A few weeks ago, William Lane Craig unloaded on Calvinism. His performance was underwhelming inasmuch as he fell back on canned objections to Calvinism.
However, I wish to make a different point. Craig is arguably the premier Christian apologist of his generation. Yet it’s clear, to judge by the slash-n-burn rhetoric he resorted to in reference to Calvinism, that if he thought the only logical alternatives were Calvinism, Molinism, and atheism, and if he also thought Molinism was wrong, he’d rather be an atheist than a Christian.
What makes this even more remarkable, coming from a major Christian apologist, is that, by his own admission, Molinism is not a revealed truth. It doesn’t even claim to be divinely revealed.
He compares and contrasts Calvinism with Molinism, and that’s a valid exercise up to a point. But it’s also misleading, for there is a fundamental asymmetry between the two positions.
Calvinism claims to be divinely revealed–Molinism does not. And in the nature of the case, we have a higher epistemic duty to believe the word of God than we have to believe an intellectual speculation.
Of course, you might object that’s possible to mistakenly believe that something or another is revealed truth. And that is, indeed, the case. However, that preserves the underlying asymmetry. For it’s also possible to mistakenly believe that an intellectual speculation is true.
So in both cases it’s possible to be wrong, but our epistemic duties are hardly comparable in each case. Because I have a higher obligation to revealed truth, than I have to intellectual speculation, I also have a higher or obligation to what I take to be revealed truth, than I have to what I take to be a true speculation.
A Christian’s allegiance ought to be first and foremost to the word of God. To make what is admittedly an intellectual conjecture like Molinism the deal-breaker betrays a terribly misplaced sense of spiritual priorities. Especially when Craig is a seasoned believer and veteran apologist for the faith.
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"Yet it’s clear, to judge by the slash-n-burn rhetoric he resorted to in reference to Calvinism, that if he thought the only logical alternatives were Calvinism, Molinism, and atheism, and if he also thought Molinism was wrong, he’d rather be an atheist than a Christian."
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. The Maverick Philosopher once told me that he'd prefer atheism over Calvinism; if Calvinism were true, he'd prefer God not exist at all.
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Steve is probably correct. Here is something Craig said with a debate with Edwin Curley
ReplyDeleteDr. Curley presents the following argument:
1. Predestination is incompatible with God's love and justice.
2. Predestination is taught in the Bible.
3. Therefore, the God of the Bible does not exist.
Now I agree with his first premise, but I deny the second, that predestination, as he defines it, is taught in the Bible.
Well, TUAD, for what it's worth, I don't think MP calls himself a Christian. And he's not a hateful anti-Calvinist like other goons you find on the internet.
ReplyDeleteI read Vallicella's blog regularly and he does make statements that make him at least sympathetic with christian theism. But his self styled "maverick" status causes him to resist being lumped into any group whatsoever. At least, that's how I interpret his explanation of "maverick".
ReplyDeleteSteve Said...
ReplyDeleteYet it’s clear, to judge by the slash-n-burn rhetoric he resorted to in reference to Calvinism, that if he thought the only logical alternatives were Calvinism, Molinism, and atheism, and if he also thought Molinism was wrong, he’d rather be an atheist than a Christian.
Steve, is this what Craig explicitly said, or is this what you are inferring as implicit in his statements on Calvinism?
I've said some harsh things about Arminianism in my time that would parallel Craig's statements about Calvinism (though not so bad as to parallel John Wesley's statements about Calvinism), but that doesn't necessary mean I would prefer atheism to Arminianism if Calvinism proved untenable.
ANNOYED PINOY SAID:
ReplyDelete"Steve, is this what Craig explicitly said, or is this what you are inferring as implicit in his statements on Calvinism?"
It's a logical implication.
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TUAD,
ReplyDeleteIt's only "not ideal" because you are already a conservative Protestant. But if conservative Protestantism were demonstrated to be false, is it the conservativism that's disproved or the Protestantism? Because if it's the conservativism that's disproven, you've gained nothing by becoming a conservative Catholic/Orthodox, or even a conservative atheist.
So one cannot answer your question, even dealing with it as a hypothetical, without having further information.
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TUAD,
ReplyDeleteHmmm...that's an interesting question but I'd have to think on it a bit to answer it with any conviction. For me, it's like voting for either McCain or Obama all over again!
Steve,
ReplyDeleteHere is a slightly different angle on Craig's view (supposing everything you said about Craig's view is in fact his view).
Suppose Craig were convinced that M is false. So we have:
1. C v M v A
2. ~M
------------
3. C v A
Now C and A are mutually exclusive since each entails the falsity of the other. How should one choose between C and A? Well, it seems to me that the right thing to do, epistemically, is to consider how strong the arguments are in favor of C, against C, in favor of A, and against A.
From what I know about Craig, I find his acceptance of A over C to be strange. I would have thought that he regarded his arguments for God's existence, which is entailed by C, and which entail ~A, to be stronger than his commitment to incompatibilism. But if he *really* would rather choose A over C, then it seems that my presumption is mistaken. Worse: he finds incompatibilism so much stronger than his arguments for God *and* against A (e.g., his claim that atheism implies all things are permissible). The implication, "all things are permissible," is more absurd than would be having to switch from incompatibilism to compatibilism (or semi-compatibilism). Having recognized the preference for A over C requires the commitment, would Craig now stop using the moral argument he typically runs? I don't know.
As a student of Dr. Craig (been attending Defenders for 2 years), Dr. Craig's fallback position, if Molinism were disproven is the divine mystery view:
ReplyDeletei.e. that God has foreknowledge and that man has libertarian free will, and that the way the two connect is a divine mystery that only God knows.
It's sort of like a bridge over a misty canyon. You can see that the bridge connects to both parts of the canyon, but how it connects in the middle is obscured by fog.