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Name: Alvin Plantinga

Why you should know him: Plantinga has been described by Time magazine as “America’s leading orthodox Protestant philosopher of God.”

Position: Emeritus John A. O’Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and the inaugural holder of the Jellema Chair in Philosophy at Calvin College.

Education:
A.B., Calvin College (1954)
M.A., University of Michigan (1955)
Ph.D., Yale University (1958)

Areas of interest/expertise: Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion.

Associations: American Philosophical Association Central Division, Vice-President (1980-81) President (1981-82); Society of Christian Philosophers, President (l983-86)

Books: Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism (2011), Warranted Christian Belief (2000); Warrant: the Current Debate (1993); Warrant and Proper Function (1993); Faith and Rationality (ed.) (1983); The Analytic Theist: A Collection of Alvin Plantinga’s Work in Philosophy of Religion, ed. James Sennett (1998); Does God Have a Nature? (1980); God, Freedom and Evil (1974); God and Other Minds (1967); The Ontological Argument, (ed) (1965); Faith and Philosophy, (ed) (1964)

Assessment: Plantinga has made a number of significant contributions in various areas of philosophy. His books and articles have addressed such diverse topics as restoring the ontological argument (using modal logic) and defending against the logical “problem of evil” (using a “free-will defense”). His development of Reformed epistemology (along with William Alston and Nicholas Wolterstorff) has helped shift the burden of proof in respect to knowledge about God. By arguing that belief in God is a “basic belief,” Plantinga has helped to reestablish the role of faith as knowledge without resorting to a fideism. He has also presented criticisms of sociobiology and naturalism that have helped to raise doubts about their intellectual respectability and weaken them as defensible positions.

Plantinga’s ability to produce sophisticated philosophical arguments from a thoroughly Christian worldview has made him one of the most indispensable and important thinkers in the history of evangelicalism.

Articles and Essays:

Advice to Christian Philosophers

Darwin, Mind and Meaning

Methodological Naturalism?

Two Dozen (or so) Theistic Arguments

Theism, Atheism, and Rationality

Naturalism Defeated


Other Posts in the “Know Your Evangelicals” Series:

William Wilberforce

Charles Colson

Francis Schaeffer

Podcasts

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