There are two types of actions that God cannot do (see The Coherence of Theism, p.164): T1. Actions that are logically impossible for any being to perform.T2. Actions that are logically possible for some beings to perform, but logically impossible for God to perform.No being, including God, could produce or discover a four-sided triangle. No … What God Cannot Do – Part 2

For the past couple of months I have been reading philosophers of religion, esp. Richard Swinburne, about divine attributes. According to most theists, omnipotence is a divine attribute, a property of God. There are some interesting problems and puzzles concerning omnipotence, a key problem being the paradox of the stone. Here is a summary of … What God Cannot Do – Part 1

As far as I’m concerned, there is nothing better than doing philosophy, and philosophy of religion is the chocolate-fudge frosting on the cake. In philosophy of religion, you get a full serving of each of the major areas of philosophy: metaphysics, epistemology, logic, ethics, philosophy of language, and philosophy of science, to name just the … The Meaning of Divine Attributes

The first chapter in Part II of The Coherence of Theism (revised edition), is Chapter 7, which focuses on the following sentence: (3) An omnipresent spirit exists. Swinburne’s initial clarification of (3) is brief: By a ‘spirit’ is understood a person without a body, a non-embodied person. By ‘omnipresent’ is meant ‘everywhere present’. That God … The Sentence “God exists” – Part 6

In Part II of The Coherence of Theism (revised edition,1993), Richard Swinburne discusses the idea of a “contingent God”. The first chapter in Part II, is Chapter 7, “An Omnipresent Spirit”,which focuses on the following sentence: (3) An omnipresent spirit exists. This sentence involves two key attributes that Swinburne uses to define “God” (or “divine … The Sentence “God exists” – Part 5

Let’s set aside, for the moment, Richard Swinburne’s critique of Ayer’s Logical Positivist argument for the incoherence of theism, and consider Swinburne’s concept of “God”. I’m jumping ahead to the second book in Swinburne’s trilogy on theism (The Existence of God, 2nd edition). There are two kinds of explanation according to Swinburne: scientific and personal. … The Sentence “God exists” Part 3

This is the Logical Positivist skeptical argument, as understood by Richard Swinburne: (1) If the sentence “God exists” expresses a coherent statement, then the sentence “God exists” expresses either an analytic proposition or else it expresses a synthetic proposition.(2) The sentence “God exists” does not express an analytic proposition.(3) The sentence “God exists” does not … The Sentence “God exists” Part 2

In The Coherence of Theism (original:1977, revised ed.:1993), Richard Swinburne argues that the sentence “God exists” is a meaningful indicative sentence that expresses a coherent proposition. He does this by raising objections to arguments that have been given against this view, and by also making a detailed positive case. For the negative or defensive case, … The Sentence “God Exists” Part 1