Plantinga Takes On Science and Naturalism

Most Christians, if they know him at all, know of Alvin Plantinga because his work on epistemology (the science and philosophy of knowledge and how we know what we know). I suspect Christians familiar with his work are either scientists or advanced seminary students. (I know of him because of my interest in epistemology, especially when I was investigating the philosophical foundations of science and medicine). He has spent his career as a noted philosopher, often dealing with the existence of God.

Now Dr. Plantinga has turned his attention to science and naturalism, and particularly the writings of the “new atheists” Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett, and explains how belief in the existence of God, even the God of the Bible, and science are not incompatible. In fact, belief in God is what makes science possible. A review from the New York Times summarizes it well:

Theism, with its vision of an orderly universe superintended by a God who created rational-minded creatures in his own image, “is vastly more hospitable to science than naturalism,” with its random process of natural selection, he writes. “Indeed, it is theism, not naturalism, that deserves to be called ‘the scientific worldview.’ ”

That is very true and has been clearly demonstrated by others. Maybe someday I’ll have time to actually read the book and write a proper review.

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