Perichoresis: The Theological Journal of Emanuel University, May 19, 2022
Till We Have Faces is a retelling of the Cupid/Psyche myth with a few twists, namely, a nonstanda... more Till We Have Faces is a retelling of the Cupid/Psyche myth with a few twists, namely, a nonstandard narrator and the inability of Psyche's sister, Orual, to see the palace. Both innovations lead the reader to understand better the dynamics at play in Orual's effort to disrupt Psyche's life with her husband/god. The inability to see, on Orual's part, at first suggests that the nature of the story is primarily epistemological. What is it that can be reasonably known or inferred? Digging deeper, however, reveals that the epistemic elements are actually penultimate, and that instead the book bolsters an ethically robust epistemology. Who we are deeply affects what we can see. Before Orual could apprehend the nature of the gods, she had to be brutally honest about who she herself was. A victim of abuse who was constantly shamed for reasons beyond her control, she is a sympathetic character in several ways, but she gradually moves from being victim to victimizer, treating others as means to ends, and, in the case of Psyche, 'loving' her in a way that was more hate than love. Self-knowledge was needed for Orual to apprehend the truth. She comes to realize her treatment of Bardia, Batta, Redival, and especially Psyche was not as pure and altruistic as she had thought. She had to come to terms with the ugliness within herself, and her penchant for consuming others, before she could hope to see the beauty and love of the gods for what they were.
I would be remiss if I were not to thank Jerry Walls, whose influence over the last dozen years h... more I would be remiss if I were not to thank Jerry Walls, whose influence over the last dozen years has been tremendously formative in my personal and professional development. He models what it takes and means to be a premier Christian philosopher.
John Hare argues that Kant, in his Third Critique, offers an aesthetic argument for God’s existen... more John Hare argues that Kant, in his Third Critique, offers an aesthetic argument for God’s existence that shares premises with his famous moral argument. Karl Ameriks demurs, expressing skepticism that this is so. In this paper, I stake out an intermediate position, arguing that the resources of Kant provide ingredients for an aesthetic argument, but one distinctly less than a transcendental argument for God or an entailment relation. Whether the argument is best thought of as abductive in nature, a C-inductive argument, or a Pascalian natural sign, prospects for its formulation are strong. And such an argument, for its resonances with the moral argument(s), can work well in tandem with it (them), a fact not surprising at all if Kant was right that beauty—in accordance with an ancient Greek tradition—exists in close organic relation to the good. More generally, along the way, I argue that the sea change in Kant’s studies over the last decade or so should help us see that Kant is an a...
Although owing to proper basicality, phenomenal conservatism, and deliberative indispensability o... more Although owing to proper basicality, phenomenal conservatism, and deliberative indispensability our axiomatic moral judgments seem to be prima facie justified, the question of potential undercutting defeaters can pose a challenge to moral knowledge. Evolutionary debunking arguments of various stripes are one of the more recent widely discussed contenders for such a defeater. Because of the likes of Michael Ruse, Richard Joyce, and Sharon Street, such arguments have attracted much attention. Their general structure features an empirical premise according to which the process of evolution has had a significant impact on the stock of even our axiomatic moral judgments. The epistemic premise has it that if the empirical premise holds, then our moral knowledge is severely challenged if not debunked altogether, and perhaps even moral realism itself, since if our epistemic faculties can’t reliably put us in touch with objective moral truths, those truths are out of a job in our ontology. S...
The exalted conception of God as omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent has come to be known ... more The exalted conception of God as omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent has come to be known as the Anselmian picture of God, the classical theistic notion of God as the greatest possible Being. Understood in this way, God has all the great-making properties to the highest degree possible that’s mutually consistent. Such an understanding of God is a powerful idea philosophically and apologetically, contrasting sharply with, for example, the finite, fallible gods of the Greek pantheon who are susceptible to various arbitrariness objections. An Anselmian God is the God of classical theism, neither finite nor fallible, but rather the one on whom the entirety of the cosmos depends for its existence, and in whom there’s no shadow of turning, no susceptibility to darkness or weakness, either metaphysically or morally.
It's no accident. .. that tennis uses the language of life. Advantage, service, fault, break, lov... more It's no accident. .. that tennis uses the language of life. Advantage, service, fault, break, love, the basic elements of tennis are those of everyday existence, because every match is a life in miniature. Even the structure of tennis, the way the pieces fi t inside one another like Russian nesting dolls, mimics the structure of our days. Points become games become sets become tournaments, and it's all so tightly connected that any point can become the turning point. It reminds me of the way seconds become minutes become hours, and any hour can be our fi nest. Or darkest. It's our choice.
There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life i... more There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.-Albert Camus In the state of Michigan, a battle is raging over the activity of Dr. Jack Kevorkian. A former pathologist, he began medically assisting suicides in 1990 to enable suffering, terminally ill patients to end their lives. In March 1993, the Michigan state legislature banned assisted suicides, a law specifically aimed at Kevorkian. What is happening in Michigan, largely inspired by the furor surrounding "Dr. Death," is a microcosm of things to come in the United States. The scenario in Michigan concerning physician-assisted suicide (PAS) or medicide is not new, but has been fanning the flames of the debate elsewhere over this practice, a debate that will undoubtedly in time take on national and international proportions. The Hemlock Society, which promotes the legalization of PAS for the terminally ill, has upwards of 50,000 members, and recently two states voted down "right to die" initiatives by only narrow margins. 1 More and more people are coming to believe that it is their right to end their lives when they wish by this intentional means. If assistance from a doctor is required, the doctor should not be punished. PAS, so the argument goes, should not be legally banned. Those who oppose the legalization of PAS and thereby support the banning of it, on the other hand, claim that the state would make a David]. Baggett teaches philosophy at the University of Michigan-Dearborn in Dearborn, Michigan. He is also a Ph.D. student at Wayne State University in Detroit.
It is widely believed that the Divine Command Theory is untenable due to the Euthyphro Dilemma. T... more It is widely believed that the Divine Command Theory is untenable due to the Euthyphro Dilemma. This article first examines the Platonic dialogue of that name, and shows that Socrates’s reasoning is faulty. Second, the dilemma in the form in which many contemporary philosophers accept it is examined in detail, and this reasoning is also shown to be deficient. This is not to say, however, that the Divine Command Theory is true—merely that one popular argument for rejecting it is unsound. Finally some brief thoughts are presented concerning where the real problems lie for the theory.
THE ASBURY THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL provides a scholarly forum for thorou h discussion of issues relev... more THE ASBURY THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL provides a scholarly forum for thorou h discussion of issues relevant to Christian thought and faith, and to the nature and J •"IS' sion of the Church. The Journal addresses those concerns and ideas across the currie. lum which interface with Christian thought, life, and ministry. U The primary resource for contributions to The Journalis the Asbury Seminary facul. ty who engage in dialogue with both the roots of our religious heritage and Contem. porary thought Scholars from other academic disciplines and various backgrounds are invited to submit articles for publication.
Perichoresis: The Theological Journal of Emanuel University, May 19, 2022
Till We Have Faces is a retelling of the Cupid/Psyche myth with a few twists, namely, a nonstanda... more Till We Have Faces is a retelling of the Cupid/Psyche myth with a few twists, namely, a nonstandard narrator and the inability of Psyche's sister, Orual, to see the palace. Both innovations lead the reader to understand better the dynamics at play in Orual's effort to disrupt Psyche's life with her husband/god. The inability to see, on Orual's part, at first suggests that the nature of the story is primarily epistemological. What is it that can be reasonably known or inferred? Digging deeper, however, reveals that the epistemic elements are actually penultimate, and that instead the book bolsters an ethically robust epistemology. Who we are deeply affects what we can see. Before Orual could apprehend the nature of the gods, she had to be brutally honest about who she herself was. A victim of abuse who was constantly shamed for reasons beyond her control, she is a sympathetic character in several ways, but she gradually moves from being victim to victimizer, treating others as means to ends, and, in the case of Psyche, 'loving' her in a way that was more hate than love. Self-knowledge was needed for Orual to apprehend the truth. She comes to realize her treatment of Bardia, Batta, Redival, and especially Psyche was not as pure and altruistic as she had thought. She had to come to terms with the ugliness within herself, and her penchant for consuming others, before she could hope to see the beauty and love of the gods for what they were.
Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory (2015) is a distillation of Jerry Walls' scholarly and groundbreaking... more Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory (2015) is a distillation of Jerry Walls' scholarly and groundbreaking work on eschatology over the last few decades, including on the doctrine of Purgatory. The intuition behind his approach is this: to be fit for Heaven, we have to be perfect. The biblical admonition to be holy as God is holy is to be taken with dreadful seriousness. None of us at death, however, has achieved such a state. N. T. Wright makes a similar point: Do not our spirits, our souls, still leave a great deal to be desired? If we have made any spiritual growth during the present life, does this not leave us realizing just how much further we have to go? Do we not feel, in our small steps towards holiness here and now, that we have only just begun to climb, and that the mountain still looms high over us? (2003, 32) So, it seems to many that some amount of posthumous transformation is necessary-for some more than others, but some for all of us. Many Christians agree that at death we have yet to achieve anything like perfection, but still resist the doctrine of Purgatory. Of course plenty of
Perichoresis: The Theological Journal of Emanuel University, May 19, 2022
Till We Have Faces is a retelling of the Cupid/Psyche myth with a few twists, namely, a nonstanda... more Till We Have Faces is a retelling of the Cupid/Psyche myth with a few twists, namely, a nonstandard narrator and the inability of Psyche's sister, Orual, to see the palace. Both innovations lead the reader to understand better the dynamics at play in Orual's effort to disrupt Psyche's life with her husband/god. The inability to see, on Orual's part, at first suggests that the nature of the story is primarily epistemological. What is it that can be reasonably known or inferred? Digging deeper, however, reveals that the epistemic elements are actually penultimate, and that instead the book bolsters an ethically robust epistemology. Who we are deeply affects what we can see. Before Orual could apprehend the nature of the gods, she had to be brutally honest about who she herself was. A victim of abuse who was constantly shamed for reasons beyond her control, she is a sympathetic character in several ways, but she gradually moves from being victim to victimizer, treating others as means to ends, and, in the case of Psyche, 'loving' her in a way that was more hate than love. Self-knowledge was needed for Orual to apprehend the truth. She comes to realize her treatment of Bardia, Batta, Redival, and especially Psyche was not as pure and altruistic as she had thought. She had to come to terms with the ugliness within herself, and her penchant for consuming others, before she could hope to see the beauty and love of the gods for what they were.
I would be remiss if I were not to thank Jerry Walls, whose influence over the last dozen years h... more I would be remiss if I were not to thank Jerry Walls, whose influence over the last dozen years has been tremendously formative in my personal and professional development. He models what it takes and means to be a premier Christian philosopher.
John Hare argues that Kant, in his Third Critique, offers an aesthetic argument for God’s existen... more John Hare argues that Kant, in his Third Critique, offers an aesthetic argument for God’s existence that shares premises with his famous moral argument. Karl Ameriks demurs, expressing skepticism that this is so. In this paper, I stake out an intermediate position, arguing that the resources of Kant provide ingredients for an aesthetic argument, but one distinctly less than a transcendental argument for God or an entailment relation. Whether the argument is best thought of as abductive in nature, a C-inductive argument, or a Pascalian natural sign, prospects for its formulation are strong. And such an argument, for its resonances with the moral argument(s), can work well in tandem with it (them), a fact not surprising at all if Kant was right that beauty—in accordance with an ancient Greek tradition—exists in close organic relation to the good. More generally, along the way, I argue that the sea change in Kant’s studies over the last decade or so should help us see that Kant is an a...
Although owing to proper basicality, phenomenal conservatism, and deliberative indispensability o... more Although owing to proper basicality, phenomenal conservatism, and deliberative indispensability our axiomatic moral judgments seem to be prima facie justified, the question of potential undercutting defeaters can pose a challenge to moral knowledge. Evolutionary debunking arguments of various stripes are one of the more recent widely discussed contenders for such a defeater. Because of the likes of Michael Ruse, Richard Joyce, and Sharon Street, such arguments have attracted much attention. Their general structure features an empirical premise according to which the process of evolution has had a significant impact on the stock of even our axiomatic moral judgments. The epistemic premise has it that if the empirical premise holds, then our moral knowledge is severely challenged if not debunked altogether, and perhaps even moral realism itself, since if our epistemic faculties can’t reliably put us in touch with objective moral truths, those truths are out of a job in our ontology. S...
The exalted conception of God as omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent has come to be known ... more The exalted conception of God as omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent has come to be known as the Anselmian picture of God, the classical theistic notion of God as the greatest possible Being. Understood in this way, God has all the great-making properties to the highest degree possible that’s mutually consistent. Such an understanding of God is a powerful idea philosophically and apologetically, contrasting sharply with, for example, the finite, fallible gods of the Greek pantheon who are susceptible to various arbitrariness objections. An Anselmian God is the God of classical theism, neither finite nor fallible, but rather the one on whom the entirety of the cosmos depends for its existence, and in whom there’s no shadow of turning, no susceptibility to darkness or weakness, either metaphysically or morally.
It's no accident. .. that tennis uses the language of life. Advantage, service, fault, break, lov... more It's no accident. .. that tennis uses the language of life. Advantage, service, fault, break, love, the basic elements of tennis are those of everyday existence, because every match is a life in miniature. Even the structure of tennis, the way the pieces fi t inside one another like Russian nesting dolls, mimics the structure of our days. Points become games become sets become tournaments, and it's all so tightly connected that any point can become the turning point. It reminds me of the way seconds become minutes become hours, and any hour can be our fi nest. Or darkest. It's our choice.
There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life i... more There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.-Albert Camus In the state of Michigan, a battle is raging over the activity of Dr. Jack Kevorkian. A former pathologist, he began medically assisting suicides in 1990 to enable suffering, terminally ill patients to end their lives. In March 1993, the Michigan state legislature banned assisted suicides, a law specifically aimed at Kevorkian. What is happening in Michigan, largely inspired by the furor surrounding "Dr. Death," is a microcosm of things to come in the United States. The scenario in Michigan concerning physician-assisted suicide (PAS) or medicide is not new, but has been fanning the flames of the debate elsewhere over this practice, a debate that will undoubtedly in time take on national and international proportions. The Hemlock Society, which promotes the legalization of PAS for the terminally ill, has upwards of 50,000 members, and recently two states voted down "right to die" initiatives by only narrow margins. 1 More and more people are coming to believe that it is their right to end their lives when they wish by this intentional means. If assistance from a doctor is required, the doctor should not be punished. PAS, so the argument goes, should not be legally banned. Those who oppose the legalization of PAS and thereby support the banning of it, on the other hand, claim that the state would make a David]. Baggett teaches philosophy at the University of Michigan-Dearborn in Dearborn, Michigan. He is also a Ph.D. student at Wayne State University in Detroit.
It is widely believed that the Divine Command Theory is untenable due to the Euthyphro Dilemma. T... more It is widely believed that the Divine Command Theory is untenable due to the Euthyphro Dilemma. This article first examines the Platonic dialogue of that name, and shows that Socrates’s reasoning is faulty. Second, the dilemma in the form in which many contemporary philosophers accept it is examined in detail, and this reasoning is also shown to be deficient. This is not to say, however, that the Divine Command Theory is true—merely that one popular argument for rejecting it is unsound. Finally some brief thoughts are presented concerning where the real problems lie for the theory.
THE ASBURY THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL provides a scholarly forum for thorou h discussion of issues relev... more THE ASBURY THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL provides a scholarly forum for thorou h discussion of issues relevant to Christian thought and faith, and to the nature and J •"IS' sion of the Church. The Journal addresses those concerns and ideas across the currie. lum which interface with Christian thought, life, and ministry. U The primary resource for contributions to The Journalis the Asbury Seminary facul. ty who engage in dialogue with both the roots of our religious heritage and Contem. porary thought Scholars from other academic disciplines and various backgrounds are invited to submit articles for publication.
Perichoresis: The Theological Journal of Emanuel University, May 19, 2022
Till We Have Faces is a retelling of the Cupid/Psyche myth with a few twists, namely, a nonstanda... more Till We Have Faces is a retelling of the Cupid/Psyche myth with a few twists, namely, a nonstandard narrator and the inability of Psyche's sister, Orual, to see the palace. Both innovations lead the reader to understand better the dynamics at play in Orual's effort to disrupt Psyche's life with her husband/god. The inability to see, on Orual's part, at first suggests that the nature of the story is primarily epistemological. What is it that can be reasonably known or inferred? Digging deeper, however, reveals that the epistemic elements are actually penultimate, and that instead the book bolsters an ethically robust epistemology. Who we are deeply affects what we can see. Before Orual could apprehend the nature of the gods, she had to be brutally honest about who she herself was. A victim of abuse who was constantly shamed for reasons beyond her control, she is a sympathetic character in several ways, but she gradually moves from being victim to victimizer, treating others as means to ends, and, in the case of Psyche, 'loving' her in a way that was more hate than love. Self-knowledge was needed for Orual to apprehend the truth. She comes to realize her treatment of Bardia, Batta, Redival, and especially Psyche was not as pure and altruistic as she had thought. She had to come to terms with the ugliness within herself, and her penchant for consuming others, before she could hope to see the beauty and love of the gods for what they were.
Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory (2015) is a distillation of Jerry Walls' scholarly and groundbreaking... more Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory (2015) is a distillation of Jerry Walls' scholarly and groundbreaking work on eschatology over the last few decades, including on the doctrine of Purgatory. The intuition behind his approach is this: to be fit for Heaven, we have to be perfect. The biblical admonition to be holy as God is holy is to be taken with dreadful seriousness. None of us at death, however, has achieved such a state. N. T. Wright makes a similar point: Do not our spirits, our souls, still leave a great deal to be desired? If we have made any spiritual growth during the present life, does this not leave us realizing just how much further we have to go? Do we not feel, in our small steps towards holiness here and now, that we have only just begun to climb, and that the mountain still looms high over us? (2003, 32) So, it seems to many that some amount of posthumous transformation is necessary-for some more than others, but some for all of us. Many Christians agree that at death we have yet to achieve anything like perfection, but still resist the doctrine of Purgatory. Of course plenty of
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