Ep. #97 – An Argument for God from Logic w/ Dr. Anderson
Summary
Dr. Anderson outlines and defends an argument for God from logic. First, he argues that the laws of logic are necessary truths that really exist. Next, he proceeds to the conclusion that the laws of logic imply the existence of a necessarily existing mind i.e. God. He also answers objections related to nominalism and divine simplicity.
Guest Bio
Dr. James Anderson is an ordained minister in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. He specializes in philosophical theology, religious epistemology, and Christian apologetics. His doctoral thesis at the University of Edinburgh explored the paradoxical nature of certain Christian doctrines and the implications for the rationality of Christian faith. He’s the author of several books including Why Should I Believe in Christianity?
Show Outline
In the first segment, Dr. Anderson provides a short answer to how he, as a presuppositionalist, sees value in arguments for God’s existence. He gives an overview of the argument. He defends “stage one” of the argument that the laws of logic are necessary truths that really exist.
In the next segment, Dr. Anderson explains how the laws of logic lead to the existence of God. I offer a few objections to the argument and ask for Dr. Anderson’s response. In particular, we end with an objection regarding whether his argument is consistent with the doctrine of divine simplicity.
After the interview, I offer a few parting thoughts about the divine simplicity objection with a promissory note to pursue it further.
Resources
The Lord of Non-Contradiction: An Argument for God from Logic by Dr. James N. Anderson and Dr. Greg Welty (essay)
Why Should I Believe Christianity? by Dr. James N. Anderson
David Hume (Great Thinkers) by Dr. James N. Anderson
God and Propositions: The Saga Continues (blog post) by Dr. James N. Anderson. In this blog post, Dr. Anderson touches on the issues related to the objection to his argument from divine simplicity.
The Godless Delusion: A Catholic Challenge to Modern Atheism by Patrick Madrid and Kenneth Hensley (This book aims to adopt some aspects of the “presuppositional” approach)
Stealing from God: Why Atheists Need God to Make Their Case by Frank Turek. This book is written by a non-Reformed evangelical apologist and it adopts some aspects of the “presuppositional” approach). It is also endorsed by the well-known evangelical professor of apologetics Dr. Richard Howe (also non-Reformed).
Presuppositionalism: Fideism Built on Skepticism (blog post) by Dr. Bryan Cross. This blog post critiques some aspects of the “presuppositional” method.
Wilson vs. Hitchens: A Catholic Perspective (blog post) by Dr. Bryan Cross. This blog post also critiques some aspects of the “pressuppositional” approach. You can find my younger self (“JohnD”) interacting with Dr. Cross in the comments section.
Related Episodes
Ep. #48 – Naturalism & Self-defeat w/ Dr. Slagle
Ep. #49 – First Principles of Knowledge w/ Karlo Broussard
Ep. #50 – Logic Pointers & Speaking Truth in the Beauty of Love w/ Dr. Bryan Cross
