Mind Over Skepticism
Alvin Plantinga: the 20th century's greatest philosopher?
John G. Stackhouse | posted 6/11/2001 12:00AM
4 of 4
The Difference Plantinga Has Made
Plantinga, then, has established the intellectual grounds for Christians to continue to believe in God, and particularly the God of historic orthodoxy, in the face of the two most daunting philosophical challenges of this century. He has done so, however, in distinctly 20th-century fashion. He has not, that is, offered a theodicy, an explanation for how God does, in fact, run the world. All Plantinga has done is show that it is not contradictory to believe that God is good, that God is all-powerful, and that evil yet exists. Whether one should go on to believe the gospel—well, that is not for him, as a philosopher, to say.
Nor has Plantinga offered an argument for the truth of Christianity. Again, all he has done is show that it is not improper for Christians to believe their religion is epistemologically well-grounded. Whether Christianity is actually true—well, that is not for him, as a philosopher, to say.
What Plantinga has done is to prevent the world's main philosophical challenges from pressing Christianity out of the realm of reasonable options. He has helped preserve a space for intellectually respectable Christian belief. Whether anyone should go on, then, to believe in the Christian faith—well, that is for theologians and apologists and evangelists, and for every individual Christian and every Christian congregation, to show through faithful witness. That is for the Holy Spirit, ultimately, to say. Alvin Plantinga has masterfully done his part as a philosopher, and circumspectly steps aside for the rest of us to do ours.
John G. Stackhouse Jr. is the Sangwoo Youtong Chee Professor of Theology and Culture at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada, and author of Can God Be Trusted? Faith and the Challenge of Evil (Oxford University Press).
Copyright © 2001 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Related Elsewhere
Sites devoted to Plantinga such as Michael Sudduth's The Analytic Theist and the Plantiga page at UC Santa Barabara's Facuty/Staff Christian Forum supply a good collection of his writings, papers written on him and even lecture notes and audio.
Truth Journal interviewed Plantinga on theism as a properly basic belief.
In Christianity Today's sister publication Books and Culture, Plantinga responded to Pope John Paul II's encyclical letter Fides et Ratio.Books and Culture also has a philosophy section.
The Notre Dame Philosophy Department site has a short faculty bio of Plantinga.
Christianbook.com offers Plantinga'sGod, Freedom and Evil, The Analytic Theist,andWarranted Christian Belief.
Amazon.com has Plantinga's writings, including Nature of Necessity, Faith and Rationality, Warrant and Proper Function, Does God Have a Nature?, Warrant: The Current Debate, Warrant in Contemporary Epistemology, and God and Other Minds.
Amazon.com also has books on Plantinga including Modality, Probability, and Rationality: A Critical Examination of Alvin Plantinga's Philosophy and Faith and Reason from Plato to Plantinga.
Can God Be Trusted?: Faith and the Challenge of Evil
by the article's author, John G. Stackhouse Jr., can be ordered through Christianbook.com and other book retailers.
Other Christianity Today articles by John Stackhouse include:
The Seven Deadly Signs | Ministries that think they can do no financial wrong deceive themselves. (June 30, 2000)
An Elder Statesman's Plea | John Stott's 'little statement on evangelical faith' reveals the strengths and limitations of the movement he helped create. (Feb. 14, 2000)
The Battle for the Inclusive Bible | Conflicts over "gender-neutral" versions are not really about translation issues. (Nov. 5, 1999)
Finding a Home for Eve | We are right to criticize radical feminist scholars—and wrong to ignore them. (Mar. 1, 1999)
The Jesus I'd Prefer to Know | Searching for the historical Jesus and finding oneself instead. (Dec. 7, 1998)
The Perils of Left and Right | Evangelical theology is much bigger and richer than our two-party labels. (Aug. 10, 1998)
Bad Things Still Happen | A concise, clear argument for how God can be both good and omnipotent. (July 13, 1998)
Fighting the Good Fight | A plea for healthy disagreements. (Oct. 6, 1997)
Confronting Canada's Secular Slide | Why Canadian evangelicals thrive in a culture often indifferent to religious faith. (July 18, 1994)
RSS Feeds
Audio
Twitter
share this page
E-mail
Print
Post
Subscribe to Christianity Today magazine today!
