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The Natural Theologian

PhD Student in philosophy at Saint Louis University. I am a father and a philosopher. I write about life and philosophy. joelcarini.substack.com

society & culture philosophy

All Episodes

16:48

Does Christian apologetics rest on a mistake?

The Natural Theologian ·

2025/11/04

§ In a recent lecture, popular science and philosophy communicator Curt Jaimungal presented an argument against the simulation hypothesis.The Simulation Hypothesis: The idea that we are in a realistic computer-simulation like The Matrix.Advocates argue that surprising features of reality, like false collective memories (“The Mandela Effect”), are what you would expect if the simulation hypothesis were true. Therefore, it probably is true.But Jaimungal demonstrates that this argument rests on a

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15:15

Before You Discover the Meaning OF Life, Try Finding...

The Natural Theologian ·

2025/10/28

§ Recently, one of the world’s most downloaded podcasts hosted a debate between a Christian, an atheist, and a psychologist.Their topic?The meaning of life.Christian apologist Greg Koukl argued that, without belief in God, a materialist worldview holds no hope to provide meaning.The atheist—young and dapper Alex O’Connor—countered that, even if there is a God, who’s to say he hasn’t given our lives a meaning that we find meaningless? Say, designing us so that our purpose in life was to produce

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14:30

Natural Selection Only Explains a Fraction of...

The Natural Theologian ·

2025/09/26

In A Natural History of Natural Theology, my late professor Helen De Cruz (1978-2025) and husband Johan De Smedt write that “most modern versions of the design argument do not take natural selection and its principle of cumulative selective retention into account as a viable explanation” (75).Advocates of the design argument have not proven that the argument remains valid after Darwin; they—we—have simply ignored natural selection.Dr. De Cruz, who served on the committee for my dissertation

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69:22

Muslims, Jews, and Christians have the same...

The Natural Theologian ·

2025/09/18

This afternoon, I hosted a livestream about the following note:My contention that a theistic worldview is shared by the major monotheistic faiths provoked debate and discussion. I decided to go to the airwaves to dig into the matter more deeply.If you missed the stream, watch the video here.Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.The Natural Theologian is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming

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10:23

Further Reflections on Machen: Objectivity,...

The Natural Theologian ·

2025/07/21

In response to my recent post on J. Gresham Machen, readers offered thoughtful pushback on several fronts.Some questioned whether Machen’s later turn away from “objective” methods wasn’t the right move after all.Others raised concerns about the dangers of free inquiry, especially when it risks undermining Christian convictions.Still others debated the wisdom of staying and reforming corrupt institutions rather than leaving them to act authentically.Here are a few reflections in response to those

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19:24

Why I STOPPED Being a Presuppositionalist

The Natural Theologian ·

2025/06/23

My theological education took place at Westminster Seminary, the bastion of presuppositionalism.Presuppositionalism: Christian thinking must begin from all and only Christian presuppositions.And this thesis had a noticeable effect on our studies.95% of the time we would read people who already agreed with us in order to believe what they said.5% of the time, we would go find somebody we disagreed with and be assigned to go figure out what was wrong with them.But after Westminster, I did a program in

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71:13

The Zwingli Option

The Natural Theologian ·

2025/06/12

In this video, Nathan Shaver cohosts a discussion with me about the Zwingli option. We discussed the tension between depravity and dignity, the distinction between humanism and scholasticism, and much more!Thank you Inst.of.Christian.Spirituality, Noah Jones, Jacob Brogdon, and many others for tuning into my live video with Nathan Shaver. Join me for my next live video in the Substack app.The Natural Theologian is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider

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24:24

Forget Calvinism. Become a Zwinglian.

The Natural Theologian ·

2025/06/09

I used to think that Calvinism was simply a system of soteriology.But I’ve come to see that there’s something more, a Calvinist vibe: to exaggerate human sinfulness in order to exaggerate the role of the grace of God.Before Calvin’s time, Zwingli articulated a Reformed theology that was deeply humane, sympathetic to the foibles and weakness of sinful human nature.If we take “the Zwingli option,” the fact that our nature is already predetermined in various ways does not make us the more evil and

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17:34

Zwingli Was Right: Original sin is not sin, but defect

The Natural Theologian ·

2025/05/14

In their latest album, Mumford and Sons take aim at the doctrine of original sin.I will take this darknessOver any light you castYou and all your original sinThe motivation for this denial is heartfelt:Cause there’s no evil in a child’s eyesIn saying this, lead singer and songwriter Marcus Mumford fears he may be engaged in “heresy”:I will take this heresyOver your hypocrisyBut Mumford and Sons are not the only ones moved by a child’s innocence to modify the doctrine of original sin.Ulrich Zwingli,

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17:59

Do People’s Different Beliefs about God Mean They...

The Natural Theologian ·

2025/04/25

Do people’s different beliefs about God mean they worship different gods?Many Christians speak as though they do.Wheaton College fired a professor for claiming that Muslims and Christians worship the same God.In a recent video, YouTuber Redeemed Zoomer said that, because Mormons and orthodox Christians have different conceptions of God – as an ‘Eternal Trinity’ or as a ‘Godhead of many changing divine beings’ – they “believe in different gods” and Mormonism and Christianity “can’t be said to be the

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17:55

Why I'm Getting a PhD in Philosophy, Not Theology

The Natural Theologian ·

2025/04/18

Hello, readers! The last several weeks, I’ve been deep in work on my Ph.D. dissertation. I’m excited to share some of the fruits of that research here. I’ll begin with my reflections on why I’m getting a Ph.D. in philosophy in the first place. Thanks for reading.Hey, I’m Joel Carini, the Natural Theologian.And in this post, I’m going to talk about why I’m getting a PhD in philosophy and not theology.1. Biblical Exegesis Is Not EnoughMy first intellectual love has been theology, the study of

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51:13

In Defence of Christian Civilization

The Natural Theologian ·

2025/02/27

Yes, that’s right — “defence,” with a ‘c.’That’s because my guest on this episode is an Anglican priest and Substacker Father Thomas Plant (Fr Thomas Plant).Father Plant recently responded to Paul Kingsnorth’s lecture “Against Christian Civilization” with his well-titled reply, “Kingsnorth’s Radical Protestantism: In Defence of Christian Civilisation.”Fr. Plant writes:“Do we want civilization,” he asks, “or do we want Christ? What if we can have only the one or the other?” The question is

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33:43

Jordan Peterson's Vision of Christian Civilization

The Natural Theologian ·

2025/02/21

Recently, Jordan Peterson spoke at ARC, the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, his organization for international leadership. This article contains the transcript of his talk and my reaction to it, taken my from most recent YouTube video.Hey! I’m Joel Carini, the Natural Theologian.In this post, I'm going to react to Jordan Peterson’s speech at ARC 2025, the text of which is transcribed below.The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship is Jordan Peterson’s sort of global policy and vision network,

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22:38

TEN Things I Learned from Jordan Peterson

The Natural Theologian ·

2025/02/14

Dear readers, the following article is taken from the transcript of my latest YouTube video. I hope you enjoy!I've learned many things from Jordan Peterson since he came on the public scene in 2016. I've learned things about psychology, morality, philosophy and even about Scripture and the Christian faith, things that have bolstered my understanding as a Christian philosopher and theologian.So without further ado, ten things I learned from Jordan Peterson.1. The Reality and Importance of

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13:49

Praeparatio Evangelica: The Evangelistic Step...

The Natural Theologian ·

2025/02/11

[Doorbell buzzes]“Hello! Would you like to change religions? I have a free book written by DJEE-ZUS!”While the Broadway show from which that line comes is not about evangelicals but Latter-Day Saints, it fits.The average evangelical is liable to think that their free afternoons and weekends ought to be spent engaged in similarly abrupt evangelistic conversations.After all, people are dying! If we don’t act quickly, they’ll soon face God’s throne of judgment; and then they’ll go to hell.But our

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33:32

Is the Secular Sacred?

The Natural Theologian ·

2025/02/01

I did my first Substack Live this afternoon, discussing the Protestant theology of nature and grace. Following on my recent discussions of whether the secular is sacred, I go back before the fall and ask if nature was, even then, sanctified by grace. Was the covenant of works a gift of grace, i.e., supernature? Should Protestants accept Aquinas’ doctrine of the beatific vision?These are all the questions I’ll have to answer toward a Protestant theology of nature and grace. Towards the end of the

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11:38

"Secular" Is a Christian Category

The Natural Theologian ·

2025/01/29

“Secular.” It’s a word my teenage, Christian brain assumed had to be more or less synonymous with “sexual.”Many people know better than that, but even highly-educated Christians still assume that “the secular” is intertwined with secularism. The category of the secular, they think, is a pillar of an anti-Christian worldview, or, at best, a purportedly neutral pluralism or liberalism that, in fact, crowds out religious faith.But the secular is a category of the Christian worldview. It denotes the

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16:19

Marriage Is Secular

The Natural Theologian ·

2025/01/21

All across the internet, and in the academic presses, pundits and philosophers place blame for secularization on Protestantism.Scholars and streamers complain that the Reformation precipitated the disenchantment of the world.Orthodox converts waft their smells and ring their bells before evangelical noses and ears. Catholics look on evangelicals with pity, beholding our strip-mall sanctuaries, as they find shade below their towering, ancient cathedrals.And many Protestants feel the Roman nostalgia

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13:31

There IS Common Ground Between Believers and Unbelievers

The Natural Theologian ·

2024/07/02

A woman was interviewing for a philosophy professorship at a Catholic university. Though she respected the intellectual tradition of the university, she was not herself Catholic. She hoped to find there similar respect for her own thinking, whatever its metaphysical conclusions.The interview began well. Potential future colleagues discussed her research and gave her an opportunity to display her considerable knowledge of epistemology and continental thought.Then a new voice chimed in. A crotchety

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15:25

What's After Young, Restless, and Reformed?

The Natural Theologian ·

2024/06/17

As a young Christian, I jumped wholeheartedly into a burgeoning theological movement, one which got young people excited about the Bible and Protestant theology, inspired us to devour books and attend church religiously, and provided us with guides and gurus to direct us in a confusing world: The young, restless, and Reformed.After years of reading their blogs and books and watching videos, after a three-year seminary degree and a decade attending Reformed churches, it’s time to take stock. What

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