How ought missionaries communicate or theologize concerning the doctrine of hell in an honor-shame culture? This question has become increasingly relevant as the locus of Christianity has moved away from Western countries in Europe and North America and towards the global South and Far East where some of the largest Christian populations exist in nations …
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The doctrine of justification serves as the fundamental issue dividing Christian traditions, particularly Protestantism and Catholicism. What rests on this question is not only the Christian’s current status before God but also the implications for how the Christian ought to live and why. While this doctrine encompasses a broad range of questions, the three main …
Scripture’s significance within the first couple hundred years of the early church was predicated on the claims about itself and the patristic deductions from these claims. Starting with the Hebrew Bible, the early church fathers argued for Jesus Christ’s fulfillment of these scriptures. They utilized Old Testament prophecy coupled with the direction of the Scriptures …
A pertinent question for the early church was Jesus’ relationship to God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Establishing any cogent account of God’s essence needed textual justification which arose out of the apostles's experiences with the risen Christ. Out of these texts the early church fathers developed more precise theological language to supplement how …
Are fetuses persons? Interestingly enough, according to some philosophers of mind and certain pro-choice advocates, the answer is no. This means that you yourself were never a fetus despite biological science stating that your body was once the size of a peanut with a developing heart, lungs, and nervous system. On the face of it, …
As I mentioned on my post defending free will (1), one of the alternatives to determinism and libertarian freedom is compatibilism. It is named as such due to its contention that moral responsibility and determinism can be harmonized. The compatibilist would join the libertarian in maintaining moral responsibility is a reality while agreeing with the …
The experience of religion in both individuals and societies throughout time has greatly impacted the course of human events, but religion itself has caused controversy over its essence and origins within the field of religious studies. In order to reach certain conclusions concerning how religion ought to be understood, the presuppositions as to whether or …
I have really debated whether or not to post this article, but if nothing else, I hope it can be informative to some of my readers. This article is meant to be foremost a response to James Bishop's recent post, "Why Isaiah 7:14 is Not a Prophecy of Jesus' Virgin Birth." Bishop operates a blog …
Few debates have fractured the philosophical community quite like the debate over determinism and free will. (1) Whether or not humans can exercise genuine freedom has implications for moral responsibility, ethics, religion, and even the mind, so for many persons, giving an account of free will is crucial to maintaining other essential beliefs about reality. The …
In this second installment on my series on the pro-life ethic (PLE), I will attempt to argue the death penalty is contrary to maintaining a consistent PLE. As defined in part one (1), the PLE is an ethic which affirms the inherent moral worth of human beings. Further, this affirmation of the inherent moral worth must …
Continue reading The Pro-Life Ethic, Part Two: The Death Penalty
