
With the cinematic reboot of the DC Universe, with “Man of Steel” in 2013, and “Dawn of Justice” in 2016, many fans have had a hard time with the vision and direction Zack Snyder and David S. Goyer have taken with these characters and storylines. Read More »Batman v Superman: A Reason for Hope (Guest Post, Samuel Varghese)
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