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Introduction: The Resurrection of Theism
Back in the mid-1960's Time magazine ran a cover story for which the magazine's cover was completely black, except for three words emblazoned against the dark background in bright, red letters: "IS GOD DEAD?" The article described the then current "Dea...
Creation and Big Bang Cosmology
Several years ago popular science writer Robert Jastrow ruffled scientific feathers by asserting in his little book God and the Astronomers [(1978), pp. 113-116] that many cosmologists have a deep-seated aversion to the possible metaphysical and, indeed, theol...
A Response to Grünbaum on Creation and Big Bang Cosmology
It is an exhilarating experience to be on the receiving end of one of Professor Grünbaum's trenchant critiques, and I am grateful both for his criticisms and this opportunity to respond. Without further ado, then, let us get down to the enjoyable deta...
The Origin and Creation of the Universe: A Response to Adolf Grünbaum
1. Introduction When a man who is arguably the greatest living philosopher of space and time asserts that the question of creation in physical cosmology is a "pseudo-problem" (Grünbaum [1990]), then the philosopher who is interested in natural theology h...
God and the Initial Cosmological Singularity: A Reply to Quentin Smith
Introduction "The most efficacious way to prove that God exists is on the supposition that the world is eternal," advised Thomas Aquinas. "For, if the world and motion have a first beginning, some cause must clearly be posited to account for this origin of th...
Graham Oppy on the <em>Kalam</em> Cosmological Argument
Graham Oppy has recently attempted to re-support J. L. Mackie's objections to the kalam cosmological argument. [1] In this discussion note, I shall try to state succinctly why I think this attempt does not succeed. The Existence of an Actual Infinite...
The Existence of God and the Beginning of the Universe
Introduction "The first question which should rightly be asked," wrote G.W.F. Leibniz, is " Why is there something rather than nothing?" [1] This question does seem to possess a profound existential force, which has been felt by some of mankind'...
Barrow and Tipler on the Anthropic Principle vs. Divine Design
In their massive study The Anthropic Cosmological Principle, [1986] [1] John Barrow and Frank Tipler provide the most comprehensive analysis to date of the so-called Anthropic Principle and its relation to the classic teleological argument for a Divi...
Professor Mackie and the <em>Kalam</em> Cosmological Argument
Introduction Like David Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, J. L. Mackie's most potent blast against the rationality of belief in God, his The Miracle of Theism appeared after his death. [1] The book is a broadside against not only...
Wallace Matson and the Crude Cosmological Argument
1. The First Cause Cosmological Argument Of all the various forms assumed by the cosmological argument, the most intriguing and mentally stimulating is the proof for a first cause of the universe based on the impossibility of an infinite temporal regress of e...