What do we mean when we say that God is good? If I’m right, we shouldn’t mean that God is morally good. In Episode 46 of the podcast, I explain why it’s best not to think of God as morally good, and why it’s also best to maintain a clear distinction between moral and non-moral [...]…

Here it is, the last podcast episode for 2011. This time I’m looking at “the “evil god challenge” as posed by Stephen Law in a fairly recent article by that name. Isn’t the evidence for a good God really no better or worse than the evidence that an evil god? In short, no. Here I [...]…

This episode asks the question: “What is Faith”? Is it, as some maintain, just believing things for no good reason? When Christian thinkers over the years have spoken of having faith, what have they been talking about? Listen and find out! At the end of this episode I ask listeners if they have any suggestions [...]…

This episode is a very late addition to the series “In Search of the Soul,” looking at the various options that exist in philosophy of mind. In the original five part series I was very conscious of the fact that I was leaving out the view of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, and this addendum is [...]…

Episode 42 presents the “minimal facts” approach to the resurrection of Jesus. This episode doesn’t just present the argument in order to persuade you, it’s also meant to show you what the argument is like so that you can use it yourself (if you find it persuasive of course). It starts out with four facts [...]…

In Episode 41, I address a common objection to divine command ethics: Does the fact that non-believers can still know moral truths and live moral lives somehow show that morality is not in any way grounded in God’s will or commands? Here I survey some crude versions of this argument and then offer some comments [...]…

We’ve reached a milestone – 40 Episodes! Episode 40 is an explanation of Robert Adams’ argument that the social nature of moral obligation supports the claim that morality is ultimately grounded in God.     If you liked this post, feel free to help support this project.…

NOTE: In this episode I call it episode 40. It’s not. It’s episode 39. The podcast is back. Actually, episode 39 was going to be on another topic, but then someone suggested this one to me, so as I already had a document called “episode 039″ I called this “document 040.” And then when I [...]…

At the request of a couple of listeners, this episode is a response to the documentary: Zeitgeist. As I promised in the episode, here are a few links. First, a link to some astronomical illustrations: http://www.tracer345.org/zeitgeist.html And here are the links to my three part blog series on evidence for the historical Jesus outside the [...]…

This is the first time I have ever actually apologised for an episode. It’s long. It’s dry. You might fall asleep. I’m sorry.   If you liked this post, feel free to help support this project.…

Here’s episode 36, in honour of the recent retirement of Alvin Plantinga as the John O’Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. It’s sort of a “nuts and bolts” podcast episode on Alvin Plantinga, introducing the listener to his account of belief in God as a properly basic belief – a belief [...]…

Episode 35 is an analysis of a recent talk given by Sam Harris on science and human values. The talk was part of a TED conference, and you can see part 1 here. Harris thinks that he has argued that moral facts are actually scientific facts. I think he has failed, and here I offer [...]…

Time to go to Sunday School. I was prompted to write this one just because the doctrine of original sin is one that I have never personally heard a sermon on in all the churches that I have attended. Now that’s not to say that these churches reject the idea, but it does mean that [...]…

At last, the series ends. Here is part five of the series on the mind/body problem. This episode steps completely away from analytical philosophy and is an overview of some of the biblical material that bears on the subject. Although it’s a comparatively long episode (just under fifty minutes), it’s still a very sketchy overview. [...]…

Here’s the fourth installment on my series on the mind-body problem. In this episode I look at the argument against physicalism from the afterlife. Here, some dualists argue that if physicalism were true, then the resurrection of the dead would be logically impossible. Their argument is: The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead entails that [...]…

The podcast is back. Here’s part three of the series on philosophy of mind. We’ve moved from dualism in part one through to physicalism in this episode. I look at epiphenomenialism, reductionism, nonreductive physicalism and a constitution view. As promised, here’s some suggested reading for those who want to look into the subject futher: Nancey [...]…

When I was at the University of Canterbury in July I gave two talks. Episode 29 was one of those talks, on abortion. This talk was actually based on the same material that served as the basis for episode 3, so there will be obvious similarities. Think of this as a consolation prize while I [...]…

This episode is a recording of a talk I gave last week at the University of Canterbury on abortion. As promised in the episode, here’s a summary of some questions and answers that followed. Q: What would you say about cases like rape or incest, where the women is going to give birth to a [...]…

Taking a very short break from the series In Search of the Soul, here’s a talk I gave at Church a few nights ago. It was on Psalm 69 and the subject of lament. Nothing too intellectually deep, but hopefully something to chew over. Enjoy. Glenn Peoples If you liked this post, feel free to [...]…

Here it is (at last!), part two of the series on philosophy of mind, In Search of the Soul. In this episode I introduce the viewpoint called emergentism, and I explore the argument for dualism from free will. It’s not the most exciting of episodes, but it’s worth including and listening to if you’re wanting [...]…

In this episode of the Say Hello to my Little Friend podcast I start a four part series on philosophy of mind. I know I recently said that it would be a three part series, but hey, even four parts isn’t really enough to give the subject the full treatment it deserves. In part one [...]…

It has finally arrived, episode 25. It’s a bit of a different topic for me, not very philosophical, I guess a little theological, just some ideas that have been on my mind a bit lately about how we should approach the world and what it means to be a Christian in it. Glenn Peoples If [...]…

Here it is, Episode 24. The United States of America has a new president: Barack Hussein Obama. Like a lot of people, I have a few thoughts about that, and in this episode I’m sharing a few of those thoughts. In the episode I promised to include a couple of links to new stories that [...]…

Here it is, the first podcast episode for 2009, complete with my summer hay fever voice! Kicking things off for the year is a discussion of what lies beyond the grave. The resurrection of the dead is the hope of the New Testament for our eternal life, yet popular Christian theology has come to place [...]…

Hey everyone, this is my last podcast episode for 2008, So I thought I’d do something light hearted. Here’s a brief glimpse at purgatory, aka “what lefties do do Christmas.” Enjoy. I can’t take credit for the story. It was concocted by one John Mitchell, and can be found here. Merry Christmas!   If you [...]…

After much delay, here’s the next episode. This time I’m discussing the claim that scholars have uncovered Gospels other than Matthew Mark, Luke and John, other Gospels that deserve to stand alongside the four canonical Gospels as having equal historical legitimacy, but which the churchTM has unfairly suppressed in its quest for dominance over the [...]…

Should we reject Christianity because of the harmful deeds done in its name? Some have said so. This episode explains what is wrong with that line of reasoning. Here are the notes. Glenn Peoples If you liked this post, feel free to help support this project.…

Is Jesus just Osiris with a new face? In Episode 19 I look at the sceptical argument claiming that Christianity was really just a collection of beliefs borrowed from pagan religions, and that Jesus was just a re-hash of one or many other Messiah or god-man figures. As there would be no way to deal [...]…

Here it is, Episode 18. Here I draw on the work of the fourth century bishop of Alexandria, Athanasius. His work called The Incarnation of the Word is my all-time favourite work from the Church Fathers, and I think it gives us excellent theological reasons for adopting annihilationism. Along the way, it invites a theological [...]…

This episode is about Intelligent Design – sort of. I don’t argue here for intelligent design. What I’m doing is looking at a couple of philosophical objections to ID which, I argue, are just contrived for no other purpose than to exclude intelligent design from “science.”   If you liked this post, feel free to [...]…

The Liberal Theocracy? “What?!” You ask in disbelief. A contradiction in terms, you might think. Not so. This episode is, well, long. I noted the howls of protest at my decision to shorten the episodes, and I was listening. But don’t think you’ll get this every episode! The next one will probably be a short [...]…

It’s back! The last month has been pretty crazy for me: changing job and moving house being among the main culprits for this state of affairs. But after much ado, here it is, Episode 15! This time I’m asking a simple question: Why be an atheist? And if you’re not one, why become one? And [...]…

This episode is a sermon/talk that I delivered on Sunday the 27th of July at our church, Grace Bible Church, here in Dunedin, New Zealand. I was asked to preach on Mark 13, the Olivet Discourse. Yes, the whole thing. In one sermon. That meant I had to be pretty simplistic about it, and I [...]…

Here’s Episode 13, which is part 2 of my coverage of Plantinga and presuppositional apologetics. In this episode I present Alvin Plantinga’s Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism. I then close by summing up the similarity between Plantinga and Van Til and co., and respond to one objection that is common to them both. Also, for the [...]…

Here’s Episode 12 of the Berettacast: “Plantinga and Presuppositional Apologetics.” I’ve decided to give Plantinga two episodes, as it ended up filling up a big chunk of time. This is part 1, which looks at Plantinga’s argument for theism from Warrant. If you liked this post, feel free to help support this project.…

This episode is an explanation of “presuppositional apologetics,” one of several approaches to defending the Christian faith. Episode 12 will be about the anti-naturalistic arguments of Alvin Plantinga, and I will argue there that Plantinga and not Van Til should be the one to whom presuppositionalists look. If you liked this post, feel free to [...]…

Here it is, the second installment of my two part series on the moral argument. Oh, and before anyone gets offended and writes to me about the parody in the blog roundup – stop and ask yourself: Are you a Windows user by choice? If so, then which of us is really worse, hmm? If [...]…

Here’s part 1 of a 2 part series on the moral argument for theism. The argument is largely about meta-ethics, so the bulk of this presentation is devoted to explaining the meta-ethical issues: What are moral facts at all? And could there be any such things in a purely naturalistic worldview? If you liked this [...]…

This isn’t a real episode, just a message to other podcasters out there about how to promote this podcast. I’m more than happy to do the same for your podcast/site. If you liked this post, feel free to help support this project.…

Here’s Episode 008, in which i discuss whether a truly secular version of liberalism can really embrace a proper liberal doctrine of equality. I argue that it cannot. I’m also experimenting with lower quality mp3 files to save space, and it make it quicker to download. This one is only 64kbps. I also have a [...]…

And here it is, episode 7, the final part in the three part series on hell. This is the longest episode that I have ever done, and it is the longest I ever plan on doing. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to become a pattern, but I wasn’t about to do a fourth part, so [...]…

Here’s part 2 on my series on hell. In this episode, I look at some key arguments against annihilationism and for the doctrine of eternal torment, and why those arguments fail. As this episode ended up being longer than expected (there are plenty of bad arguments to cover!), I’ve decided to present a third episode [...]…

We’ve made it to five episodes! This one is part one of a biblical and theological (mostly biblical) discussion about hell, the doctrine of eternal punishment in Christian theology. It’s a two part presentation. In this part, I present my position on the subject, a view called annihilationism. In the next show I’ll be looking [...]…

Episode 4 already. One more episode and I’m halfway to 10! The main feature of this show is an audio dialogue, “A New Euthyphro.” This dialogue is a re-make of part of Plato’s Euthyphro dialogue, with a twist: This time Socrates’ is armed with a little more philosophical acuity than the bumbling Euthyphro that Socrates [...]…

Part 2 of a 2 part series on Religion in the Public Square. For those interested, here’s the transcript for this episode, and here‘s the transcript for episode 2. Comments are welcome, and remember, if you’d like to email questions/comments/feedback for me to address in the show, feel free to use the contact button over [...]…

This is the first of 2 episodes on religion in the public square, a subject that will probably come up from time to time at the podcast. If you liked this post, feel free to help support this project.…

Episode 1 of “Say Hello to my Little Friend: The BerettaCast” has launched.Enjoy! If you liked this post, feel free to help support this project.…

This post is a test, just to make sure that I’ve got this podcasting thing figured out. If you liked this post, feel free to help support this project.…