One of the greatest challenges of the spiritual life, the study of theology, and the work of philosophy is when the expected is absent or silent. Some have talked about the problems of evil as problems of absence – of the lack of health, or protection from harm, or even apparent meaning in the cascade of pain that we experience and witness. Another expectation is seen in the problem of divine hiddenness.
Is there a human nature? This question has been answered in various ways over the course of history. Some individuals believe that what makes us human is our DNA or our biological characteristics. Other individuals believe that humanity is a social construct – we are human because we engage in human activities in society.
While India’s emergence as a hub for commercial surrogacy has given couples a renewed hope of parenthood, several ethical issues have emerged. One, in particular, is the manner in which these surrogate mothers are chosen. Often the women selected as surrogates are poor and illiterate but select surrogacy of their own volition.
I am often asked why I defend the doctrine of universalism, the idea that all people will eventually be saved. As a philosophy student, I do not count myself as qualified to, engage with universalism as a strategy of biblical study or as the correct interpretation of the historic thought of certain theologians. Rather, this article will be successful in so far as I have provided you with reasons to believe that several problems in philosophy can be weakened – or even solved – by postulating universal salvation.
All doctrines and all biblical interpretations are traditions. The doctrine of the penal substitutionary atonement as the interpretation of Romans is a traditional interpretation. So tradition is not something imported from the outside without roots in the Bible or not subject to reform by biblical revelation. Tradition is not a rival to the Bible or an alternative to it.
Does the fact that there aren’t any federal laws indicate that the abortion debate is over? The debate is certainly over if it is true that morality follows law. However, morality doesn’t and can’t follow law, law follows morality—or at least it should.
My brother and I had never killed for food before, but it was our turn. It was a chicken, and we'd made a deal that I would hold it down while he decapitated it. We thought it was simple enough until we realised that the knife was blunt; it took five swings before, finally, the head tumbled across the floor.
