As a Christmas gift a few years ago my father gave me a set of CDs from the previous year’s Evangelical Philosophical Society Apologetics Conference. The both of us have enjoyed the CDs immensely, and the speakers such as Gary Habermas, J. P. Moreland, and Mike Licona have become favorites of the both of us. This year, I have the tremendous pleasure of actually going to the conference, which begins tomorrow! I’m very excited. For a philosophy/religion geek such as myself, this is like birthday and Christmas rolled up into one. I’ve been looking through EPS website for the information on the sessions. My only regret is that I can’t go to all of them! Here are a few that I’m especially excited about:
Alvin Plantinga — “Religion & Science: Where the Conflict Really Lies”I’m a huge fan of Plantinga’s evolutionary argument against naturalism, and it will be great to hear
about it from the source. My major advisor studied under him at Notre Dame and speaks very highly of him.
William Lane Craig — “The Evidence for Christianity” Through his books, debates, and podcasts, Dr. Craig has been one of my influential teachers, but I’ve never met him personally.I doubt that there will be much from this talk I haven’t already heard from Dr. Craig, but I’m really looking forward to hearing from him in person.
Mary Jo Sharp — “The Redefining of ‘Faith’ and How Christians Can Respond”It’s a rarity for a woman to participate in this sort of venue, and the topic is one of a particular
interest to me (see my blog post – “In Defense of Apologetics.”) I really enjoy her blog and her podcast “Confident Christianity.”
I still haven’t decided all of the sessions I’m going to go to. But hopefully, I’ll be able to get the CDs from this conference so I can get the information from the talks I miss.
Of course, one of the most important things about a conference like this is meeting people with an interest in apologetics and philosophy and networking with them. I really hope I get a chance to talk with a lot of these speakers, although that sort of thing is not easy for me — I’m really shy!
Well, I’ll let you know how everything goes. I have to stop writing because I’m getting jittery from all my excitement!
Swallowing Dinosaurs 