Contents
CONTENTS
Introduction: A Meditation on the Practice and Ministry of Answering Questions
On the Intent and Scope of This Book
On the Experience of Reading These “Reasonable Responses”
An Exercise in Using This Book
On the Practice and Ministry of Answering Questions
On a Proper “Home” for Asking Questions
The Good of Questions, Connecting Us with Reality
Questions as Integral to Discipleship
Questions and Dealing with Doubt
Questions and the Spiritual Discipline of Study
On How We View the Ministry of Answering People’s Questions
On How to Benefit by Reading This Book
Part One: Questions on Knowing and Believing What Is Real
Does Knowledge Require Certainty?
On How to Confront the Challenge of Apatheism
On Common Sense, Intuitions, and the Limits of Reason
How Is Belief in God Properly Basic?
On Question-Begging and Appealing to the Holy Spirit
2. On Argumentation and Logic 101
An Exercise in Argumentation and Logic
What Is a Criterion for a Good (Apologetics) Argument?
Why “Soundness” Is Not Sufficient for Making a Good Argument
3. On the Basis for Objective Morality
On the Value of Appealing to One’s Moral Experience
How Can God Be the Ground of Morality?
The Importance of Distinguishing Between Moral Epistemology and Moral Ontology
Is It Arbitrary to Adopt God’s Nature as the Good?
4. On the Authority of Scripture
Establishing the Gospels’ Reliability
Is the Price of “Biblical Errancy” Too High to Pay?
A Middle Knowledge Perspective on Biblical Inspiration
On Inerrancy and the Resurrection
On Whether God’s Existence Can Be Evident to Every Sincere Seeker
What Does It Mean to Define “God”?
What Does It Mean for God to Have Necessary Existence?
Is a Maximally Great Being Possible?
Naturalistic Appeal to Ignorance
On Assessing the Argument from Contingency
Justification of the Moral Argument’s Second Premise
Is Trinity Monotheism Orthodox?
Does Infinite Personhood Imply Pantheism?
The Trinity and God’s Omni-Attributes
On Appraising Perfect Being Theology
In What Sense Is God a “Simple Being”?
On Problems with “Reformed” Theology’s Conception of God and Creation
Divine Impassibility and the Crucifixion
Part Three: Questions about Origins and the Meaning of Life
1. On the Origins of the Universe
“God” and “the Cause of the Universe”
On Bringing into Being Things Which Do Not Exist
Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow: Philosophical Undertakers
On Whether the Universe Must Have a Material Cause
Must the Cause of the Universe Be Personal?
On a Framework for Thinking about God, Creation, and Time
Is There a Contradiction in God’s Creation of Time?
Tenseless Time and Identity over Time
3. On Atheism and Meaning in Life
On Evolutionary Theory and Theism
Part Four: Questions about the Afterlife and Evil
1. On the Afterlife, Hell, and the Unevangelized
On a Molinist View of Sovereignty, Hell, and Salvation
Does Creation Benefit the Lost?
Do the Damned in Hell Accrue Further Punishment?
Molinism, the Unevangelized, and Cultural Chauvinism
Skeptical Theism and the Problem of Evil
Was the Slaughter of the Canaanites an Act of “Divine Genocide”?
Part Five: Questions about Jesus Christ and Being His Disciple
On Assessing Jesus and Pagan Mythological Allusions
On What It Means for Jesus to Be the Son of God
On Assessing Independent Sources for Jesus’ Burial and Empty Tomb
On the Significance of the Witness of the Pre-Pauline Tradition to the Empty Tomb
Can One Justifiably Infer Jesus’ Resurrection on the Basis of Empirical Evidence?
On the Hard Yet Rewarding Work of Dealing with Doubts
What Does It Mean to Have a Relationship with God?
On Protecting Against Spiritual Failure
On Facing Fear of Ridicule and Rejection
Part Six: Questions about Issues of Christian Practice
Do We Live in a Postmodern Society?
How Might We Think about a Christian Marrying a Non-Christian?
Can Someone Be a “Christian Homosexual”?
On How to Maintain Physical Stamina
Conclusion: Where Do We Go from Here?
The Value of Thinking and Living Vocationally
Appendix 1: Tips on Using This Book for Small Group Study
Appendix 2: On Fostering Question-Asking and Answer-Seeking Environments