An overview of a classical cosmological argument for the existence of God. This video is from our 2021 Spring lecture series covering Natural Theology & the Truth of Christianity. Each week, we evaluate the classical arguments for and against the existence of God and truth of Christianity. For slides and […]
Podcast: Think Theism
162 posts
An introduction to apologetics and how to have conversations about faith in good faith. This video is from our 2021 Spring lecture series covering Natural Theology & the Truth of Christianity. Each week, we evaluate the classical arguments for and against the existence of God and truth of Christianity. For […]
Ben (our resident Catholic) discusses the seven books of the Deuterocanon (or Apocrypha), what they are, and why they are included in the Catholic Old Testament canon. N.B. While Ratio Christi at Texas A&M does not officially take a position on the canonical status of these books and many Protestants […]
We turn to the question of ancient Israelite religion. While we usually think of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism as the big three monotheistic religions, is the historical reality more complicated than that? Psalm 82 takes centre stage in a discussion of the unseen spiritual realm. Slides and video available at […]
We conclude our discussion on the question of Israelite origins by tackling the ethical objection to the Hebrew invasion of Canaan. Did God command genocide? How does Jesus influence our interpretation of these unnerving accounts? Slides and video available at http://rc-tamu.org/confronting-old-testament-controversy/
The question of Israelite origins remains one of the hottest debates amongst ancient historians. Did a massive Hebrew invasion force wipe out the Canaanites in the 15th/13th century B.C.? Is the entire military career of Joshua invented from thin air? Building off of the previous discussion of the exodus, we […]
The Hebrew exodus from Egypt is the founding event both in Israel’s history as a people and the redemptive history of Christian faith. But, is there any evidence such an event occurred? We discuss the archaeological background, the major options for dates (early, late, and more), as well as different […]
We conclude our discussion on Genesis, creation, and evolution by addressing the controversy over the historical Adam & Eve. First, we outline the biblical data concerning Eve & Adam. Next, we survey the scientific data related to human origins. Lastly, we wrap up by integrating different interpretations of Eve & […]
Zach and Andrew casually chat about some loose threads from the Genesis and science meeting. They clear up some confusion about stellar parallax, discuss additional interpretations of the days of Genesis, and expand on the intelligent design movement.
We continue addressing the controversy on Genesis, creation, and evolution. In this episode, we focus on the scientific questions of (i) the age of the earth, (ii) common ancestry, and (iii) how life diversified. Next time, we will hone in on the question of Adam & Eve. Slides and video […]
Confronting Old Testament Controversy 2: We begin our discussion on creation, evolution, and Genesis by addressing the controversy over the genre of Genesis 1-11, aka the “Primeval History”. Andrew surveys the relevant literary categories and the debate over literalism, metaphor, and history. Slides and video available at http://rc-tamu.org/confronting-old-testament-controversy/
Confronting Old Testament Controversy 1: Zach discusses the text of the Old Testament (Tanakh) including the primary text types; the Septuagint, the Masoretic text as well as the most important manuscripts, including codex Leningradensis as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in Qumran. Next Zach discusses textual transmission and […]
Despite being the majority of the Bible, the Old Testament remains a difficult and sometime perplexing corpus of writing. With ancient laws, long histories, and confusing prophecies, we are often left wondering…what do we do with the Old Testament? We kick off our Fall 2020 semester with guest speaker Dr. […]
In this audio from the vault, Jace leads a conversation about what St. Paul meant by justification and how that influences our view of sin and Christs’s wo Subscribe to the Think Theism podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or thinktheism.org Disclaimer: Think Theism is an independent podcast produced in association with Ratio Christi TAMU. The opinions, perspectives, and […]
Zach and Andrew interview Dr. Joshua Swamidass about his new book The Genealogical Adam & Eve which aims to show that a literal Adam & Eve is fully compatible with the contemporary evolutionary account of human origins. Video of the interview: https://youtu.be/HKZxPXiF9rA Resources mentioned during or relevant to the episode […]
Part 2 of our interview with Dr. Joshua Swamidass. We discuss some of the particulars of why neo-Darwinianism is no longer the reigning paradigm in contemporary evolutionary biology. Swamidass argues that the deficiencies intelligent design theorists point to have been acknowledged (and addressed) as early as the 1960s. In particular, […]