The contemplative home of Skylar D. McManus
Let’s start this series with a scenario that you may, or may not, ever encounter. You are walking through an antique store when you accidentally bump into a fragile item on a shelf. The next two seconds seem like slow motion as you watch the item fall to the floor and shatter. You attempt to… Continue reading Series Introduction: Logic 101
Following Dr. Dale Tuggy's debate with Mr. Chris Date on "Jesus is human and not divine," I joined the Trinities Podcast Facebook group and asked for clarification on one of his thought experiments. I recall that he used a similar line of reasoning in his "Case Against Preexistence" episode on the podcast, and the fact… Continue reading Tuggy’s Demon-Puppet Thought Experiment: My Thoughts and His Reply
In a prior post I attempted to describe Jason Dulle's Oneness Pentecostal Christology, and I then applied it to what Dulle says about Patripassianism (the view that "the Father suffered"). Thanks to his comments on those posts, I think I can give a more accurate statement of his view, or something similar to it. It… Continue reading A Second Look at Jason Dulle’s Oneness Christology
This past month I had my first foray into the conference-side of academic life. I presented two papers—or rather, two parts of the same paper—at two conferences. I'd like to share some of my experiences and reflections from these events. Washington, D.C. The first paper I presented was “Parsing Oneness Pentecostal Christology” at the Society… Continue reading A Tale of Two Conferences
Science fiction can be a great place to illustrate philosophical and, as it turns out, theological concepts. Really, it's one means that we can use to get our intuitions going about the plausibility, or even coherence, of ideas. Science fiction can be a great place to propose what philosopher's call "thought experiments." James Cameron's Avatar is one… Continue reading The Incarnation and James Cameron’s Avatar
Now that Faith and Philosophy is open-access, I've collated some links to a number of papers on topics that interest me. I may add more topics over time. Hopefully somebody else will find this useful! There's no better place to start than Alvin Plantinga's "Advice to Christian Philosophers." Navigate to: Aquinas · Classical Theism · Incarnation · Trinity… Continue reading Some Faith and Philosophy Papers by Topic
A number of years ago I discovered Dr. Dale Tuggy's website, and I ran into an argument that turned me agnostic about my views about God and Jesus. At the time I was a Oneness Pentecostal, so I held to the view that Jesus is the Father Incarnate. Back then I was a history and… Continue reading A Solution to Dale Tuggy’s Argument against Oneness Pentecostal Christology
In my first post I introduced some background information on my paper “Oneness Pentecostalism, the Two-Minds View, and the Problem of Jesus’s Prayers” and explained my thesis statement. In this post I’m going to discuss Thomas Morris’ solution to what I call “the Problem of Tempting God," which lays essential groundwork for later sections of… Continue reading Oneness Pentecostalism, the Two-Minds View, and the Problem of Jesus’ Prayers (Part 2)
