Show Notes

Quick Tip

• Check out the articles at Brandon Vogt’s strangenotions.com and search for Brandon’s responses in the comment boxes of those articles.
• I recommend this classic article by Dr. Edward Feser

Show Outline

• Interview questions and some summary answers
  • What led you to write Why I Am Catholic?
    • Wanted to have a one-stop shop resource to give to people who were skeptical of God or the Church or who have fallen away.
  • What was your favorite part of the book to write?
    • Catholicism is Beautiful
  • Who is Sean Carroll and why is his work important?
    • He is an esteemed physicist who has published many peer-reviewed works in his field. He is highly respected.
  • Would you group Sean Carroll with the New Atheists?
    • No, he respects philosophy and even wrote a famous blog post about how scientists should stop saying silly things about philosophy.
  • What are Naturalism and Poetic Naturalism as Carroll defines it?
    • Naturalism says the natural world is all there is, but it’s sticky to define this precisely.
    • Poetic naturalism is the idea that there is the way the world is and there are many ways of talking about it.
  • What is the big problem with Carroll’s poetic naturalism?
    • It conflates utility with truth and practicality with actual reality.
  • How does Carroll discuss free will what do you find problematic?
    • See episode for a substantial answer.
  • Carrolls discusses the beginning of the universe and why the universe exists at all. What do you think about what he has to say on those topics?
    • See the episode for a substantial answer.
  • What do you mean when you say Carroll’s big picture is “too small?”
    • See the episode for a substantial answer.
  • What books would you recommend to learn more about this topic?
    • See the resources mentioned below

Resources Mentioned

• Why I Am Catholic (And You Should Be Too) by Brandon Vogt
• Brandonvogt.com is Brandon’s main website. He also runs:
  • Strangenotions.com 
  • ClaritasU.com
• Brandon Vogt’s 10-part Series Responding to Sean Carroll
  • Part 1 of Vogt’s Review – Intro to the Series
  • Part 2 of Vogt’s Review – Big Problem with Poetic Naturalism?
  • Part 3 of Vogt’s Review – Did the Universe Begin?
  • Part 4 of Vogt’s Review – Free Will and Determinism
  • Part 5 of Vogt’s Review – Determinism and Laplace’s Demon
  • Part 6 of Vogt’s Review – A Theory or B Theory of Time
  • Part 7 of Vogt’s Review – Bayes’ Theorem
  • Part 8 of Vogt’s Review – Why Does the Universe Exist?
  • Part 9 of Vogt’s Review – Learning Morality from Bill and Ted
  • Part 10 of Vogt’s Review – Ten Considerations for Naturalists
• Books recommended by Brandon on the topic of Naturalism
  • Reason in the Balance: The Case Against Naturalism in Science, Law, and Education by Phillip E. Johnson
  • How to Be an Atheist by Mitch Stokes
  • Miracles by C.S. Lewis
  • Dr. Edward Feser’s blog post on the Craig vs. Carroll debate