Arts and Humanities Commons^™

What Are Good Stories? Literary Understanding And Moral Imagination, Stephen Chamberlain

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

The author argues for the formative character of literary fiction insofar as stories are able to reveal a kind of ethical knowledge. In making this argument, the author examines Aristotle’s notion of understanding, along with some contemporary developments of Aristotle’s ideas, such as those presented by Martha Nussbaum.

Plato, Socrates And The Removal Of Confederate Monuments, Scott Berman

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

Both Plato and Socrates would support the removal of confederate monuments because they thought that it was bad for communities to endorse harmful ideas. However, their explanations as to how harmful ideas such as white supremacy and slavery are bad for the communities are different. I shall be arguing that Socrates, not Plato, got it right and why that makes a difference.

The Psychology Of Confederate Symbols, Mara Aruguete

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

I will start by discussing why and when confederate symbols were erected. Then I will review experimental studies on how exposure to confederate symbols affects our attitudes and behavior. Finally, I will question the audience about opinions and applications.

Reconciliation And Preconditions Of Existence: Normative Mythological Foundations In The Poetry Of Robert Frost, Bryan Salmons

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

Using several of Frost’s better-known works—“Mending Wall,” “The Road Not Taken,” “To Earthward,” and “Desert Places”

--as a lens, as it were, I consider the issue of moral formation in the arts as it pertains to this highly-influential poet’s motifs. My paper suggests that, while he remained throughout his career an attendant oeuvre, in effect, both sardonic skeptic and therapeutic nihilist, Frost’s poetry nonetheless frequently conforms to Joseph Campbell’s well-known dictum that the primary function of mythology—and thereby all narrative art—is the inculcation from one generation to the next of the ineradicable and immutable, i.e. the reconciliation with limitations, most …

Compromise Or Quit Medical Practice: Is There Another Option For Catholic Health Care Professionals, John Morris

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

More and more, medical practitioners are being told that they must either compromise their beliefs and provide whatever services patients demand or they should quit medical practice. This paper will explore other options that would offer a more just and respectful solution for our pluralistic society.

Accommodation As Compromise: Turning Hard Cases Into Easier Ones, Chad Flanders

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

Recent developments seem to present a stark choice: either we protect religious liberty or we allow discrimination. But do we have to choose? In this talk, Chad Flanders tries to present a way out of current conflicts between religious liberty and laws against discrimination.

Religious Liberty Laws, Religious Practices, And Discrimination, Jeffrey Freelin

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

A set of clarificatory questions I wish to address are: What qualifies as a religious belief? Can corporations have such beliefs? What qualifies a practice as a religious practice? What religious practices are/should be protected by RFRA laws?

Liberty In Things Doubtful Or Indifferent: Sources And Expressions Of Anglican Toleration In The American Colonies, Marshall Crossnoe

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

Richard Hooker and John Locke were important sources for the thought and public lives of Anglican leaders in the North American colonies. A conviction about religious freedom of conscience during the first half of the eighteenth century constitutes a range of thinking about toleration that contributed to the birth of the republic.

Morality Without God, Jeffrey Freelin

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

Commentator: Laurence Rohrer (Lincoln University)

No Meaning Without God, Chris Gadsden

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

Commentator: Bruce Ballard (Lincoln University)

Do You Have To Be Religious To Find Meaning In Life, David Holley

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

Featured Speaker

The Voice In The Whirlwind: Lessons For Job -- Randomness And Natural Evil, Richard Carlson

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

The innocent Job suffers, friends are no help, and then Job screams at Yahweh, demanding justice. The first surprise is that Yehweh responds to Job, does not criticize him but tells him he is ignorant, and then gives him a science lesson. The content of that lesson is the second surprise.

Clearing Up Confusions About Religion And Evolution, Brendan Sweetman

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

A number of confusions plague the debate concerning religion and evolution. Included here are the belief that religion and science must be incompatible and the thesis that evolution is evidence for atheism. Clearing up these confusions helps remove obstacles to genuine dialogue, while acknowledging that difficulties remain.

Made In God's Image! - What Does It Mean? Science And Religion In Conversation, Clifford Cain

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

How can we best interpret the traditional Christian affirmation that human beings are made in God's image in light of contact and dialogue between religion and science? And what, if any, are the environmental implications of this conversation between the two?

Faith, Reason And Politics, Brendan Sweetman

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

Contemporary pluralism is best represented as a set of rival worldviews. Secularism and religion represent the dominant worldviews in our society. But moves to exclude religious views because they are based on faith are misguided since political philosophies also, and unavoidably, depend on "faith".

Reformed Epistemology, Clairvoyance, And The Role Of Evidence, Andrew Moon

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

Reformed epidemiologists like Alvin Plantinga and William Alston are well known for their view that one can rationally believe that God exists without believing on the basis of any evidence - scientific, philosophical, or otherwise. I defend reformed epistemology from objections (including one having to do with clairvoyance), and I develop a view about the role that evidence should play in the rationality of theistic belief.

Delineating The Boundaries For Religious Speech In Public Discourse In Kierkegaard And Habermas, Michael Carper

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

How is it that one of the most famous Christian thinkers - Soren Kierkegaard -- and one of the most famous contemporary secular thinkers -- Jurgen Habermas - both agree: the religious has nothing to say in the public realm of social, ethical discourse.

Embodied Religion And Liberal Society: The Obstacle Of De Facto Established Religion, Kevin Carnahan

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

Recent scholarship suggests that religion should be conceived in terms of embodied social practices as much as (if not more than) a set of systematic beliefs. Such accounts of religion, I will argue, raise problems that have not been adequately treated in current discussion of the role of religion in liberal society.

Warning Factors, Coping Mechanisms And Culturally Sensitive Intervention: An Evaluation Of Efficacy And Accuracy In Addressing African-American Suicide, Che Wilson

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

No abstract provided.

Post-Rawlsian Movements, Multiculturalism, And Black Americans, Brian Thomas

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

No abstract provided.

A Thing Called Race, Clanton W. Dawson

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

Keynote Speaker

The Plain Person And The Catholicity Of Philosophy, Bryan R. Cross

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

No abstract provided.

The Manager, The Everyday Plain Person, And The Philosopher, Gregory R. Beabout

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

No abstract provided.

Moral Virtue As Knowledge Of Human Form, Micah Lott

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Alasdair Macintyre And The Ethics And Politics Of Practice, Christopher Lutz

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

No abstract provided.

Molinism, Open Theism, And Moral Luck, Mark Anderson

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

It is sometimes thought that the choice between Molinism and open theism involves a trade-off in values: Molinism asserts that God has providential power but allows God indirectly to manipulate that in virtue of which human beings are to be judged; while open theism grants human beings more power over that in virtue of which they are tp be judged, but at the price of giving up providence. I argue here that this picture is misconstrued---that Molinism gives human agents more power over that in virtue of which they may be judged than does open theism. Since open theism confines …

A Physicalist View Of The Passion Of Christ, Joungbin Lim

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

My project in this paper is to provide a plausible idea of Christ’s suffering and death in terms of a theory of the human person. More specifically, I want to contrast two major theories of the person-body relation. One is dualism. Dualism is the view that a human person is composed of two substances, that is, a soul and a body, and he (strictly speaking) is identical with the soul. On the other hand, physicalism is the view that a human person is numerically identical with his biological body. I will argue that dualism is not successful in explaining Christ’s …

A Mea Culpa For The Felix Culpa? A Greater Goods Response To The Problems Of Evil And Hell, Ian Spencer

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

In this paper I want to develop a particular kind of greater-good response to the problems of evil and hell, one which hence can serve as a backup plan should the free will defense not satisfy. Ultimately, this response will appear to belong to several traditions in theodicy. Like all greater-goods views, this one relies on explaining the existence of evil in terms of the greater goods that come out of it. Among these goods are the greater goods of Incarnation and Atonement, their respective goodness consisting in large part in the higher-order divine good of glorifying God through the …

Theodicies, Utilitarianism, And Respect For Persons, Jeffrey Freelin

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

Most theodicy responses to the problem of evil have in common the claim that God legitimately allows some evil such that greater good may come. This response is puzzling because the seemingly overwhelming consensus (at least amongst Christian apologists) is that 1) morality is deontological in nature (e.g. our duty of obedience to God’s commands, or acting in accordance with God’s purpose), and 2) relatedly, that humans are made in God’s image (i. e. are rational beings) and thus are worthy of respect. I shall argue that theodicy defenses that claim that God allows some evil such that greater good …

The Double‐Edged Sword Of Interdict: Some More Warnings From History, Marshall Crossnoe

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

In this paper I revisit the age-old question of the relationship between philosophy and theology by rejecting the claim that throughout the history of the Christian Church, whenever Christian thinkers have baptized philosophy, they have done so to the detriment of theology. Church history reveals just the opposite, i. e., that sometimes theologians have creatively and fruitfully used philosophical language, concepts, methods, and conclusions to understand and express the faith. In addition, church history records numerous attempts to limit philosophical enquiry for theological reasons that proved unsuccessful and counter-productive. Both types of interaction between philosophy and theology occurred at the …