Download or read book Alvin Plantinga and Christian Apologetics written by Keith A. Mascord and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The distinguished American philosopher Alvin Plantinga has had a career-long interest in the defense of Christian belief. There hasn't been a major contemporary challenge to such belief that Plantinga has not, in some way, addressed. This book draws together those contributions, highlighting particularly Plantinga's groundbreaking work in the areas of epistemology and the problem of evil. Historical and biographical background information is included to give perspective to Plantinga's work. His theory that both theistic and Christian belief is warranted and basic is explored and critiqued, and an assessment is offered as to the significance of Plantinga's work for apologetic theory and practice.
Download or read book Plantinga s Warranted Christian Belief written by Dieter Schönecker and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2015-10-16 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alvin Plantinga’s Warranted Christian Belief has very quickly become one of the most influential books in philosophy of religion. In this collection of essays, German philosophers, theologians and a mathematician deal critically with several aspects of Plantinga’s seminal work. In a long essay, Plantinga answers to these critics.
Download or read book Knowledge and Christian Belief written by Alvin Plantinga and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2015-04-14 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Mapping Apologetics written by Brian K. Morley and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2015-02-10 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How and why do people believe? This comprehensive guide provides an overview of Christian apologetic approaches and thinkers in a way that even the nonspecialist can understand and practically apply. Even-handed and respectful of each apologist and their contribution, this book provides the reader with a formidable array of defenses for the faith.
Download or read book Warranted Christian Belief written by Alvin Plantinga and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the notion of warrant as that which distinguishes knowledge from true belief. This volume examines warrant's role in theistic belief, tackling the questions of whether it is rational, reasonable, justifiable, and warranted to accept Christian belief and whether there is something epistemically unacceptable in doing so.
Download or read book Theology s Epistemological Dilemma written by Kevin Diller and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2014-10-24 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Karl Barth and Alvin Plantinga are not thought of as theological allies. Barth is famous for his opposition to philosophy's role in theology, while Plantinga is famous for his emphasis on warranted belief. Kevin Diller argues that they actually offer a unified response to the central epistemological dilemma in theology.
Download or read book Faith and Rationality written by Alvin Plantinga and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of essays by contemporary Calvinist philosophers of religion that examine the epistemology of religious belief between Reformed and Roman Catholic philosophers.
Download or read book Christian Apologetics written by Zondervan, and published by Zondervan Academic. This book was released on 2012-08-07 with total page 1389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An authoritative reference for key persons, concepts, issues, and approaches in the history of Christian apologetics—allowing you to read the great apologists and thinkers in their own words and understand their arguments in historical and cultural context. Christian Apologetics: An Anthology of Primary Sources makes available over fifty primary source selections that address various challenges to the Christian faith in the history of apologetics. The compilation represents a broad Christian spectrum, ranging from early writers like Saint Paul and Saint Augustine, to Saint Teresa of Avila and Blaise Pascal, to more recent apologists such as C. S. Lewis, Alvin Plantinga, William Lane Craig, Richard Swinburne and Pope Benedict XVI. Insightful introductions, black-and-white images, concise section headings and discussion questions will guide you toward a clearer understanding of classical defenses of Christianity. Sources are organized thematically and include topics such as: Arguments for the existence of God. Defenses of the doctrine of the Trinity. Discussions on the authority and credibility of canonized Scripture. Questions regarding the problem of evil and free will. Discourses on Christianity and science. Annotated reading lists, a bibliography, and author and subject indices make this anthology a useful textbook or supplemental reader.
Download or read book Kenosis and Priesthood written by T. D. Herbert and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2009-02-16 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The thesis of this book is that it is possible to re-imagine priesthood so that it becomes a useful way to understand the nature and importance of the ordained ministry, but without undervaluing or negating the priesthood of all believers. Such a re-imagining might offer a new way forward in the area of ecumenical debate. In the past, the priesthood of the ordained has proved to be thoroughly problematic, not least for ecumenical debate. As a result, both the Anglican-Methodist Reunion Scheme (1968) and the Covenant Proposals (1982) floundered upon the question of orders. Instead of rehearsing the traditional and now rather clichŽd arguments by approaching priesthood through an exploration of the kenotic and Trinitarian theologies of Karl Barth, Hans Urs von Balthasar and Jÿrgen Moltmann and Scriptures--notably the Epistle to the Philippians--it is possible to develop a new understanding. In this work, kenosis is understood as the Trinitarian revelation of God's saving act for humanity. Instead of trying to depict priesthood in naively realistic terms, but drawing in particular on the critically realistic dialectic of Barth's theology, and demonstrating that the Bible presents priesthood dialectically, it is possible to argue that the priesthood of the ordained is essentially missionary. It is called to represent not simply the presence of God among humanity, nor to represent humanity to God, but to proclaim God's gracious saving act in Jesus Christ and so call people to respond gratefully by living Christian lives in the face of the world. At the Eucharist, therefore, the priest is not the one who has the specific power to consecrate, but the one who leads the congregation in publicly retelling and, therefore celebrating, God's saving act.
Download or read book Between Horror and Hope written by Sorin Sabou and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Between Horror and Hope' is a study of Paul's metaphorical language of death in Romans 6:1-11. The scholarly debate focuses on two main issues; the origin of the 'commentatio mortis' tradition and its development. Dr. Sabou argues that the origin of this terminology is original to Paul; that it was the apostle's own insight into the meaning of Christ's death (a death to sin) and his understanding of the identity of Christ in his death (as the anointed davidic king) which guided him to create this metaphor of dying to sin as a way of describing the relationship of the believer with sin. On the development of this language of death, the author argues that this language conveys two aspects -- horror and hope. The first is discussed in the context of crucifixion in which Paul explains the believer's death to sin by presenting Christ's death as the death of the anointed davidic king who won the victory over sin and death by rising from the dead. Paul affirms that believers are coalesced with what was proclaimed about Christ's death and resurrection, thereby allowing him to assert that the releasing of the body from the power of sin is a result of crucifixion. This crucifixion is the condemnation inflicted on our past lives in the age inaugurated by Adam's sin and this is such a horrible event that believers have to stay away from sin since sin leads to such punishment. In contrast, hope is presented in the context of burial. The believers' burial with Christ points to the fact that they are part of Christ's family and this is accomplished by the overwhelming action of God by which he pushes us toward the event of Christ's death, an act pictured in baptism. It is this burial with Christ that allows believers to share with Christ in newness of life
Download or read book Faiths and Faithfulness written by Nicholas J. Wood and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2009-11-01 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How are people of faith to be faithful to their various traditions in today's diverse society? How may we live together as neighbors and yet remain true to our differing religious convictions? How is it possible for the contemporary Christian to confess the Lordship of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths? These are some of the fundamental questions which this volume seeks to explore. It offers a critical account of two key twentieth-century missionary-theologians who attempted to address the issue of pluralism within a confessional framework: Bishop Kenneth Cragg and Bishop Lesslie Newbigin. This study argues for a reconsideration of the biblical themes of fullness and fulfillment which may offer a way of holding together the traditions of continuity, which Cragg shows can never be total, and of discontinuity, which Newbigin argues can never be absolute. In this way the book addresses some of the implications for the development of an appropriate missiological approach to inter-faith issues in the twenty-first century which requires us to take people of faith seriously but also allows faithfulness to the Christian gospel.
Download or read book The Comical Doctrine written by Rosalind Selby and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2006-10-01 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this wide-ranging study Rosalind Selby explores the hermeneutical implications of a Barthian epistemology in which 'giveness' (of knowledge, talk of God and Scripture, and the Church) is paramount. From this she seeks to develop a 'hermeneutics of service' that challenges both liberal and fundamentalist approaches to theological language and biblical interpretation. Selby tackles the issues of knowledge, and especially knowledge of God, the language used to communicate that knowledge and that language as Scriptural textuality. Barth wrote of 'the comical doctrine that the true exegete has no presuppositions'. In fact, he said, 'no one reads the bible directly--we all read it through spectacles'. In the train of his insight, Selby examines the role of community as a prerequisite for knowledge and truth claims before examining the different ways that various 'communities' interpret Scripture (focusing on St. Mark's Gospel). The presuppositions of the different starting places are revealed and the appropriateness of various methodologies discussed. The Quest for the Historical Jesus and its struggles to handle the resurrection are used as a 'test case' to show the impact of different hermeneutical strategies. The insights in this thought-provoking study have implications for issues as wide ranging as the genre 'Gospel', the authority of Scripture, the Church as a 'reading community', the plurality of interpretations and the possibility of controlling them, the relationship between general and special theological hermeneutics, as well as epistemological foundationalism and its alternatives.
Download or read book Healing Weakness and Power written by Audrey Dawson and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2008-12-01 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Healing by Jesus and the apostles is not a popular subject for biblical studies today, but the importance of healing in the first-century eastern Roman Empire was enormous. In the New Testament writings of Mark, Luke and Paul we find considerable variation in their use of divine healing. With respect to Jesus' healing, Mark and Luke both emphasize it, but differ in their representation of its purpose and source. Also, Mark's accounts of Jesus' healing combine with his overall description in the Gospel to underline his theological view (a theologia crucis), while Luke depicts healing as showing primarily the glory of God (although a theologia crucis is also present) and he presents the theological aspect of Jesus' healing within each healing narrative. Healing in the early church is then compared in Acts and Paul's undisputed letters. Luke continues to emphasize the power and evidential value of healing in spreading the gospel. Paul, instead, emphasizes the 'essence' of Jesus' ministry, love and compassion, and underplays healing, both by himself and by members of the churches he planted. The main reason for this seems to be because of his 'thorn in the flesh'; his physical weakness demonstrates that the gospel truth shines only because of Christ's influence. Paul's illness probably also sensitizes him to the risk of healing becoming a power which could compromise a fellowship based on love and equality. Finally, the legacy of Jesus' healing is considered briefly over the subsequent few centuries.
Download or read book The Trinity Creation and Pastoral Ministry written by Graham Buxton and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book the author proposes a three-way conversation between theology, science, and pastoral ministry. His approach draws on a Trinitarian understanding of God as a relational being of love, whose life spills over into all created reality, human and nonhuman. By locating human meaning and purpose within God's creation-community this book offers the possibility of a transforming engagement between those in pastoral ministry and the scientific community.
Download or read book Postliberal Theological Method written by Adonis Vidu and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Postliberal Theological Method is a fresh, critical analysis of one of today's most influential theological movements. Drawing on recent thinking in analytic philosophy, particularly Donald Davidson's work on truth and meaning, Vidu raises questions about the linguistic turn in the theology of Hans Frei, George Lindbeck, John Milbank and others.
Download or read book The Saving Righteousness of God written by Michael F. Bird and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2007-03-07 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a series of studies on contentious aspects of Paul's doctrine of justification including the meaning of righteousness, the question of imputation, the role of resurrection in justification, an evaluation of the New Perspective, the soteriological and ecclesiological significance of justification, justification by faith with judgment according to works, and debates over the orthodoxy of N. T. Wright. The burden of this volume is to demonstrate that reformed and new readings of Paul are indispensable to attaining a full understanding of Paul's soteriology. An analysis of Galatians and Romans demonstrates that the covenantal and forensic dimensions of justification go hand in glove. The vertical and horizontal aspects need to be appropriately described and weighted in order to provide a holistic rendering of justification in Paul's letters. According to Paul, faith alone in Jesus Christ is the instrument of eschatological vindication; and faith alone marks out the true people of God.
Download or read book Barth and Dostoevsky written by P. H. Brazier and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2008-04-01 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A work of historic and systematic theology, Barth and Dostoevsky, examines the influence of the Russian writer and prophet Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky on the Swiss theologian Karl Barth. This is a study that demonstrates that the writings of Dostoevsky affected the development of the theology of Karl Barth. This was an influence mediated by his friend and colleague Eduard Thurneysen and was in the form of a key element of Barth's thought: his understanding of sin and grace. Therefore, this study explicates first, the reading of Dostoevsky by Barth, 1915-1916, and the influence on this understanding of sin and grace; second, a study of Eduard Thurneysen in so far as his life and work complements and influences Barth; third, Barth's illustrative use of Dostoevsky, around 1918-1921, the period of the rewriting of his seminal commentary on Romans--the bombshell on the playground of the theologians, as Karl Adams put it.