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Index
Cover
Praise for A Reasonable Response
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: A Meditation on the Practice and Ministry of Answering Questions
Why This Book?
On the Intent and Scope of This Book
Why These Questions?
On the Experience of Reading These “Reasonable Responses”
An Exercise in Using This Book
On the Practice and Ministry of Answering Questions
On a Proper “Home” for Asking Questions
The Good of Questions, Connecting Us with Reality
Questions as Integral to Discipleship
Questions and Dealing with Doubt
Questions and the Spiritual Discipline of Study
Healthy for the Local Church
On How We View the Ministry of Answering People’s Questions
On How to Benefit by Reading This Book
Part One: Questions on Knowing and Believing What Is Real
1. On Believing and Knowing
Does Knowledge Require Certainty?
On How to Confront the Challenge of Apatheism
On Common Sense, Intuitions, and the Limits of Reason
How Is Belief in God Properly Basic?
On Question-Begging and Appealing to the Holy Spirit
2. On Argumentation and Logic 101
An Exercise in Argumentation and Logic
What Is a Criterion for a Good (Apologetics) Argument?
Why “Soundness” Is Not Sufficient for Making a Good Argument
3. On the Basis for Objective Morality
Is There Objective Truth?
On the Value of Appealing to One’s Moral Experience
How Can God Be the Ground of Morality?
The Importance of Distinguishing Between Moral Epistemology and Moral Ontology
Is It Arbitrary to Adopt God’s Nature as the Good?
4. On the Authority of Scripture
Establishing the Gospels’ Reliability
Is the Price of “Biblical Errancy” Too High to Pay?
A Middle Knowledge Perspective on Biblical Inspiration
On Inerrancy and the Resurrection
Part Two: Questions about God
1. On the Existence of God
On Whether God’s Existence Can Be Evident to Every Sincere Seeker
What Does It Mean to Define “God”?
What Does It Mean for God to Have Necessary Existence?
Is a Maximally Great Being Possible?
Naturalistic Appeal to Ignorance
On Assessing the Argument from Contingency
Justification of the Moral Argument’s Second Premise
2. On the Trinity
Is Trinity Monotheism Orthodox?
Does Infinite Personhood Imply Pantheism?
Trinity and Incarnation
The Trinity and God’s Omni-Attributes
3. On Divine Attributes
On Appraising Perfect Being Theology
In What Sense Is God a “Simple Being”?
On Problems with “Reformed” Theology’s Conception of God and Creation
Divine Impassibility and the Crucifixion
Part Three: Questions about Origins and the Meaning of Life
1. On the Origins of the Universe
“God” and “the Cause of the Universe”
On Bringing into Being Things Which Do Not Exist
Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow: Philosophical Undertakers
On Whether the Universe Must Have a Material Cause
Must the Cause of the Universe Be Personal?
2. God and Time
On a Framework for Thinking about God, Creation, and Time
Is There a Contradiction in God’s Creation of Time?
Tenseless Time and Identity over Time
3. On Atheism and Meaning in Life
Is Life Absurd without God?
Is Unbelief Culpable?
Deism and Christian Theism
4. On Theology and Science
Is Scientism Self-Refuting?
On Evolutionary Theory and Theism
Who Speaks for Science?
Part Four: Questions about the Afterlife and Evil
1. On the Afterlife, Hell, and the Unevangelized
On a Molinist View of Sovereignty, Hell, and Salvation
Does Creation Benefit the Lost?
Can People in Heaven Sin?
Do the Damned in Hell Accrue Further Punishment?
Molinism, the Unevangelized, and Cultural Chauvinism
2. On the Problem of Evil
Skeptical Theism and the Problem of Evil
The Problem of Evil Once More
Was the Slaughter of the Canaanites an Act of “Divine Genocide”?
Part Five: Questions about Jesus Christ and Being His Disciple
1. On Jesus
On Assessing Jesus and Pagan Mythological Allusions
On What It Means for Jesus to Be the Son of God
On Assessing Independent Sources for Jesus’ Burial and Empty Tomb
On the Significance of the Witness of the Pre-Pauline Tradition to the Empty Tomb
Can One Justifiably Infer Jesus’ Resurrection on the Basis of Empirical Evidence?
2. On Discipleship to Jesus
On the Hard Yet Rewarding Work of Dealing with Doubts
What Does It Mean to Have a Relationship with God?
On Protecting Against Spiritual Failure
On Facing Fear of Ridicule and Rejection
Part Six: Questions about Issues of Christian Practice
1. On Social-Moral Issues
Do We Live in a Postmodern Society?
How Might We Think about a Christian Marrying a Non-Christian?
Can Someone Be a “Christian Homosexual”?
2. On Practical Advice
On How to Maintain Physical Stamina
On Preparing for Marriage
Conclusion: Where Do We Go from Here?
A Framework for Growth
The Value of Thinking and Living Vocationally
Appendix 1: Tips on Using This Book for Small Group Study
Appendix 2: On Fostering Question-Asking and Answer-Seeking Environments
Appendix 3: Civility Guidelines for (Online) “Third Places”
Subject Index
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