Reviews

Joshua Rasmussen  has become one of the most important thinkers in philosophy and theology today. When he speaks, I listen; when he writes, I read! I was blessed to receive a review copy of Josh's new book: Who Are You, Really?: A Philosopher's Inquiry Into the Nature and Origin of Persons . What I love about Rasmussen's writing is that he has the rare gift of being able to take top-shelf philosophy and explain it in such a way so that those who do not have graduate training

I have spent many years wading through the history and ugliness of race relations in our culture and throughout the church.  There are some ugly moments, especially in America, for the church to deal with in regard to racism.  The evangelical support for Slavery in the mid and late 1800s and of segregation thereafter are a blight on our tradition. Theologically, these arguments for slavery never held any water, neither did arguments for racism or segregation. And, over time,

With tears welling up in my eyes, I read the Facebook post written by Dr. Michael Heiser; the effects of stage 4 pancreatic cancer were getting worse. This was heart-breaking news. Many of us had been prayerfully hopeful for Dr. Heiser’s healing over the past few months. Our prayers are still with him and his family as he, by all indications, seems to be finishing his race. But what a race this has been. What a blessing it has been to follow this man’s ministry. It’s not poss

Paul Manata has raised objections to my arguments against exhaustive divine determinism over the past few months. In fact, Manata seems to have made it his mission to personally lead the charge against An Explanation and Defense of the Free-Thinking Argument which I coauthored with JP Moreland. Below, Manata’s concerns will be quoted and addressed. <1 > >  Paul Manata: “On S&M’s paper on the Freethinking Argument: Made it to the conclusion. Wrote notes and comments as I read

What is a Woman? Seems like an easy enough question to answer, but these days, apparently, it’s a stumper! Conservative commentator, author, and part-time Virginian, Matt Walsh of The Daily Wire seeks to answer this seemingly innocuous question in a documentary released on June 1 st . It is no coincidence that the release coincided with the first day of “Pride Month.” Unfortunately, one needs to be a paying member of The Daily Wire to access the film, but, in my humble opin

Shortly after graduating with our M.A. in Christian Apologetics, Tim Stratton asked me to join the blogging team of FreakEng Ministries, the ministry of his friend, Richard Eng. This is where I got my introduction to apologetics writing and began honing my skills as a writer. Eventually, this platform would evolve into FreeThinking Ministries. While Rich is no longer a regular contributor at FTM, he has remained a friend of ours and an occasional guest contributor. Rich also

I am not a Calvinist.  I am not a Molinist.  I am not an Arminian. However, my life, theology, and ministry has been shaped by giants of the faith in all three of these realms.  Two such giants joined Justin Brierley to discuss which position best explains the problem of evil from a theological perspective on his show Unbelievable . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECcN-fisQRk William Lane Craig’s approach to philosophy and theology helped me to solidify my own faith when st

Since publishing Human Freedom, Divine Knowledge, and Mere Molinism , many have asked for a resource to help study the book as an individual, in small groups, and even in seminary classrooms. My colleague Timothy Fox encouraged me to write a companion to the book that would help readers know the main points and exactly what they ought to take away from each chapter. I told Fox that this was a great idea, but that I currently did not have the time since I was committed to othe

**Warning: This analysis contains major spoilers** (This review is for people who watched Squid Game and are needing to process what they watched and for people who do not intend to watch it but want to know how to have conversations about it.) “Squid Game,” the Korean show that has serious Hunger Games energy, is now the number one most watched series of all time on Netflix. This peaked my interest. Similar to the show “13 Reasons Why,” this show taps into essentially huma

I saw Free Guy , starring Ryan Reynolds, on opening weekend -- TWICE! I went to it on opening night with my lovely bride and then on Sunday afternoon I took my 19-year-old son to see the matinee. I absolutely loved this flick for several reasons: 1- it made me laugh, 2- it was well-written, 3- the acting was superb, and 4- once again we have a movie highlighting the importance of libertarian freedom.   SPOILER ALERT!  Oh yeah, and 5- a couple scenes at the end will bring tear

A few months ago I reviewed Alisa Childers’s , which is a fantastic response to the ever-growing problem of progressive Christianity. At the end of the article, I promised a review of Thaddeus Williams’s , but I got sidetracked with some other projects, including the study guide for Tim Stratton’s . Now, at last, I offer my review of Williams’s book. Our country has been in racial turmoil for over a year and a half, which has greatly impacted the Church. Plenty of well-meanin

"My conclusions were both more sanguine and restricted than I had anticipated. I was surprised by the actual strength of the resurrection hypothesis." Over my short years of reading large texts on different subjects and in different genres, I’ve started to notice somewhat of a pattern or correlation: authors and scholars with humility tend to produce not only good books, but long books as well. The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach (RoJ) by Dr. Michael

"Perhaps we need to be more open to the fact that some of our moral intuitions aren't as finely tuned as they ought to be." Paul Copan's Is God a Moral Monster?: Making Sense of the Old Testament God (IGaMM) states its question and objective right in its title, as every good book should. While it could more accurately be regarded as an open letter/response to the so-called New Atheist movement of the past couple of decades (which has more or less petered out in recent year

Michael Huemer has established himself as one of today's leading philosophers on a variety of topics ranging from ethics, to political philosophy, to logical paradoxes, to epistemology. Skepticism and the Veil of Perception (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001) is concerned with this last topic. Huemer is concerned with rebutting skepticism in general and skepticism about the external world in particular. His solution is a version of direct realist foundationalism. The bo

In my last blog post , I shared some of the most important books regarding cultural issues that I read in the year since the COVID lockdowns began in March 2020. While those books dealt with the culture at large, my next two reads focused on cultural and theological issues impacting the church: by Thaddeus Williams, and the book I am reviewing here, by Alisa Childers. Content follows the story of former ZOEgirl, Alisa Childers, as her orthodox Christian faith was challenge

How does God’s knowledge relate to the created world? And if God knows the future, what does that mean for human freedom? In Human Freedom, Divine Knowledge, and Mere Molinism Tim Stratton seeks to shed light on these questions by engaging with the apparent conflict between human freedom and divine knowledge. The bulk of the book is an historical survey of significant Christian thinkers. But Stratton also engages with myriad philosophical and theological arguments pertaining

A lot can be said about Marvel’s first Disney+ series, ( Spoilers ahead! ), from its weird, off-putting sitcom beginning to the broader impact the series’ events will have on the MCU. But, being that we’re named Thinking Ministries , obviously we have to talk about what confirms to us about free will. This show isn’t the first MCU story to address free will, determinism, and human responsibility (see my article “Captain America, Bucky, and Moral Responsibility” ). Superhero

I recently finished Michael Bergmann's Justification Without Awareness . It was very dense and I will certainly have to read it again since some discussions were above my current level of understanding. But I'll offer some thoughts on the parts that I did understand. The topic is epistemic justification. The book is divided into two parts. Part one develops an extended argument against epistemic internalism and part two defends epistemic externalism from objections. As a com

The book, Debating Christian Religious Epistemology , was a brilliant idea. It is educational, cordial, up-to-date with current scholarship, and quite enjoyable. For my friends (especially my Christian friends) who often ask me for good introductions to epistemology, this is among the best at least with respect to religious epistemology. The book begins with a helpful overview introducing the reader to religious epistemology. The topics covered include the structure of justif

A number of years ago, Christian astrophysicist and young earth creationist Dr. Jason Lisle wrote a book entitled The Ultimate Proof of Creation (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2009). The book is a creative introduction to presuppositional apologetics (hereafter PA) but from the perspective of the debate over origins. The aim of the book is to provide a defense of the Christian faith that is irrefutable. While this book review will be largely negative, let me take some time