Writing
Theology and apologetics
Select a category from the drop down menu, or browse the latest articles below.
Differentiating Between Low and High Stake Objections When Dealing with Doubts
When an objection to Christianity carries high stakes, it strikes at the very heart of the Christian message, calling into question the core tenants of the faith. In my experience, most of the objections that have led people down the road of abandoning their faith have not been of this category. Rather, people lose their faith over much less fundamental issues
The Need for Cognitive Closure in Dealing with Doubts
Different people have varying levels of tolerance for mystery and ambiguity. Individuals with a high need for cognitive closure are more prone to walk away from the Christian faith than individuals with a lower need. For some people, in order to be content within one’s worldview, satisfactory answers must exist to all possible questions and objections that might be raised against it.
Undesigned Coincidences and the Synoptic Puzzle: A Reply to Kurt Jaros
An important feature of undesigned coincidences, which I think is all-too-often overlooked by critics, including Jaros, is the failure to understand the evidential significance of an appearance of casualness. This is what drives many to assume that the evangelists had to have no knowledge of each other’s work before we can argue for an undesigned coincidence.
Revisiting the Noetic Effects of Sin: A Reply to Dr. James White
I recently published an article on the noetic effects of sin and apologetic methodology. This week, Dr. James White, whom I am going to be debating as part of a round table discussion on apologetic systems this coming Friday, devoted a significant portion of his Dividing Line program to responding to what I wrote. In this article, I respond to Dr. White’s critique of my position.
A Bayesian Approach to Intelligent Design
The Bayesian formulation of biological design arguments is, in my opinion, deserving of greater attention. Bayesian inference is widely used when dealing with design in the physical sciences. Perhaps the time has come for this structure of argument also to be used in design arguments in the life sciences.
Undesigned Coincidences in the Gospels: A Reply to John Nelson
Nelson has not offered compelling reason to reconsider the use of undesigned coincidences in the cumulative argument for the substantial reliability of the gospels, and the Scriptures more broadly.
The Secular vs. Sacred Distinction: Is it Valid?
It is appropriate to distinguish between the secular and the sacred, provided that the territory at which they overlap is recognized. Things which are sacred should not be secularized, but what is secular can and should be made sacred such that the gospel may be advanced through it.
The Argument From Prophecy and Bayes Theorem (Part 2): Failed Biblical Prophecy?
Fulfilled prophecy carries much more epistemic significance than apparently unfulfilled prophecy, because of the principle of epistemic asymmetry
The Argument From Prophecy and Bayes Theorem (Part 1): How to Express the Evidence of Prophetic Fulfillment
The probability of the evidence given your hypothesis does not need to be high for your data to carry evidential value. Rather, it only needs to be higher on the assumption that your hypothesis is correct than on the assumption that it is false.