Alvin Plantinga Lectures at Southern Seminary

One of the things I greatly enjoyed about Southern Seminary was its lectureships. There are several endowed lectureships at Southern, and I had the opportunity to hear and meet some great scholars during my time there. Last week, Dr. Alvin Plantinga delivered the Norton Lectures at Southern Seminary, and they are now available online for free download. Dr. Plantinga teaches at the University of Notre Dame and is perhaps the leading evangelical philosopher alive today. You will want to listen to all of these.

Oct. 23, 2007 “Science and Religion: Why does the Debate Continue?”

Oct. 24, 2007 “Divine Action in the World”

Oct. 24, 2007 Ph.D. Graduate Club luncheon

Oct. 25, 2007 “Evolution vs. Atheism”

7 Comments

jeremy z

October 30, 2007 at 9:42 am Reply

I really appreciate this man! I also think his Reformed epistemology is right on.
I will listen to the lectures.

Daniel

October 30, 2007 at 11:42 am Reply

Plantinga is the man when it comes to philosophical theology. He’s probably th most prominent current proponent of Molinism.

Daniel

October 30, 2007 at 12:43 pm Reply

THANK YOU!

Barry

October 30, 2007 at 2:09 pm Reply

Denny,
He also promoted a theistic evolution reading of Genesis 1-2 (in the first address). That took most by surprise, to say the least.

Barry

Brian Trapp

October 30, 2007 at 4:37 pm Reply

Barry,

I think it’s incorrect to say that Plantinga promoted theistic evolution. He certainly didn’t argue against it, but then he didn’t say that he actually held to that view either. He simply mentioned theistic evolution as a possibility, and that in some respects he is drawn to it. However, he also said there were other factors that drew him in the other direction. As I understood the answers he gave to some of the questioners, he implied he just didn’t want to make a final decision on how to interpret the opening chapters of Genesis.

We have to keep in mind his purpose in the original lecture. He just wanted to show that there was no conflict between the received results of science (i. e. evolution) and Christian belief broadly construed. Thus, just because one accepts evolution (as many do) then one doesn’t have to jettison Christian belief.

Plantinga was simply doing what he does best: performing a complex but ultimately very powerful defensive maneuver for the Christian faith. He wasn’t actually promoting a particular interpretation of Genesis 1-2.