THE PLANTINGA INTERVIEW - BRILLIANT!

Down in Sydney, one of the best resources to help us share the basics about believing in God with our secular friends is the CENTRE FOR PUBLIC CHRISTIANITY. Go to their website HERE. There are heaps of interesting essays, videos and mp3 audio talks put together to help "ordinary" Christians become thoughtful communicators.

They have made available some short videos of an interview with Professor Alvin Plantinga, a leading American philosopher, from the University of Notre Dame, where he is something of an institution having been there since 1982. He is especially well-known for his work in the philosophy of religion. Plantinga is one of the key reasons why we are experiencing a renaissance of interest in a philosophical defense of Christianity. His argument, made in the 1970s, that established that there is no ‘logical’ inconsistency in believing in an all-powerful loving God despite the reality of suffering, was something of a turning point in Philosophy.

In this interview at Notre Dame, Simon Smart talks to Plantinga about God, Richard Dawkins and personal faith. Plantinga provides a summary of his evolutionary argument against Naturalism, as well as giving a personal reflection on the highs and lows of a life of faith.

Part I: Reasons for God: Plantinga explains why he believes there is a God, and gives us a summary of his argument that says naturalism cannot be rationally believed.

Part II: Where Richard Dawkins goes wrong: Plantinga suggests that Richard Dawkins is not only weak in argumentation, but that his conception of human nature is unlovely and dispiriting.

Part III: Sure Faith Without Proof: Why faith makes sense even though we can't 'prove' its worth and truth.

Part IV: Is God Good? In the final part of the interview, Plantinga responds to the criticism that the God of Old Testament is a moral monster. He also goes on to describe the hardest aspects of being a believer and the ways he has experienced God in his life.