Last year I was invited to present at the Annual Evangelical Philosophical Society Apologetics Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. This was a real surprise to me and an honour. Some of the best evangelical Christian scholars in the world presented at this conference; speakers included Alvin Plantinga, William Lane Craig, Paul Copan, Gary Habermas, Mike Licona, Frank Beckwith and numerous others.

I felt very out of my depth. Meeting Alvin Plantinga whose writings inspired me to take philosophy as a theological enterprise seriously was truly amazing and when Al changed the standard jokes (if you’ve seen a few of his lectures you’ll know what I mean) in both his key note addresses for jokes about New Zealanders it was something else. To have the greatest living philosopher of religion acknowledge the sole kiwi in the audience was something I did not expect.

“Last year I spoke at only the Apologetics Conference and the Society for Biblical Literature Meeting but this year I will be presenting at all three.”

Even more humbling was being asked to speak on the Evangelical Philosophical Society’s panel presentation to the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, which was running at the same time. Me, the blogger from MandM, presented alongside Richard Hess one of the best Evangelical Old Testament scholars in the world, Paul Copan, the President of the Evangelical Philosophical Society, an expert on God and Morality, and Randal Rauser, a top Analytic Theologian, who has done some great work getting theologians to take analytic philosophy seriously with Notre Dame’s Michael Rea, an outstanding philosopher of religion and meta-physician as chair. It was truly unreal engaging in a discussion on the relationship between divine command ethics and the Old Testament conquest narratives with these people. I kept wondering when they were going to realise they’d made a mistake inviting me! Even more so when one considers that the audience gathered to hear us and ask questions included people like Eric Seibert, Christopher Wright, Doug Geivett and William Lane Craig – all prestigious scholars who easily should have been presenting instead of me! The experience was extremely rewarding. There were various positive reviews of the panel from the Evangelical Philosophical Society, William Lane Craig, Claude Mariottini and various observers. I learnt a lot and discovered, somewhat to my surprise, that I could intelligently contribute in discussion at this level and that these other scholars were interested in what I had to say.

Since coming back from Atlanta, my professional employment prospects have improved; while I still do not have full-time work, I am doing work on an increasingly steady flow of short-term projects. I have been asked to contribute and co-write articles to four up-coming books edited by the likes of William Lane Craig, Paul Copan, Steve Cowan and Jeremy Evans; three of which I have written in the last four months. I have also written a dictionary article on Old Testament Ethics with Paul Copan. One of the top Philosophy of Religion Journals has asked me to write a review of John Loftus’s “The Christian Delusion” given that I was quoted on the blurb of the book and though it is not totally confirmed, it looks like this will be published shortly. I have done research for a television documentary on God and Morality for an Australian film maker I met in LA on the way back from the conferences in Atlanta. I have been invited to be part of a research group on personhood which contains some leading theologians and biblical scholars connected with the Society of Biblical Literature. I continue to get opportunities to do research and collaborate on projects like this from overseas.

The local scene has also improved; shortly after I came back from Atlanta, I was approached by a South Auckland church to help out with Sunday preaching and teaching their youth group. This has seen me preaching pretty much weekly and teaching once a fortnight. Laidlaw College have asked me to guest lecture on the history of western epistemology and tutor for them and the North Shore home-school group have me teaching a series of critical thinking classes for them this term based on my Friday Fallacy series.

I also have found myself regularly being asked to give lectures and talks. I have been asked to present two seminars on the ethics of abortion and one on divine command ethics at Auckland University for various campus groups. I have also been contacted by an Australian apologetics organisation about possible speaking engagements over there; I have been asked to discuss the ethics of war on a TV panel, a UK radio show is also talking with both Madeleine and I at the moment about us doing a couple of shows with them on religion and ethics. The possibility of a discussion or debate at Lincoln University, again with Madeleine, on the issue of religion and public life is also on the cards.

The schedule does not stop there; I also look set to contribute to two major conferences at Auckland University in July, the Naturalisms in Ethics Conference and the Australasian Philosophy of Religion Association conference. In attendance at these conferences will be Yale’s John Hare, Notre Dame’s Mark Murphy, DePauw’s Erik Wielenberg and Baylor’s Trent Doughtery. Dougherty is an epistemologist; epistemology is not my area so I know of him only by his reputation, Facebook and his contribution to the Prosblogion. Hare and Murphy are easily two of the best Christian Ethicists in the world and Wielenberg is the best critic of divine command ethics writing today. The thought of presenting my ideas before these people is truly daunting and humbling.

Prior to going to Atlanta, I would be lucky to get this many opportunities over a period of several years yet here we are not even half way through the year and I have found myself suddenly in a much more productive mode than I have been in the 5 years since I graduated.

I joke with my friends that for someone who does not have a full-time academic appointment I am extremely busy doing academic work; research if it is to be substantive takes many hours. However, reliance on short-term contracts like these makes things very tight and down to the wire for our family. I continue to make applications for something more full-time and long term in the hope we can stop living hand to mouth; we are waiting to hear on several applications at present. In the mean time all I can do is keep pressing forward.

Going to Atlanta has helped our situation immensely; suddenly in New Zealand and around the world people have started to take some notice of my work. I still remain a bit bemused that an obscure New Zealand analytic theologian, who, shortly after getting his PhD, turned to blogging as an outlet for the things in his mind, was even invited to go to Atlanta but since returning I have certainly noticed a definite change in how, even within New Zealand, people are responding to my work. I remain humbled and thankful for all our supportive readership. One thing that truly amazed me in Atlanta was how many people I met who read my work and appreciated it – “they read my work?” was always my natural response; surely I should be reading them.

When I went to Atlanta I realised I had been given a lucky break; there are thousands of philosophers and theologians who need a break and I should not expect the offer to be repeated. However, it seems set to be happening again. In November this year the Evangelical Philosophy Society’s Annual Meeting will be held from 16-18 Nov 2011 in San Francisco, contemporaneously, it will also hold its Annual Apologetics Conference from 17-19 Nov 2011 and the Society of Biblical Literature’s Annual Meeting will run from 19-22 Nov 2011 also in San Francisco.  I have been asked to speak at all three.

The Evangelical Philosophy Society have asked me to present a paper criticising Walter Sinnott-Armstrong’s criticisms of divine command theory. The abstract has gone through peer review and been accepted. This paper will be an updated version of my series of blog posts on this issue:
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, William Lane Craig and the Argument from Harm Part I
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, William Lane Craig and the Argument from Harm Part II
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and the Moral Scepticism Objection to Divine Commands
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Infantile Religious Morality
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong on God Morality and Arbitrariness

The Society of Biblical Literature have asked both Madeleine and I to present on theological blogging and how one can use it to supplement publications in raising one’s profile as a scholar. MandM is now one of the most widely read theological blogs and is one of the highest Google Page Ranked blogs for its niche and I have become known in my field as a result of it. The Society of Biblical Literature has waived their requirement that only PhD level Theologians or Biblical Scholars are allowed to present, to enable Madeleine to present with me.

To be asked to speak at these two highly prestigious conferences is an honour; far more people submit abstracts than get accepted so we were very content with having our two abstracts confirmed. But then a few days ago William Lane Craig emailed me and asked me to be one of the select few scholars who are invited to speak at the Evangelical Philosophical Society’s Apologetics Conference. I will be speaking on the topic “Can God Command Evil? The Problem of Apparently Immoral Commands.” This made my day.

Last year I spoke at only the Apologetics Conference and the Society for Biblical Literature Meeting but this year I will be presenting at all three, the Evangelical Philosophical Society’s Annual Meeting as well, and Madeleine has been asked to present.

This is all a fantastic honour for someone who only a few years ago was rising at 5am and stacking shelves in a supermarket till mid-day while his wife worked full-time and whose sole theological output was writing blog posts. While things have dramatically improved for me, things are still tight and difficult for us. Madeleine remains partially-disabled and in constant pain from a car accident and this limits her capacity to work full-time; she is going to be admitted to the bar in a short while but there are very few openings for legal positions for recent graduates that are part-time. In addition to these obvious challenges, we have a child in the autistic spectrum who cannot go through the school system and needs full-time attention at home, whom it is very hard to find baby-sitters for. We have continued to battle ACC over their dubious refusal to continue to pay Madeleine’s accident compensation. I am able to do this research, writing, and speaking work but things are tight. Preaching does not pay a lot, and short-term contracts to speak or write are just that: short-term. We are surviving through the grace of God but it is difficult. The results of last year’s trip to Atlanta have been hugely beneficial and we want to keep the momentum going so we have starting saving for Madeleine and I to go to San Francisco. If you, our reader, appreciate what we do and want to assist us that would be greatly appreciated. Last year total strangers from all over the world generously donated and we were able to pay for the airfares and associated costs to get me to Atlanta and I remain incredibly grateful for this. I do not like asking for money but the realities are that we need help raising the $5,000 NZD we need to get to San Francisco. For this reason if you believe in MandM’s work and would like to support us in going to the US in November please visit our support page.

Both Madeleine and I remain grateful to our many readers. We are always amazed how often we run into total strangers who read our writings and the correspondence we get from people all over the world is extremely encouraging. We thank you for reading and contributing to our work, your support and encouragement has enabled us to get this far.

Tags:   Apologetics · EPS · Evangelical Philosophical Society · San Francisco · SBL · Society of Biblical Literature15 Comments