Ep. #80 – The Wager & Fine-tuning w/ Dr. Rota
Summary
How does Pascal’s Wager work? Should people find it persuasive or is it merely an attempt at evangelistic manipulation? How does one answer the “Many God’s” objection and the intellectual dishonesty objections? Dr. Michael Rota updates the wager and argues that it succeeds in motivating commitment to a devout Christian life. Also, I share a clip from the Capturing Christianity podcast where Dr. Rota explains how to respond to the multiverse objection to fine-tuning.
Guest Bio
Michael Rota is Professor of Philosophy at the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul, Minnesota, and also a Program Officer for the Templeton Religion Trust. He holds a BA in Public Policy from Stanford University, an MA in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville, and a PhD in Philosophy from Saint Louis University, where he studied with Eleonore Stump, one of the world’s leading experts on the thought of Thomas Aquinas. He has published articles on Aquinas’s metaphysics, the cosmological argument, the fine-thing argument, the problem of human freedom and divine foreknowledge, the problem of animal suffering, and Pascal’s Wager. He’s the author of an influential work Taking Pascal’s Wager.
Show Outline
In the first segment, I give two ideas to keep in mind when presenting evidence for the Catholic Christian Worldview. Also, I reintroduce the interview with Dr. Michael Rota.
In the next segment, Dr. Rota discusses major aspects of his incredible work Taking Pascal’s Wager. He addresses many objections in the course of our discussion including: 1) Pascal’s Wager asks someone to forcibly believe what they don’t believe 2) the Many-Gods objection, and 3) the Wager is selfish and unChristian.
In the final segment, I play a clip from the Capturing Christianity Podcast where Dr. Rota responds to the multiverse objection to fine-tuning. Thanks to Cameron Bertuzzi for conducting another great interview with Dr. Rota.
Resources Mentioned
Taking Pascal’s Wager by Dr. Michael Rota
Capturing Christianity Podcast Episodes w/ Dr. Rota
Related Episodes
CORE #10 – Dr. Rota’s Version of Pascal’s Wager
CORE #05 – Good Reasons to Believe in God (part 3)
Ep. #34 – Evolutionary Debunking Arguments with Dr. Bogardus
