April 7 Debate – D’Souza vs. Hitchens – “Is Religion the Problem?”

The South Bend Tribune reports,

Atheist and author Christopher Hitchens and Catholic conservative Dinesh D’Souza will present a public debate on the topic “Is Religion the Problem?” on April 7 at the University of Notre Dame.

The debate will be at 7:30 p.m. in Leighton Concert Hall in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

Named one of “America’s most influential conservative thinkers” by the New York Times, D’Souza has been outspoken in his defense of religion in his writing and speaking appearances.

A native of India and a graduate of Dartmouth College, D’Souza served as a policy analyst in the Reagan administration. He is the author of the best-selling book “What’s So Great About Christianity?” He is also the author of a 2007 book, “The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and its Responsibility for 9/11.”

Hitchens is an author, journalist and public speaker. Considered a leader in the “New Atheist” movement, he is the author of the 2007 book “God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.” He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, The Nation and other media outlets. Born and raised in England, he now holds dual British-U.S. citizenship. (more)

Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion: Volume 2

Jonathan Kvanvig at The Prosblogion lists the table of contents for his second edited volume in the Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion series.  The first is here on Amazon.

Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion, Volume 2 is now on Amazon. OUP’s site lists it here, with the following information:

Table of Contents
Introduction , Jonathan L. Kvanvig
1. On Evil’s Vague Necessity , Michael J. Almeida, (University of Texas, San Antonio)
2. Epistemic Humility, Arguments from Evil, and Moral Skepticism , Daniel Howard-Snyder, (Western Washington University)
3. Fission, Freedom, and the Fall , Hud Hudson, (Western Washington University)
4. Evaluating Religion , Tomis Kapitan, (Northern Illinois University)
5. Against Deity Theories , Brian Leftow, (University of Oxford)
6. Pointless Suffering? How to Make the Problem of Evil Sufficiently Serious , Hugh J. McCann, (Texas A&M University)
7. Divine Will Theory: Intentions or Desires? , Christian Miller, (Wake Forest University, North Carolina)
8. Design Inferences in an Infinite Universe , Brad Monton, (University of Colorado, Boulder)
9. Gods , Graham Oppy, (Monash University, Australia)
10. The Evolutionary Answer to the Problem of Faith and Reason , J. L. Schellenberg, (Mount Saint Vincent University, Nova Scotia)
11. Lotteries and Miracles , Jordan Howard Sobel, (University of Toronto)
12. Ockhamism and Molinism — Foreknowledge and Prophecy , Ted A. Warfield, (University of Notre Dame)

Is Theology Knowledge? (Pres. Obama and Notre Dame)

Many of you have read about the flap over Notre Dame’s invitation to President Obama to speak and receive an award.  If you’re not familiar with the story, Christianity Today gives a nice summary:

The University of Notre Dame invited President Obama to be the keynote speaker and receive an honorary doctor of laws degree at commencement on May 17. The invitation has created an uproar from conservative Catholics, since the President has taken executive actions that oppose the Catholic Church’s teachings on life ethics.

CT also interviewed Francis Beckwith, who is currently a visiting fellow at Notre Dame, to ask his opinion.  Beckwith makes some insightful observations, in my opinion.

The honorary doctorate is more troubling than the commencement address because to give him an honorary doctorate in law is to say that he’s accomplished something in the field of law that the University of Notre Dame wants to honor. In the past three weeks, we’ve seen a number of different events, one of which was the change in policy on embryonic stem cell research. The problem is, the areas in which he’s been involved with legislation on the issue of abortion have been contrary to Catholic teaching. . . . I think if he were just the commencement speaker and not receiving the honorary doctorate, it would tone down the criticism. How can Notre Dame give him an honorary doctorate for excellence in something that our own theology teaches he isn’t excellent in?

But Beckwith raises an even bigger issue that has profound implications:

The real debate is whether theological claims can count as knowledge. . . . if we think theology is true and knowable, that means it’s no different than what we learn in literature or sociology or philosophy. If that’s the case, the university is where we should integrate these areas of knowledge.

If . . . Notre Dame were to terminate a faculty member for denying the Apostle’s Creed, you would hear claims that the faculty member’s academic freedom had been violated. Yet, if the university had terminated a chemistry professor because he denied the periodic table, nobody would object. That means that theology in some circles is not thought to be knowledge. Can one legitimately claim that one’s theological tradition is knowledge? Not only Catholic but evangelical institutions—can one legitimately claim that certain issues are settled? That’s really the issue. What are we to think of theology? Is it something we can know? I think it is.

An excellent point!  If theology isn’t knowledge, I suppose it would have to be something like poetry – but no one accepts poetry as a basis for making moral or prudential decisions.  As long as theology is considered poetry, it won’t carry much weight in real-world choices.