Apologetics (Spring 2006 | CCFC)

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Logistics and Contact

Dates: January 22, 2006 through March 5, 2006
Time: Sundays at 1:30PM-2:45PM
Place: Fellowship Hall (basement), Cambridge Church of the Nazarene.
     (Feb 26 meeting on the third floor.)
Address: 234 Franklin St., Cambridge MA.
Teacher: Ang Tong
Email: ang [at] pobox [dot] com
Phone: +1 617 669-2506

Summary

Our purpose is to address central questions about the rationality of Christian faith, questions that revolve around evidence and what role it plays in religious versus secular (especially "scientific") belief. Hopefully, an understanding of the basic issues will help us to determine whether the Christian has resources to answer objections raised by the intelligent skeptic. All are welcome to attend, no matter where you may be with respect to either faith or reason. We will be evaluating arguments in an open-minded, intellectually honest, and spiritually sensitive manner. Our central text will be Michael L. Peterson and Raymond J. VanArragon (eds.) Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Religion (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004), [reviewed here], with additional readings as posted.

Note: It is not necessary (or expected) for participants in the classes to read any of the articles in the syllabus.

Announcements

• 02/26/2006: Class will be on the third floor today.
• 02/12/2006: Class is canceled today, due to the storm.
• 01/18/2006: The room for the class has been changed to the Fellowship Hall (basement).
• 01/16/2006: This page posted.

Syllabus

1. Does science discredit religion?
   • John Worall, "Science Discredits Religion," in Contemporary Debates, pp. 59-72.
   • Del Ratzsch, "The Demise of Religion: Greatly Exaggerated Reports from the Science/Religion 'Wars'," in Contemporary Debates, pp. 72-87.
   • Worall and Ratzsch, "Replies," in Contemporary Debates, pp. 87-94.
   • Philip Kitcher, "The Many-Sided Conflict Between Science and Religion" in William E. Mann (ed.), The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Religion (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005). [Lecture, by streaming RealVideo]
2. Do our religious experiences justify our religious beliefs?
   • J. L. Schellenberg, "Divine Hiddenness Justifies Atheism," in Contemporary Debates, pp. 30-42.
   • Paul K. Moser, "Divine Hiddenness Does Not Justify Atheism," in Contemporary Debates, pp. 42-54.
   • Schellenberg and Moser, "Replies," in Contemporary Debates, pp. 54-58.
3. Are there good reasons to think that the Bible is trustworthy?
   • Richard Swinburne, Revelation: from Metaphor to Analogy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).
   • Douglas Blount, "The Authority of Scripture," in Michael J. Murray (ed.), Reason for the Hope Within (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Willliam B. Eerdmans, 1999), pp. 399-422.
   • Gordon Hugenberger, "Evidences for the Historicity of the Bible", Park Street Church, 2001 (web resource, PDF).
4. Should we believe in the resurrection of Christ?
   • Stephen T. Davis, "It is Rational to Believe in the Resurrection," in Contemporary Debates, pp. 164-173.
   • Michael Martin, "It is not Rational to Believe in the Resurrection," in Contemporary Debates, pp. 174-184.
   • Davis and Martin, "Replies," in Contemporary Debates, pp. 184-188.
5. Is evil evidence against God?
   • William Rowe, "Evil is Evidence against Theistic Belief," in Contemporary Debates, pp. 3-13.
   • Daniel Howard-Snyder and Michael Bergmann, "Evil Does Not Make Atheism More Reasonable Than Theism," in Contemporary Debates, pp. 13-25.
   • Rowe, Howard-Snyder and Bergmann, "Replies," in Contemporary Debates, pp. 25-29.
   • Derk Pereboom, "The Problem of Evil," The Blackwell Guide to Philosophy of Religion, William E. Mann, ed., Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2004, pp. 148-70
6. Can only one religion be true?
   • Keith E. Yandell, "How to Sink in Cognitive Quicksand: Nuancing Religious Pluralism," in Contemporary Debates, pp. 191-201.
   • Peter Byrne "It is not Reasonable to Believe that Only One Religion is True," in Contemporary Debates, pp. 201-211.
   • Yandell and Byrne, "Replies," in Contemporary Debates, pp. 211-217.
   • Thomas Kelly, "The Epistemic Significance of Disagreement", forthcoming in John Hawthorne and Tamar Gendler (eds.), Oxford Studies in Epistemology.

Additional Resources for Apologetics

For further reading, I've put together a list of materials here.

About Ang Tong

I am currently a graduate student in the MA program in philosophy at Tufts University. Prior to Tufts, I studied theology at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MA expected, 2006) and physics at the California Institute of Technology (BS, 1996). My academic interests include logic, the philosophy of science, and the philosophy of religion. For more, you can check out my Blogger profile.