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P1: FCG/SPH P2: FCG/SPH QC: FCG/SPH T1: FCG EUBK021-Hill/Rauser May 30, 2006 7:20 150 CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY A Z (universalists) believe that all go to Heaven. Among those that deny universalism, some hold that those that do not go to Heaven simply go out of existence at death or at the Last Judgment (annihilationists); others hold that those that do not go to Heaven go to Hell. The Roman- Catholic tradition also postulates a third post-mortem abode, Purgatory, but Protestants tend to reject this as based on apocryphal Scripture excluded by them from the canon. See Hell Further reading: Flew 1964, 1984 and 1987; Helm 1989; Penelhum 1970 postmodernism: A term used to identify a broad movement across a number of fields including architecture, art and literature, that is united by its criticism of Enlightenment values and goals, postmodernism entered philosophical use in the 1970s and is generally identifiable as involv- ing a rejection of some or all of the following theories or entities: (1) the correspondence theory of truth; (2) meta- physical realism; (3) metanarratives and universal prin- ciples of reason; (4) foundationalism; (5) essentialism; (6) the possibility of thought without language; and (7) the referential use of language. Postmodernism is closely as- sociated with continental philosophy and, in particular, the work of leading deconstructionists such as Derrida. Many Christian critics contend that postmodernism is in- imical to Christianity at a number of points including its denial of the existence of natures (essentialism) and the real reference of language (including the revelatory propositions of Scripture). Even so, a number of Chris- tian philosophers including Merold Westphal have found postmodernism to be an ally in certain respects, including its critique of ontotheology and rejection of the search for a God s eye point-of-view . P1: FCG/SPH P2: FCG/SPH QC: FCG/SPH T1: FCG EUBK021-Hill/Rauser May 30, 2006 7:20 CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY A Z 151 See Derrida, Jacques; philosophy, continental; Ricoeur, Paul; Westphal, Merold Further reading: Caputo and Scanlon 1999; Crowther 2003; Silverman and Welton 1988; Taylor and Winquist 1998 power, counterfactual: To possess counterfactual power over a state of affairs is to possess the power to do something such that, were one to do it, the state of affairs in ques- tion would obtain, and the power to do something such that, were one to do it, the state of affairs in question would not obtain. Counterfactual power is thus weaker than causal power. Many Christian philosophers claim that we have counterfactual power over the past. See past, power over the Further reading: Dekker 2000; Flint 1998; Hasker, Basinger and Dekker 2000; Plantinga 1974b pragmatism: A distinctly American philosophy, pragmatism emerged in Charles Peirce s development and defence of pragmatic efficacy as a criterion for discerning the mean- ing of words. According to Peirce, meaning can be found in the conceivable effects that a particular assertion might have on life. As a result, statements that have no conceiv- able effect are dismissed as nonsense. While Peirce did not apply pragmatism beyond these relatively narrow con- fines, William James retooled pragmatism as a theory of truth. Hence, in Pragmatism James makes the claim that truth is whatever is good or useful in belief. Christian philosophers have generally been critical of pragmatism given that it fails to recognise nature and truth as the ob- jective ground of pragmatic efficacy. See James, William; realism; truth Further reading: Goodman 1995; James 1981; Rorty 1982 P1: FCG/SPH P2: FCG/SPH QC: FCG/SPH T1: FCG EUBK021-Hill/Rauser May 30, 2006 7:20 152 CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY A Z prayer: A verbal or mental address directed to God, prayer may assume many forms including praise, thanksgiving and confession, but philosophically the most interesting form is petitionary prayer, where a particular request is addressed to God. Such prayers present a puzzle, for if God is omniscient he will already know our needs and desires, and if he is perfectly good he will desire the best for us. From this it seems to follow that any petition that is good for us, God would already intend to provide, while any petition that is not good for us, God would not ful- fil anyway. But if this is the case, then petitionary prayer seems to make no difference. One response is to say that God uses petitionary prayer to develop character within human beings insofar as the simple provision of requests prior to their being made would stunt moral and spiritual growth. Another response is to say that God has ordained to use the prayers of his creatures as a condition of his own action in certain circumstances, and that, thus, what is best for God to do may depend on whether or not we pray. See miracle; omnipotence; omniscience Further reading: Baelz 1968; Phillips 1965; Stump 1979 predestination: Predestination is God s determining (either timelessly or in ages past) to send some people to Heaven (election) and (in double predestination) some people to Hell (reprobation). The principal philosophical question concerning predestination is whether it is compatible with human freedom. Compatibilists claim that it is so compatible; incompatibilists deny this. The question acquires added seriousness from the thought that human moral responsibility goes hand in hand with freedom: can one be justly punished in Hell if one is predestined to go there? Can God justly receive all the praise for one s P1: FCG/SPH P2: FCG/SPH QC: FCG/SPH T1: FCG EUBK021-Hill/Rauser May 30, 2006 7:20 CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY A Z 153 salvation if one accepts it without being predestined to do so? Another question is that of the basis for God s pre- destination: is it conditional on a free human response, as Arminianism claims, or does it depend on nothing other than God s good pleasure, as Calvinism maintains? See compatibilism; freedom; Hell; incompatibilism; punishment; responsibility, moral Further reading: Basinger and Basinger 1986; Garrigou-Lagrange 1939; Helm 1993; Pinnock 1975 and 1989; Pinnock, Rice, Sanders, Hasker and Basinger 1994 principle, falsification see falsification principle [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |