Alvin Plantinga

by Greg Welty

Alvin Plantinga is the contemporary world's most influential Christian philosopher. His work over the past six decades has paved the way for Christian thinkers in the fields of philosophy of religion, epistemology, metaphysics, and science. Despite the widespread rejection of Christian assumptions by the majority of modern thinkers, Plantinga is unembarrassed to use them in his academic work and defends them well. Throughout his career, Plantinga has addressed important philosophical questions that have been debated for millennia. In this accessible overview and analysis of his work, philosophy professor Greg Welty examines his approach to faith and reason, the problem of evil, theistic arguments, the divine attributes, religion and science, and Christian philosophical method. He concludes by studying Plantinga's body of work and its interaction with his Reformed heritage. Welty combines philosophical accuracy with theological evaluation as he encourages readers to do their own thinking on these critical subjects.

208 pages, Paperback

Published March 29, 2023

Reviews

[Micah Allen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to read this book for seminary. It was just simply not very interesting. In general, I hate secondary sources. Unless the secondary source is so good it becomes a primary source ie. Machiavelli’s “Discourses on Livy.”

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greg Welty masterfully shows how to summarize and synthesize in this work. If every teacher could teach so simply with such depth, I have to believe things would be a little bit better in the world.

But that's beside the point, this book delves into Alvin Plantinga's significance and his significant work. As can be seen in the table of contents.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - Why Another Book on Plantinga
Chapter 2 - Plantinga on Faith and Reason
Chapter 3 - Plantinga on the Problem of Evil
Chapter 4 - Plantinga on Theistic Arguments
Chapter 5 - Plantinga on the Divine Attributes
Chapter 6 - Plantinga on Religion and Science
Chapter 7 - Plantinga on Christian Philosophical Method
Chapter 8 - Plantinga and the Reformed Heritage

As you can tell, some serious topics are covered. I highly recommend this book.

Plantinga is worth the read.

Welty writing about Plantinga is definitely worth the read.

I might be biased.

B. Grizenko

[Mark Seeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why did I read this book? I have had very little exposure to Alvin Plantinga, whom Time magazine once upon a time called, "the nation's top philosopher of God." I heard him give a series of lectures. I read his chapter in Faith and Rationality and his monograph Does God Have a Nature, which I found quite persuasive. But my favorite publication of Plantinga's is The Stob Lectures he gave entitled The Twin Pillars of Christian Scholarship, that is not listed in the bibliography. Plantinga is really beyond my reach, but I admire him. I was mainly interested in what Welty might have to say about Plantinga's view on God's being and divine simplicity and then his epistemology overall. Welty explains that Plantinga's perspective on the doctrine of simplicity is based upon Platonic metaphysics and universals.

[Emily Yoder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful and supremely readable introduction. Hindered by its brevity on various points.

[Saul W · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best possible summary of one of the best philosophers of the last century.