The brilliant Substacker Both Sides Brigade joins me for a discussion about three hot topics in our corner of the philosophy of religion internet: the omission theodicy, the miracle case for Catholicism, and the doctrine of eternal conscious torment.Check out Brian Cutter and Philip Swenson's defense of the archon abandonment theodicy, as well as Brian Cutter's paper on Hell and justice.

Video of this interview is available on YouTube.

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EPISODE CHAPTERS:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:06:32 The Archon abandonment theodicy explained

00:12:09 Natural evil and the free will defense

00:16:42 The expected costs of Archon failure

00:26:35 Divine foreknowledge and God's failure to intervene

00:34:04 The epistemology of Catholic miracles

00:41:56 Padre Pio's stigmata and carbolic acid

00:46:07 Divine hiddenness and conflicting miracle evidence

00:53:19 The miracle of Calanda and the restored leg

00:59:46 Fátima and the miracle of the sun

01:08:29 Eternal conscious torment and its defenders

01:14:31 Can Catholic miracles justify eternal conscious torment?

01:24:19 The noetic effects of sin and moral skepticism

01:34:09 Can hell be good for those in it?

01:42:05 Can eternal punishment involve finite suffering?

Noah McKay, a philosophy Ph.D. student at Princeton, joins me to discuss his recent conversation to Catholicism, Catholic miracle evidence, whether the Bible predicts a succession of popes, and Catholic sexual ethics.

Video of this interview is available on YouTube.

To support the channel, do please oh please consider donating, either via PayPal or Buy Me a Coffee.

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EPISODE CHAPTERS:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:53 From Protestantism to Catholicism: the initial case

00:02:24 Craig Keener and the evidence for Christian miracles

00:04:35 Fine-tuning, the resurrection, and other arguments for Christianity

00:05:33 How Joe Schmid helped change his theological views

00:07:13 Marian apparitions, Eucharistic miracles, and Catholicism

00:11:18 Overcoming objections to Catholic theology and history

00:14:26 Why Noah initially rejected the papacy

00:16:24 The biblical case for papal authority

00:22:19 Scripture, tradition, and divine revelation

00:24:21 Does the papacy preserve Christian unity and truth?

00:30:11 Peter, Paul, and the case for apostolic succession

00:48:10 Can the Catholic Church really claim to preserve unity?

01:06:08 How strong is the evidence for Catholic miracles?

01:14:00 Can miracles override moral and philosophical objections?

01:19:07 Catholic sexual ethics, moral intuitions, and disagreement

01:32:37 What philosophical position is Noah most uncertain of?

Mike Titelbaum, author of the two-volume "Fundamentals of Bayesian Epistemology," dissects the use of probability in philosophy, philosophy of religion, science, and everyday life. We do, of course, discuss my recent discussion with John Norton and the material theory of induction.

Video of this interview is available on YouTube.

To support the channel, do please oh please consider donating, either via PayPal or Buy Me a Coffee.

Follow me on X because you’re awesome.

EPISODE CHAPTERS:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:11 What is Bayesianism?

00:05:21 Must credences have precise numerical values?

00:07:16 Imprecise credence and comparative confidence

00:14:27 Bayesianism and Norton’s material theory of induction

00:20:02 Can we assign probabilities to the universe’s initial conditions?

00:28:57 Fine-tuning and the principle of indifference

00:35:13 Objective versus subjective Bayesianism

00:39:20 Must rational beliefs obey the probability axioms?

00:47:01 Incommensurability and alternative models of credence

00:55:06 Can Bayesianism evaluate evidence for God?

00:59:08 How probability theory illuminates evidential support

01:03:03 Everyday probability versus mathematical probability

01:07:55 Does subjective Bayesianism entail skepticism?

01:19:46 What is Titelbaum most uncertain about?