14AR19-14

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Apologia Report 19:14 (1,197)

May 7, 2014

Subject: Atheists receive a masterful defense of God's existence

In this issue:

APOLOGETICS - contrasting views on the analysis of popular culture

ATHEISM - Bill Craig appeals to Philosophy Now readers

RACISM - academics consider the influence of sin

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APOLOGETICS

Popologetics: Popular Culture in Christian Perspective, by Ted Turnau [1] -- well-reviewed by Tom Watts, a UK minister (St. Mary's Church, Chesham), who writes: "Ted Turnau is an American academic based in Prague, who has begun to find an appreciative audience among UK evangelicals. This book is an appeal for Christians to engage apologetically with popular culture, doing what he calls 'popologetics.' [Can you imagine what it would take for that word itself to ever become popular? - RP]

"In the first section of the book, Turnau outlines his definition of culture as a whole, as the human response to meaning and creativity in God's creation. He carefully explores the role of the fall in distorting culture. Significantly, and in contrast to some other Reformed writers, he suggests that the main difference between high culture and pop culture is simply one of pervasiveness in society, rather than intrinsic quality.

"The second section of the book therefore aims to defend his definition of popular culture against other views. He analyses various alternative options that range on a spectrum from uncritical reception to uncompromising rejection either on the grounds of taste or on the grounds of a theological preference for 'high culture.' On the latter point he engages at length with Kenneth Myers' dismissal of popular culture, and more briefly with others such as Douglas Wilson. Later he suggests that Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death [2] misdiagnoses the problem with society's addiction to moving pictures, and outlines his own response.

"The third and final section of the book consists of practical engagement with five different examples of popular culture. His aim is that Christians be equipped to sit down with non-Christian friends and use discussion of popular culture as a tool for the exploration of worldviews and values." Churchman, 128:1 - 2014, pp85-86.

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ATHEISM

"Does God Exist?" by William Lane Craig -- an unexpected appearance in the UK-based Philosophy Now magazine, usually a haven for God-bashing. Craig is given four full pages to present his case, and he makes good use of the opportunity. Craig's introduction reads in part: "Back in the 1940s and ’50s it was widely believed among philosophers that any talk about God is meaningless, since it is not verifiable by the five senses. The collapse of this Verificationism was perhaps the most important philosophical event of the twentieth century. Its downfall meant a resurgence of metaphysics, along with other traditional problems of philosophy which Verificationism had suppressed. Accompanying this resurgence came something altogether unanticipated: a renaissance of Christian philosophy.

"The turning point probably came in 1967 with the publication of Alvin Plantiga's God and Other Minds [3], which applied the tools of analytic philosophy to questions in the philosophy of religion with an unprecedented rigor and creativity. In Plantiga's train has followed a host of Christian philosophers, writing in professional journals and participating in professional conferences and publishing with the finest academic presses. The face of Anglo-American philosophy has been transformed as a result. Atheism, although perhaps still the dominant viewpoint in Western universities, is a philosophy in retreat." Craig refers to "philosopher Quentin Smith [who] laments what he calls 'the desecularization of academia that evolved in philosophy departments since the late 1960s.' ... Smith concludes, 'God is not "dead" in academia; he returned to life in the late 1960s and is now alive and well in his last academic stronghold, philosophy departments.'

"The renaissance of Christian philosophy has been accompanied by a resurgence of interest in natural theology - that branch of theology which seeks to prove God's existence without appeal to the resources of authoritative divine revelation - for instance, through philosophical argument. All of the traditional philosophical arguments for God's existence, such as the cosmological, theological, moral, and ontological arguments, not to mention creative, new arguments, find intelligent and articulate defenders in the contemporary philosophical scene. ...

"[T]he New Atheism is, in fact, a pop-cultural phenomenon lacking in intellectual muscle and blissfully ignorant of the revolution that has taken place in Anglo-American philosophy. It tends to reflect the scientism of a bygone generation, rather than the contemporary intellectual scene."

Craig lists eight reasons in support of God's existence with a summary following each, the first six of which begin: "God is the best explanation" - 1) why anything at all exists, 2) of the origin of the universe, 3) of the applicability of mathematics to the physical world, 4) of the fine-tuning of the universe for intelligent life, 5) of intentional states of consciousness, and 6) of objective moral values and duties; plus: 7) "The very possibility of God's existence implies that God exists," and 8) "God can be known and experienced."

Craig concludes: "There may be no way to prove such beliefs, and yet it's perfectly rational to hold them. Such beliefs are thus not merely basic, but properly basic. In the same way, belief in God is for those who seek a properly basic belief grounded in their experience of God.

"Now if this is so, then there's a danger that philosophical arguments for God could actually distract your attention from God Himself. The Bible promises, 'Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.' (James 4:8) We mustn't so concentrate on the external arguments that we fail to hear the inner voice of God speaking to our hearts. For those who listen, God becomes a personal reality in their lives." Philosophy Now, Nov/Dec '13, pp6-9.

The magazine includes a response to Craig in a more recent issue: <www.ow.ly/wtbea>

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RACISM

When Diversity Drops: Race, Religion, and Affirmative Action in Higher Education, by Julie J. Park [4] -- secular research considers the influence of sin. Reviewer Margarita A. Mooney of Yale University opens: "What does racial reconciliation look like within an evangelical Christian college fellowship when racial diversity ebbs and flows? Julie J. Park 's superbly researched and beautifully written book takes readers on a journey through nearly a decade of efforts at racial reconciliation by staff and students of one chapter of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) at a public university in California....

"Park also questions some of the narratives and approaches to racial reconciliation at IVCF. She gives readers enough information to allow them to reach their own conclusions while inviting critique of her own interpretation and the perspectives of her interviewees. ...

"Park presents an expressive quote from a female Asian-American IVCF staff member.... For IVCF, racism is one expression of a deeper problem: sin. ... "Am I a racist? Probably, probably more than I know. The world says, 'No, no, I'm not.'

"This discourse contrasts with a secular discourse that simply says: 'Why can't we all just get along?' IVCF answers that question by simply pointing out: because we are sinners. Hence, part of IVCF's mission was to encourage people to see a secular problem as pointing to a deeper spiritual malady. ...

"IVCF succeeded in establishing racial reconciliation as a core value and eradicating a discourse of color blindness, but the demographic change on campus made racial reconciliation hard to practice." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 53:1 - 2014, pp224-6.

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - Popologetics: Popular Culture in Christian Perspective, by Ted Turnau (P & R, 2012, paperback, 368 pages) <www.ow.ly/wtff9>

2 - Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, by Neil Postman (Penguin, 2005, paperback, 208 pages) <www.j.mp/hHVxIl>

3 - God and Other Minds: A Study of the Rational Justification of Belief in God, by Alvin Plantiga (Cornell Univ Prs, 1990, paperback, 288 pages) <www.ow.ly/wyO5F>

4 - When Diversity Drops: Race, Religion, and Affirmative Action in Higher Education, by Julie J. Park (Rutgers Univ Prs, 2013, paperback, 214 pages) <www.ow.ly/wtlmf>

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