The Natural Theologian

I am, or was, a Reformed theology nerd. Aptly described as young, restless, and reformed, my shelves are littered with tomes by Calvin, Edwards, Hodge, Berkouwer, and Bavinck, not to mention Schaeffer, Tripp, Ryken, etc. Once, I visited Bethlehem Baptist Church and waited in line afterward to speak with John Piper. As I shook his hand, I broke into tears and Piper gave me a hug. I’ve done editing for Reformed Forum and attended Orthodox Presbyterian Churches and even a conference with Daryl Hart and

My fellow theological conservatives commonly hold that the “Side B,” celibate gay Christian position does not have scripture and the confessions on its side. Side B’s use of the word “gay” is thought to make too many concessions to the cultural and political movement that would transform sexual relationships across Western countries. Specifically, it is alleged that this way of speaking makes out same-sex attraction to be sinless, as opposed to admitting that having same-sex sexual desires is itself

I received the following response twice since posting my critique of Common Grace Theology (CGT): “Can’t we just say ‘common grace,’ even if we mean nature?” This response led me to consider a connection to the philosophy of language, the subject of my PhD dissertation. There, a prominent debate concerns a distinction between sense and reference, the meaning of a term and the thing it refers to. When we have two ways of referring to the same thing, these share a referent (thing referred to) while

The most interesting test case of the assumptions of analytic philosophy are the Christian analytic philosophers. Clearly, orthodox Christianity falls outside the Overton window of secular, materialistic analytic philosophy. But in spite of departing from secular analytic orthodoxy on a couple of obvious points, they abide by the strictures of analytic thought on a great many others. In short, the problem is that Christian analytic philosophers reject some of the prejudices and assumptions of

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A reading of today's post, "Words and the World: Toward a Based Philosophy of Language." Get full access to The Natural Theologian at joelcarini.substack.com/subscribe