Acknowledgements

What Preliminary Questions Is

This project is an attempt to speak plainly and accurately about an infinitely Perfect-Being. Of course, the very nature of the project dooms it. While every word has been prayerfully chosen with the utmost care and devotion, I'm compelled to acknowledge that the effort must fall short. After all, I'm "only human"—that is, not human enough. Where this effort falls short of its goal, I beg for God's grace—and for yours.

Christian-philosophy is the life-long project of loving God with all of one's mind in obedience to God's greatest command (Matthew 22:37-40). My fervent hope is that this resource might help ignite a spirit of honest inquiry in each reader—one that compels them to a deeper exploration of the topics here introduced.

This resource is just a basic introduction. It shouldn't be seen as the end of your journey, but only its first toddling steps. To say that we have merely scratched the surface of unsearchable depths is a cosmic understatement. Please see below for a selection of recommended resources for further study.

"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

Isaac Newton 1643-1727 AD

What Preliminary Questions Is Not

The content on this website is not a replacement for God's Spirit, God's Word, or God's people. Time spent here cannot, and should not replace prayer, Bible study, or spiritual life in community with others.

This resource is meant to bolster these habits by clarifying the true meaning of Love. If it hasn't, then you haven't understood me at all. Please start again.

On the Shoulders of Giants

While truth belongs to God and is given for all mankind to discover and share, I would like to acknowledge and express thanks to those whose influence and contributions have been especially important to my academic growth as a scholar, and personal growth as a Christian. Each is a recommended resource.

Jesus Christ of Nazareth (The Giant Whose Shoulders We All Stand On)

Brenda Huls (Lover, Partner, & Friend)

My Family (Thank you!)

The Faculty of the John W. Rawlings Divinity School at Liberty University

Dr. Ronnie Campbell (Thesis Chair)

Dr. Jonathan Waita (Thesis Reader)

The A-Team (Aristotle, Athanasius, Augustine, Anselm, & Aquinas)

Dr. David Baggett

Dr. Craig Blomberg

Dr. Craig Boyd

Dr. Paul Copan

Dr. William Lane Craig

Dr. Albert Einstein

Dr. Craig Evans

Dr. Norman Geisler

Dr. Colin Gunton

Dr. Gary Habermas

Pastor Chuck Keller

Dr. Peter Kreeft

Dr. John Lennox

C.S. Lewis

Dr. Michael Licona

Dr. Edward Martin

Dr. J.P. Moreland

Sir. Isaac Newton

Plato

Dr. Alvin Plantinga

Socrates

Dr. Jerry Walls

Pastor Steve Whinery

Selected Research Bibliography

Adams, Marilyn M. and Robert M. Adams. The Problem of Evil. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Adams, Marilyn McCord. “Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God,” In The Problem of Evil, edited by Marilyn M. Adams and Robert M. Adams, 209-221. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Anselm. Proslogion. Translated by Matthew D. Walz. South Bend IN: St. Augustine Press, 2013.

Antony, Loise. “Atheism as Perfect Piety” In Is Goodness Without God Good Enough: A Debate on Faith, Secularism, and Ethics, edited by Robert K. Garcia and Nathan L. King, 67-85. Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009.

Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologiae. Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province. Benziger Bros, 1947.

————. Quaestiones Disputatae de Malo, Translated by Richard Regan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Augustine. Confessions and Enchiridion. Translated by Albert C. Outler. Dallas: Southern Methodist University, 1994.

————. On Free Choice of the Will. Translated by Thomas Williams. Cambridge, MA: Hackett Publishing Company Inc., 1993.

Baggett, David, and Jerry L. Walls. Good God: The Theistic Foundations of Morality. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

————. God and Cosmos: Moral Truth and Human Meaning. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Boyd, Craig A. “The Synthesis of Reason and Faith” In Faith and Reason: Three Views, edited by Steve Wilkens. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014.

Campbell, Ronnie. Worldviews and the Problem of Evil: A Comparative Approach. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2019.

Chisolm, Roderick M. “The Defeat of Good and Evil,” In The Problem of Evil, edited by

Marilyn M. Adams and Robert M. Adams, 53-68. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Cooper, David L. The Eternal God Revealing Himself to Suffering Israel and to Lost Humanity.

3rd ed. Biblical Research Society, 1974.

Copan, Paul, and Kenneth D. Litwak. The Gospel in the Marketplace of Ideas. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2014.

Craig, William Lane. On Guard, Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision. Colorado Springs CO: David C. Cook, 2010.

————. Reasonable Faith: Christian Faith and Apologetics, 3rd ed. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008.

————. “The Most Gruesome of Guests.” In Is Goodness Without God Good

Enough: A Debate on Faith, Secularism, and Ethics, edited by Robert K. Garcia and Nathan L. King, 166-188. Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV-TR. 4th ed. Washington, DC:

American Psychiatric Association, 2000.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5-TR. 5th ed. Washington, DC:

American Psychiatric Association Publishing, 2022.

Edgar, William, and K. Scott Oliphint. Christian Apologetics Past and Present. Vol. 1, To 1500. Wheaton: IL: Crossway, 2009.

Ehrman, Bart D. Jesus Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (and Why We Don’t Know About Them). New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2009.

Feinberg, John S. The Many Faces of Evil. 3rd ed. Wheaton, Il: Crossway Books, 2004.

Geisler, Norman L. Christian Apologetics, 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013.

Gould, Paul, Travis Dickinson, R. Keith Loftin. Stand Firm, Apologetics and the Brilliance

of the Gospel. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2018.

Gunton, Colin E. The One, The Three And Them Many. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

————. The Promise of Trinitarian Theology. 2nd ed. New York: T&T Clark Ltd, 2003.

Habermas, Gary R., and Michael R. Licona. The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus. Grand Rapids MI: Kregel Publications, 2004.

Heiser, Michael S. The Unseen Realm. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015.

Hume, David. Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. Amended: November 2007. Jonathan Bennett, 2017.

————. A Treatise of Human Nature. London: Electric Book, 2019.

Kagan, Shelly. The Limits of Morality. Oxford: Oxford University Press Inc., 1991.

Kaiser, Walter C. Jr. and Moises Silva. Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007.

Keller, Timothy. The Reason for God. 2nd ed. New York: Penguin Random House, 2018.

Kilmer, Val. I’m Your Huckleberry. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2020.

Kreeft, Peter. “Evil, Suffering, and Calvary” In Christian Apologetics: An Anthology of Primary Sources, edited by Khaldoun A. Sweis and Chad V. Meister, 444-450. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012.

Leff, Arthur Allen. “Unspeakable Ethics, Unnatural Law.” Duke Law Journal, No. 6 (1979): 1229-1249.

Lewis, C.S. A Grief Observed. New York: HarperCollins, 1994.

————. Mere Christianity. New York: HarperCollins, 2001.

————. Miracles. Canada: Distributed Proofreaders Canada, 2015.

————. The Abolition of Man. New York: HarperCollins, 2001.

————. The Great Divorce. New York: HarperCollins, 2009.

————. The Problem of Pain. New York: HarperCollins, 2009.

————. Surprised by Joy; the Shape of My Early Life. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1956.

Licona, Michael R. The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2010.

Mackie, J.L. “Evil and Omnipotence” In The Problem of Evil, edited by Marilyn M. Adams and Robert M. Adams, 25-37. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Martin, Walter. The Kingdom of the Cults. Edited by Ravi Zacharias. Bloomington, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2003.

Moreland, J.P. Love Your God with All Your Mind: The Role of Reason in the Life of the Soul, 2nd ed. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2012.

Moreland, J.P., and William Lane Craig. Philosophical Foundations for a Christian World View. 2nd ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2017.

Nevid, Jefferey S. Essentials of Psychology: Concepts and Applications. 4th ed. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning, 2015.

Olson, Roger E. Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006.

Pascal, Blaise. Pensees. New York: Philosophical Library/Open Road Integrated Media, 2016.

Pike, Nelson “Hume on Evil” In The Problem of Evil, edited by Marilyn M. Adams and Robert M. Adams, 38-51. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Plantinga, Alvin C. God, Freedom, and Evil. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing, 1977.

————. “God, Evil, And The Metaphysics of Freedom” In The Problem of Evil, edited by Marilyn M. Adams and Robert M. Adams, 83-110. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.

————. Warrant and Proper Function. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc, 1993.

Reppert, Victor. “The Lewis-Anscombe Controversy: A Discussion of the Issues.” Christian scholar’s review. 19, no. 1 (1989) 32-48.

Richard of St. Victor. “On the Trinity” In Christian Apologetics: An Anthology of Primary Sources, edited by Khaldoun A. Swiss and Chad V. Meister, 227-228. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012.

Rosenberg, Alexander. The Atheist’s Guide to Reality: Enjoying Life Without Illusions. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011.

Rowe, William L. “The Problem of Evil And Some Varieties of Atheism” In The Problem of Evil, edited by Marilyn M. Adams and Robert M. Adams, 126-137. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Sayer, George. Jack: A Life of C.S. Lewis, 2nd ed. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1994.

Schlesinger, G.N. “The Problem of Evil and The Problem of Injustice” Tradition: A Journal of Jewish Thought Vol. 13, No. 2 (1972): 42-51.

Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter. “Why Traditional Theism Cannot Provide an Adequate Foundation For Morality,” In Is Goodness Without God Good Enough: A Debate on Faith, Secularism, and Ethics, edited by Robert K. Garcia and Nathan L. King, 101-116. Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2009.

Stump, Eleonore. Wandering in Darkness: Narrative and the Problem of Suffering. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2010.

Schlesinger, G.N. “The Problem of Evil and The Problem of Injustice,” Tradition: A Journal of Jewish Thought Vol. 13, No. 2 (1972): 42-51.

Talbot, Mark. “All the Good that is Ours in Christ;” In Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor, 31-77. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Books, 2006.

Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001.

Twain, Mark. Following the Equator. New York: Dover, 1989.

Unger, Merill F. The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary. Edited by R.K. Harrison. Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, 1988.

————. Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament. Chattanooga, TN: Tyndale Theological Seminary, 2002.

Van Vliet, Jan, "Repose in Mystery: The Limit of Sobriety According to John Calvin," in Pro Rege: Vol. 44: No. 3 (2016): 21-31. https://digitalcollections.dordt.edu/pro_rege/vol44/iss3/5

Walls, Jerry L. Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory: Rethinking the Things That Matter Most.

Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2015.

Wilkins, Steve, Faith and Reason: Three Views. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014.

Wykstra, Stephen J. “The Humean Obstacle to Evidential Arguments From Suffering: On Avoiding the Evils of ‘Appearance’” In The Problem of Evil, edited by Marilyn M. Adams and Robert M. Adams, 138-161. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.

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