swamidass
January 20, 2019, 7:33am
1
Today, I gave a series of four lectures for a group of Christian medical professionals and students.
Confident faith in science (http://peacefulscience.org/swamidass-confident-faith.pdf )
Confident voice in origins (http://peacefulscience.org/genealogical-rapprochement/ )
What does it mean to be human? (Of Apes and Artificial Minds: What Does it Mean to be Human? )
What does it mean to be good? (The Humanity of Denisovans )
Several resources were referenced. The audience wanted to know some of them, so that is the purpose of this thread. If you were at this retreat, please ask any follow up questions you might have here.
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swamidass
January 20, 2019, 7:33am
2
From the nobel Laureate…https://www.amazon.com/Advice-Young-Investigator-Bradford-Book/dp/0262681501
This recent Veritas Forum article gets it right:
http://www.veritas.org/positivism-burden-proof/
This is the central thesis of the book. Plantinga argues that although one cannot prove empirically that other minds exist , it is still rational to believe in them, and that the same is true for the existence of God. It follows from this that there must be bases of knowledge outside empirical investigation. This conclusion was anathema to the positivist, whose entire epistemology revolved around a presumption of the omnipotence of empirical investigation.
What is more, the logic is elegantly simple: We believe A despite a lack of empirical evidence ; it is rational to do so; therefore, it might also be rational to believe B despite a lack of empirical evidence. If one takes Plantinga’s goal to be restoring the viability of belief in God by dismantling the tyranny of the positivist regime, he certainly succeeded.
What you are bypassing from the get go in your quest is that we cannot even empirically demonstrate your wife has a mind. We can’t empirically demonstrate anyone proper basic belief .
Starting from Plantinga’s argument comes my extension. If we can’t empirically demonstrate another human has a mind, why should not expect to empirically demonstrate the existence of a Divine Mind?
That is, of course, unless that Divine Mind chose to reveal
Dr. NT Wright takes a historian’s perspective:
http://ntwrightpage.com/2016/07/12/christian-origins-and-the-resurrection-of-jesus-the-resurrection-of-jesus-as-a-historical-problem/
The thing is that there is just a massive amount of evidence, much more than I can share briefly with you. Its almost as if an intelligence beyond our time is revealing Himself to us in history.
The Resurrection is quite a bit like evolution. We have to be careful about misidentifying our personal ignorance of evidence as lack of evidence all together. The two are not the same thing. There is a lot of evidence for evolution, just as there is a lot of evidence for the Resurrection.
This is not merely about Truth though, it is also about affections. Tell me, what do you think of Jesus? Have you had a chance to look at him yet? He is beautiful. He is good.
https://www.amazon.com/Mere-Christianity-C-S-Lewis/dp/0060652926
The Resurrection of the Son of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God, Vol. 3) [Wright, N. T.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Resurrection of the Son of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God, Vol. 3)
$28.49
