What is the place of logic in establishing the truth of Christianity? Philosopher Greg Restall explains.

What constitutes a good argument? And what does a good argument have to do with the truth of Christianity? A logician explains.

Dr Greg Restall is Associate Professor in Philosophy at the University of Melbourne.

I am a logician by trade. I spend time teaching and researching in the areas of formal and philosophical logic. I think that logic

Read more

Who can be held responsible for the death of Jesus? Paul Barnett revisits and ancient question in the wake of the Mel Gibson movie, The Passion of the Christ.

Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of the Christ, has stirred fresh discussion over the role of Jews and Romans in the death of Jesus. What is the historical evidence for Christ’s death? Who was responsible for it? And how does this ancient story inform our self-understanding today, be we Jewish

Read more

The power of Mel Gibson in the world of film is on display in The Passion of the Christ. But what if Mel had chosen the life of Buddha instead?

Recently about 40 students from New College decided to go as a group to see Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ at the local cinema. Not surprisingly, discussion of the film’s artistic merit, violent content and use of biblical and other Catholic texts has been red-hot among Christians and non-Christians

Read more

From the CASE seminar, Creation, redemption and Lord of the Rings. Best read after the first two papers, available in Case #4.

Lord of the Rings devotees gathered recently at New College to explore a theological perspective on Tolkien’s trilogy and the recent film treatments. Three papers were presented—two of them are printed here; the third paper, by Dr Kirsten Birkett, is available in the subscriber-only Associate Access section of the CASE

Read more

Can theology help economists do their work? Should it? Paul Oslington looks at the question from biblical and historical standpoints.

Over the past century explicit discussion of theology has all but disappeared from economic discourse, while economics has been largely ignored by theologians. This paper argues that this separation is neither desirable nor possible, and calls for a theological economics. The argument is in two parts—a primary

Read more

Professor Edwin Judge examines the two sources of Western culture—the classical world and the Bible. He argues that the Bible has made the greater impact.

The cliché that we are now in a ‘post-Christian’ age is superficial. It no doubt allows for the fact that church-going is no longer a matter of convention, and that it is no longer the fashion to cite the Bible as a public authority (which, insofar as it was only window-dressing, we are better

Read more

Philosophy Professor Bruce Langtry explores whether it makes sense to talk about human beings and God as both ‘personal’ in the same way—at least in some senses.

In this paper I approach the nature of God from a purely theoretical direction. Mydiscipline is philosophy rather than theology, and I will not be concerned with thespiritual and practical implications of our thinking about God. These matters are ofcourse important, but I believe that it

Rethinking euthanasia and our care for the dying.

I welcome this opportunity to share my thoughts relating to the Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill. I agree with Mr Cohen when he says that terminally ill individuals should be able to die in dignity and with comfort. However, I do not think this bill is the way to achieve it.

Today I would like to explain why I do not support a change in the law to allow euthanasia. I will do this in two stages:

Read more

Why should we care for animals—and how far does our duty of care go? Megan Best compares Singer’s utilitarianism with the Christian view of human responsibility.

What is it which morally distinguishes humans from animals? Some writers, those with what I will call ‘animal equality’ views, feel that their arguments are so strong that they put the onus on those with opposing positions to prove why animals should not receive moral status equal to

Read more

A review of Life of Pi by Yann Martel and Dirt Music by Tim Winton.

The Booker Prize for literature is not usually accompanied by theological proclamations, but 2002 was different. The Booker is given each year to what is judged as the best work of contemporary fiction by a writer from the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland. In 2002, it was won by Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel, a previously obscure writer who begins his novel with an

Read more