Bradford McCall

... The Open Secret: A New Vision for Natural Theology – By Alister McGrath. Bradford McCall. Article first published online: 10 SEP 2009. ... More content like this. Find more content: like this article. Find more content written by: Bradford McCall. ...

... Retrieving the Natural Law: A Return to Moral First Things – By J. Daryl Charles. BradfordMcCall. Article first published online: 26 JUN 2009. ... More content like this. Find more content: like this article. Find more content written by: Bradford McCall. ...

... The Constant Fire: Beyond the Science vs. Religion Debate – By Adam Frank. BradfordMcCall. Article first published online: 10 SEP 2009. ... More content like this. Find more content: like this article. Find more content written by: Bradford McCall. ...

Alex Bentley is Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at Durham University, UK. In this title, he brings together nineteen different contributions (including the foreword by Mary Midgley) to accompany his introduction that with one voice claim that there should be a ...

... Christology and Science – By F. LeRon Shults. Bradford McCall. Article first published online: 10 SEP 2009. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9418.2009.00441_19.x. ... Get PDF (221K). More content like this. Find more content: like this article. Find more content written by: Bradford McCall. ...

... Religious Naturalism Today: The Rebirth of a Forgotten Alternative – By Jeremy A. Stone.Bradford McCall. Article first published online: 28 JUN 2010. ... More content like this. Find more content: like this article. Find more content written by: Bradford McCall. ...

Abstract Part one of the following essay will present a brief explication of the Baconian common sense method. The second part will examine the early Pentecostal's Bible Reading Method as char-acterized by Kenneth J. Archer. It will be noted that early Pentecostals wedded ...

InterVarsity Press PO Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426 World Wide Web: www.ivpress.com E-mail: [email protected] ©2006 by Ray S. Anderson All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from ...

... is his heavenly vision, to deliver us from our monocultural world and mold us into multiethnic people.” DIANA E. BARRERA, Executive Director ... readers, who gave very helpful feedback on our first draft: Bruce Alwood, Paul Borthwick, Cindy Bunch, Greg Campbell, Bobby Clin-ton ...

Rowe received a Master of Divinity degree from Chicago Theological Seminary and holds a Ph. D. in philosophy from the University of Michigan; he is currently professor of philosophy at Purdue University, where he specializes in the philosophy of religion and metaphysics. ...

Tarski himself took his account to be a refinement of the traditional correspondence view, though others have regarded it differently. Donald Davidson, who exploited Tarski's theory more thoroughly than any other writer, seems to have wanted to defend a correspondence view, but was ...

Should philosophy be based upon common sense? Stephen Boulter argues that it should. What would philosophy look like if it were in friendly 'relations' with common sense? This text explores these and related questions. Contrary to popular conception and practice Boulter argues ...

Sanford here both contributes to and edits a selection of essays that seeks to move toward grasping how we as humans understand, and how our understanding is limited. Are there any limits to understanding? Any generalizations? This book is based on the 2001 Gifford Lectures, ...

This title is currently being reviewed for possible publication.



A CRITICAL ANALYSIS AND RESPONSE TO HUME FROM A PNEUMATOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE





Abstract: In the course of the history of Christianity, one of the most advocated and denigrated concepts is the miraculous. The situation in which Scottish philosopher David Hume lived was ripe for the refutation of the miraculous. After a lengthy critical analysis of Hume, this paper argues that he did not successfully negate either the possibility of the miraculous or the plausibility of the miraculous. Instead, this paper asserts that the modern Renewal movement – with its renewed emphasis on pneumatology – has given new weight to the affirmation of miracles. In keeping with classical theists, the Renewal movement also grounds both the possibility and plausibility of the miraculous on the nature of God. The panentheistically informed pneumatological understanding of the God/world relationship herein advocated posits that the Spirit acts in a personal, direct and specific manner.

Keywords: Pneumatology; David Hume; miracles; Renewal theology; panentheism

Currently under review with an Academic Journal.

AQUINAS, TELEOLOGY, AND THE MODERN EVOLUTIONARY SYNTHESIS



Abstract: Thomistic teleology maintains that a substance must possess a palatable function in order to subsist. However, many naturalistic adherents posit that the concept of function is no longer apropos to speak of in science. Functions, they contend, must be applied by an intentional agent, and the derivation of species by natural selection is not the result of an intentional agent. Thomistic teleology is dependent on an intentional agent, but his division of the disciplines allows for adherence to the modern synthetic theory of evolution. Aquinas accepts the presence of chance within his system, and considers it consistent with God’s design, maintaining that God intends it, and that it provides the opportunity for variation. Aquinas sees chance as an accidental cause, not a proper cause. Adherents to Thomistic philosophy can accept evolution, and even use Thomistic hylomorphism to explain the evolution of species. Thomistic philosophy is strong enough to withstand the tension between modern science and theology, and provides philosophical accounts for scientific concepts.


Key Words: Thomistic philosophy; modern evolutionary theory; teleology; functions; intentionality; accidental cause; proper cause

Currently under review for an Academic Journal.
CAUSATION, VITALISM, AND HUME




Abstract: Causation has troubled philosophers since the time of Aristotle, and they have sought to clarify the concept of causation because of its implications for other philosophical issues, as clarity regarding causation is vital for clarity in the areas of metaphysics, epistemology, the philosophy of science, the philosophy of language, as well as the philosophy of logic. Probably the most radical change in the meaning of “cause” occurred during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, in which there emerged a strong tendency to understand causal relations as instantiations of deterministic laws. Prior to the seventeenth century, Western philosophy largely considered the concept of causation as unproblematic, its intelligibility was not an issue, and there were four types of causes: material, efficient, formal, and final. However, in this essay, I note how early modern philosophers, eminently apparent in Hume, reacted to the notion of vitalism and posited a conception of causation in which it and determinism became virtually equivalent, which thereby denied any sort of vitalistic impulse within matter.

Keywords: causation; final causality; vitalism; Aristotle; David Hume

This is currently under review in an Academic Journal.
Evolution, Emergence and Final Causality: A Proposed Pneumatico-Theological Synthesis

Abstract: It has been said that creation and evolution exhaust the possible explanations for the origin of living things. However, this paper proffers a pneumatological interpretation of emergence, “reading” emergence through theological lens. The reasoning set forth herein is in support of the overall thrust of Neo-Darwinian theory. In order to argue for the coherency of a triangulation between evolution, emergence, and final causality, I herein dialog with proponents of emergence theory, and then I suggest what may be the uniting factor between evolution and emergence: kenosis, understood theologically as a pouring of the Spirit into primal matter.
Keywords: Pneumatology; Final causality; Evolution; Emergence; Kenosis

Currently under review in an Academic Journal.
Abstract: According to Karol Wojtyla, the defining characteristic of betrothed love is self-donation. Picking up on Wojtyla’s characterization of betrothed love as self-donation, the bible gives good grounds for illustrating the Spirit as the active agent of God in the world, particularly regarding the Spirit as life-giver and animator of all creation through self-donation (or self-giving). The kenosis of the Spirit into creation amounts to betrothed love through self-donation. Thomas Jay Oord’s depiction of  “essential kenosis” makes numerous asseverations that are constructive for depicting love as self-donation. Several years ago, a collection of essays by theologians and scientists explored creation as The Work of Love, pointing to divine action as kenosis. Herein it is asserted that the Spirit has chosen to invite creation into a cooperative relationship, which coalesces with Wojtyla’s conception of love as self-donation. Ultimately, the essence of personal love is transcended by self-giving. In the final analysis, we are given the capacity of self-possession in order to be able to give ourselves away. The essence of the self is to transcend the self through betrothed self-donated love.

Keywords: kenosis; self-donation; self-giving; Thomas Jay Oord; John Polkinghorne; Karol Wojtyla

This is currently under review with an Academic Journal in the US.
Abstract: I argue that ontological randomness is genuine, and that God does not determine the outcome of every scientifically random event, but instead controls randomness by setting broad boundaries. Through paleontological examination, this paper looks at how randomness shapes the world from the bottom up. However, the phenomena known as convergence indicates that evolution through natural selection may proceed along various paths, but the destinations are few. So then, there is a dichotomy: randomness is constrained within pattern.
Key Words: contingency, convergence, determinism, evolutionary biology, paleontology, pattern, randomness