Christian Philosopher Peter S. Williams
English philosopher and apologist Peter S. Williams works with the UK based Damaris Trust, a Christian charity dedicated to relating Christianity and contemporary culture. Williams is also Assistant Professor in Communication and Worldviews at Gimlekollen School of Journalism and Communication in Norway.
Williams studied Philosophy at Cardiff University (BA), Sheffield University (MA) and the University of East Anglia (MPhil), where he completed his thesis on objective definitions of truth, knowledge, goodness and beauty in relation to the nature of God. Before joining Damaris, Williams spent three years as a student pastor for a church in Leicester.
Williams is author of A Sceptic’s Guide to Atheism (Paternoster, 2009); I Wish I Could Believe in Meaning: A Response to Nihilism (Damaris, 2004); The Case for Angels (Paternoster, 2002) & The Case for God (Monarch, 1999). He is co-author of Back in Time: A Thinking Fan’s Guide to Doctor Who (Damaris, 2005).
Here are some great mp3 talks by Peter S. Williams:
A Sceptic’s Guide to the New Atheism
In this talk given in November 2010, Williams takes the listener through some of the arguments and discussion found in his recent book of the same name. The New Atheists put forward an aggressive style of torch-and-pitchfork-carrying village atheism that is heavy on emotive rhetoric and straw-man arguments, but light on philosophical rigor and sophistication. In this talk, Williams takes the listener systematically through the noisy rhetoric of the like of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Victor Stenger and their ilk, showing the fallacies and poor philosophy inherent in their arguments against the rationality of belief in God. The simple and straight-forward rebuttal of the New Atheists by Williams highlights exactly why Richard Dawkins refuses to engage with trained philosophers in these discussions – he wouldn’t stand a chance.
To listen to this talk go here.
Is Christianity Unscientific?
In this talk given in November 2010, Williams seeks to answer the question Is Christianity Unscientific? In order to accurately answer this question, Williams suggests the first step is to properly define the terms “science” and “Christianity” which he sets out to do. Williams argues the aspects of Christian faith are certainly “non-scientific” in terms of falling outside the scope of the methodological naturalism approach of the scientific method. But he argues that the belief that science is the only way of knowing anything about existence and the cosmos – so called scientism – is fallacious. Williams concludes that while aspects of Christian faith are non-scientific in this sense, Christianity is not unscientific in the sense of being “anti-scientific”. He gives solid reasons for making this claim.
To listen to this talk go here.