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Good God: The Theistic Foundations of Morality

Online ISBN:
9780199894840
Print ISBN:
9780199751808
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Good God: The Theistic Foundations of Morality

David Baggett,
David Baggett

Professor of Philosophy

Liberty University
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Jerry L. Walls
Jerry L. Walls

Senior Research Fellow in the Center for Philosophy of Religion

Notre Dame University
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Published online:
1 May 2011
Published in print:
23 March 2011
Online ISBN:
9780199894840
Print ISBN:
9780199751808
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

This book defends an interconnected set of moral arguments for God's existence by arguing that classical theism better explains moral duty, freedom, and responsibility than naturalism does. After furnishing positive arguments in favor of moral apologetics, the book defends theistic ethics against a number of objections inspired by the Euthyphro Dilemma. Such objections include normativity, “no reasons,” abhorrent commands, vacuity, epistemic, and autonomy objections. Subsequent chapters deploy seven distinctions that together enable both a defense of theistic ethics and an advancement of the moral argument(s) for God's existence. The relevant distinctions encompass matters of scope, semantics, modality, morality, epistemology, meta-ethics, and ontology. The book makes the case not just that God exists, but that a God of perfect love exists, a God who is holy, impeccable, perfect, and a God of covenantal fidelity who can be trusted. Such a notion of Deity provides the needed resources to answer the problem of evil and make sense of Old Testament conquest narratives, while at the same time providing warrant to resist portraits of God that are impossible to square with nonnegotiable moral intuitions. Finally, the book argues that morality receives its fullest and deepest illumination in light of distinctively Christian doctrines such as resurrection, incarnation, and heaven.

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