Category Archives: Philosophy

God would not violate his own laws

Posted on 04/02/2016 by Jon Garvey

It is still a remarkably common objection to miracles, or to other than excessively-rare miracles, that God would not violate the laws of nature that he himself commanded. Not uncommonly, to allow for miracles arguments are made that show that God need not actually break the laws to do them.

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A short history of air

Posted on 16/01/2016 by Jon Garvey

Another BioLogos thread on the relationship of Genesis 1 to “modern science” got me thinking more about the phenomenology of that, and other ANE accounts like Enuma Elish. By this I mean to bypass, for now, the (more important) questions of “meaning” and “genre”, simply to try and get a better picture of what kind of world the ancients saw when they looked out of the window. It becomes quite interesting.

Posted in Creation, History, Philosophy, Science | 4 Comments

On the resurrection…

Posted on 14/01/2016 by Jon Garvey

… and on a good number of other matters too, from Creation to Scriptural Inspiration…

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The rate- (or purpose-) limiting step of Creation

Posted on 07/01/2016 by Jon Garvey

I was struck by a succinct observation by poster StephenB on an Uncommon Descent thread about theistic evolution: For guided evolution, the design precedes the process. For Darwinian evolution, the process precedes the design (appearance of).

Posted in Creation, Philosophy, Science, Theology | 7 Comments

Resurrection, continuity and forms

Posted on 16/12/2015 by Jon Garvey

One of the questions that exercised the rabbis in the discussion of the general resurrection of the dead, even before the Christian era, was the question of continuity. The school of Shammai, working from Ezekiel, believed that God must clothe the dead bones (hence the need for careful burial, and even careful execution of criminals). The school of Hillel, working from Job, believed God would work inwards, filling the skin with new life.

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An alternative choice for “We must have been able to choose differently…”

Posted on 15/12/2015 by Jon Garvey

This is picking up some themes from a post in October. I always remember a conversation I had with my friend Tim on “A” staircase of Pembroke College, Cambridge, back in 1971. We were discussing some current issue over coffee, and I screwed up one eye sagely and said, “Ah, things would be different…”, expecting him to fill in the gap mentally with “…if it weren’t for the Lefties,” or “…if my parents had loved me” or some other amusing platitude.

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Humanity, evolution and concurrence.

Posted on 11/12/2015 by Jon Garvey

Nearly two years ago I wrote on the difficulties evolution presents to philosophical realism – the existence of universals like “human nature” – and what it would take for us as Christians to be able to hold the first without losing the latter. It’s a real philosophical problem, and involves who we are. Another recent conversation with Timothy Hicks relates to that issue.

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“God of the gaps” – an accusation from ignorance

Posted on 07/12/2015 by Jon Garvey

Every couple of days, it appears, the “God of the gaps” argument is mentioned in comments at BioLogos, usually with reference to its alleged use by Intelligent Design proponents, but often in an attempt to steer round it whilst still acknowledging a truly theistic understanding of creation and evolution. It seems to function in a kind of negative capacity, in the same manner as discussions of immigration or terrorism that begin, “Of course, I’m not a racist, but…”

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Another snippet on the subjective humanness of perception

Posted on 04/12/2015 by Jon Garvey

Folk psychology: I see a solid table Clever materialist: How do you know it’s really as you think? Folk psychology: All the evidence of my five senses!

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The Ascension, perception, and worldviews

Posted on 02/12/2015 by Jon Garvey

I commented on an instructive exchange at BioLogos a week or so ago. A guy calling himself WalkerColt asked: How does the Ascension fit into the accommodation view? Jesus seemed to hold to the three-tiered view of the cosmos (Jn 17:1). Did Jesus ascend ‘up’ to accommodate the view of the witnesses? How do we believe this to be an actual event in history if it is explained using this ancient cosmology? Moderator Brad Kramer replied: The trick here is reject the false dichotomy between the “everything in the Bible must have happened exactly as it was written or the whole thing is false” position and the “anything that sounds … Continue reading →

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