Bradley Rettler
Philosophy of Religion (Fall 2015)
INSTRUCTOR: Dr Bradley Rettler
CONTACT: rettlerb@gmail.com
OFFICE HOURS: Wednesday 3:30-4:30, and by appointment
OFFICE: Morrison Hall 220
MAILBOX: Morrison Hall 212
Course Website: http://PR.bradleyrettler.com
Resources
Schedule and Readings
Introduction
Aug 24: Introduction
Aug 26: Logic and Arguments
Aug 28: Logic and Arguments, continued
Fine-Tuning
Aug 31: Collins - 'The Fine-Tuning Design Argument'
Sep 2:
Sep 4:
Sep 9: Sober - 'The Design Argument', especially 133-140. Sample Reaction Paper.
Sep 11:
Sep 14: Weisberg - 'Firing Squads and Fine-Tuning'
Sep 16:
Sep 18:
Argument from Evil
Sep 21: Dostoevsky - 'The Rebellion', from The Brothers Karamazov
Sep 23: Rowe - 'The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism'
Sep 25:
Sep 28: Plantinga - 'The Free Will Defense', from The Nature of Necessity
Sep 30:
Oct 2: Dr. Trenton Merricks and Dr. Trent Dougherty visit - Materialism, Dualism, and Christianity -- read Merricks' "How to Live Forever without Saving Your Soul"
Oct 5: Bergmann - 'Skeptical Theism and Rowe's New Evidential Argument from Evil"
Oct 7:
Oct 9:
The Moral Argument
Oct 12: Adams - 'Moral Arguments for Theistic Belief'
Oct 14:
Oct 16: Antony - 'Good without God'
Oct 19: Zagzebski - 'Does Ethics Need God?'
Oct 21:
Oct 23:
Argument from Hiddenness
Oct 26: van Inwagen - 'What is the Problem of the Hiddenness of God?'
Oct 28: Chiang - 'Hell is the Absence of God'
Nov 2: Rea - 'Divine Hiddenness, Divine Silence'
Nov 4:
Nov 6:
Poll-Winning Papers*
Nov 9: Plantinga - Is Christian Belief Irrational?
Nov 11: Thurow - Does Cognitive Science Show Belief in God to be Irrational?
Nov 13: The Rationality of Theistic Belief, Concluded
Visitor's Week
Nov 16: Dr. Andrew Bailey visits - The Problem of the Trinity
Nov 18: Dr. Charity Anderson visits - Miracles - read Hume's "Of Miracles"
Nov 20: Dr. Trent Dougherty visits - The Problem of Animal Pain
More Poll-Winning Papers
Nov 30: Howard-Snyders - The Puzzle of Petitionary Prayer
Dec 2: Crisp - Jesus and Affluence
Dec 4: Jesus and Affluence, continued
Dec 7: Track 1 Paper Presentations
Final Exam and Final Papers Due
Dec 10: 9-11 am
*Papers for the Poll
Bogardus - The Problem of Contingency for Religious Beliefs
Crisp – On Believing the Bible is Divinely Inspired
Feldman – Reasonable Religious Disagreements
Howard-Snyders – The Puzzle of Petitionary Prayer
Lebens - God and His Imaginary Friends
Lewis - Divine Evil
Mawson - Praying to Stop Being an Atheist
Merricks - How to Live Forever without Saving your Soul
Pettigrove - The Dilemna of Divine Forgiveness
Plantinga – Is Christian Belief Irrational?
Rea - Does God have a Gender?
Sider – Hell and Vagueness (and a reply)
Thurow - Does Cognitive Science show belief in God to be irrational?
Van Dyke - Eating as a Gendered Act: Christianity, Feminism, and Reclaiming the Body
van Inwagen - I look for the Resurrection
Whitcomb - Grounding and Omniscience (and a reply)
Zagzebski - Omnisubjectivity (and a reply)