Research Category

“It is love that believes the resurrection.”

I finally finished Wright’s History and Eschatology, based on his 2018 Gifford Lecture. Wright takes us on a jaunt through 18th-century optimism about nature and divinity—a time when thinkers like Joseph Butler thought the natural world sang of a benevolent, orderly God. But then comes the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, a disaster that tore through […]

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Milton’s Theological Process

Jason A. Kerr’s book, Milton’s Theological Process, offers a method for interpreting Milton’s De Doctrina Christiana as a reflection of his evolving theological thought process, rather than merely a compilation of his established doctrinal views. Kerr gives a close examination of the manuscript’s complex material state, as well as Milton’s diverse ways of engaging with […]

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Thinking about “Intellectual Foundations”

This Fall I will be teaching in the Intellectual Foundations program at Carthage College. There are five texts in common in all sections of the course, grouped into three themes: (1) Gods and Myths, (2)Nature and Technology, and (3) Justice and Society. Additional readings are assigned by each instructor. I want to use this post […]

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Theistic Evolution

Mariusz Tabaczek’s book explores the relationship between classical Aristotelian-Thomistic philosophy and contemporary evolutionary theory. He aims to show that the theory of evolution, if true, does not contradict the classical philosophical and theological perspectives of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. Instead, it can be harmonized with them. Tabaczek presents a constructive proposal that integrates the metaphysics […]

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Theology, Science, and Life

Carmody Grey, assistant professor of Catholic theology at Durham University, argues in her new book that a strong division between theology and science is unsustainable. She applies this idea in particular to the study of biology. In this post I will review and assess her argument in Theology, Science and Life. In her first chapter, […]

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Naturalism in the Christian Imagination

In Naturalism in the Christian Imagination, Peter N. Jordan examines the intellectual landscape of early modern England, where the realms of religion and natural philosophy were, perhaps surprisingly, inextricably intertwined. I say “surprisingly,” but most scholars in the field have long recognized the complex relationship between science and religion. But the key to Jordan’s contribution […]

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Living in God’s Creation

The “message is quite clear,” writes Philip Sherrard, one of the key translators of the Philokalia, “our entire way of life is humanly and environmentally suicidal, and unless we change it radically there is no way in which we can avoid cosmic catastrophe.” Sherrard goes on to say that the coming “crisis itself is not […]

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God and Life in the Universe

Here I will discuss Andrew Davison’s Astrobiology and Christian Doctrine: Exploring the Implications of Life in the Universe (2023). Davison wants to prepare Christians for the potential discovery of extraterrestrial life by using the latest advances in astrobiology. Davison argues that anticipating the discovery of life elsewhere in the universe can help theology remain dynamic […]

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Atheists and Atheism before the Enlightenment

Michael Hunter, Emeritus Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London, has published a new book: Atheists and Atheism Before the Enlightenment: The English and Scottish Experience (2023). Here I wish to give a brief overview of its contents. Over time I will return to this post to add more content and thoughts. In his […]

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God and Mammon

In this post I will be discussing William Cavanaugh’s Being Consumed (2008) and Eugene McCarraher’s The Enchantment of Mammon (2019). By 1883, Émile Zola observed that, in Paris, church doctrine had been replaced by the religion ofthe cash register (cited in New York Times Book Review)

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