Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
“The God Hypothesis”

“The God Hypothesis”

Last updated on: March 26, 2018 at 1:36 pm by Dan Peterson

“The God Hypothesis” 2018-03-26T13:36:29-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A tidal pool on the southern coast of New South Wales, Australia. Charles Darwin proposed that life on Earth may have begun in just such a place. (Wikimedia Commons)

From Keith Ward, Why There Almost Certainly Is a God: Doubting Dawkins (Oxford: Lion, 2008), continuing with a line of thinking that I mentioned in my earlier blog post, “‘Personal Explanation'”:

The God hypothesis, at its simplest, is the hypothesis that personal explanation is not reducible to scientific explanation, and that it is prior to scientific explanation. . . . Put another way, mind is prior to matter. Mind causes matter to exist, as a means of bringing into being a set of states that are desired and enjoyed by that mind, or that can be desired and enjoyed by other minds that may form a shared community. (80)

[I]f the universe is rational, God almost certainly exists. Far from belief in God being some sort of irrational leap of faith, it is the most rational hypothesis there is; and perhaps it is the only plausible and sure foundation of the rationality of the universe that science presupposes. (81-82)

It’s not inappropriate, in this context, to think of the doctrine of the divine logos, which is famous, of course, from the opening verses of the Gospel of John but which is also characteristic of John’s rough contemporary, the Jewish Middle Platonist philosopher and biblical commentator Philo of Alexandria (ca. 20 BC to ca. 50 AD). It is a rich term, meaning not only “word” but “speech,” “discourse,” “proportion,” “reason,” and so forth.

***

Inquiring minds want to know:

“How Do We Know Space Is Expanding?”

But some questions remain:

“‘Serious gap’ in cosmic expansion rate hints at new physics”

***

Regarding the very ancient story of humans:

“Was the Toba Eruption Not the Volcanic Catastrophe We Thought It Was?”

“Critics attack study that rewrote human arrival in Americas: Mounting scepticism challenges report that put hominins on continent more than 100,000 years earlier than most scientists accept.”

***

An interesting suggestion that, thus far at least, is meeting very stiff resistance:

“Did Ancient Greeks Sail to Canada? Researchers think Plutarch’s De Facie tells the tale of Greek sailors making the treacherous transatlantic crossing. They dug into the science to show how it could have happened.”

***

I’m told fairly frequently, especially by anonymous strangers online, that I’m a fundamentalist and a young-earth creationist. This always surprises me. And it makes me wonder why I think this article makes a solid point:

“Creationism isn’t about science, it’s about theology (and it’s really bad theology).”

Uncategorized

argument for God

argument from ratioanlity

Previous Post

February 11, 2018

Islamic Law (Part 9)

Next Post

February 12, 2018 "White and Delightsome"?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which tribe first accepted David as king after Saul's death?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Ephraim Dan Benjamin Judah