MEREDITH ANDERSON | senior staff writer
Last week the philosophy department hosted Dr. Marilyn McCord Adams for the second annual Sophia Lectures. An anonymous donor has given funds to host world-class Christian philosopher’s to dialogue with APU students.
Thanks to the untraceable donor, APU has the funds to continue to host speakers for at least the next two years, according to Assistant Professor of philosophy Teri Merrick.
“It is important to bring cutting edge philosophers in to dialogue with students. It gives us the chance to see what Christian philosophy looks like in the real world,” senior philosophy major Kyle Brooks said.
Dr. McCord Adams is a Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford University and an ordained priest in the Episcopal church.
Her expertise is medieval philosophy, theodicy, and Christian philosophy. According to Adams, philosophy is the backbone of theology.
“Because of her experience not only with philosophy but also as an Episcopal priest, she showed how philosophy and theology can work together and benefit the church,” Merrick said.
One of this year’s topics was the problem of evil. Students and faculty delved deeper into the theological and philosophical debate over how a loving God can coexist with the rampant evil of our world.
“She is doing philosophy of religion. [Her work] is on the cutting edge of this topic. She is not interested in how we justify God in the presence of evil; she wants to know in the midst of all this evil is God actually loving to us and how is that possible,” Brooks said.
Adam’s book, Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God, expands on her ideas of how to reconcile God, human nature and the existence of evil.
“The question is: given we think God created the world, loves us and knows us—how can there be so much evil and suffering in the world?” Merrick said.
According to Laura Smith Webb, who helped plan the events, each event was attended above and beyond their expectations. Wednesday night’s lecture on the problem of evil anticipated 75 attendees and exceeded 200.
“There is a hunger to hear deep, careful, responsible thinking on questions we all have as Christians at some time or another,” Merrick said.
Adams made rounds to philosophy classes, gave two lectures and met with students to further dialogue her ideas.
Over 20 students currently studying at High Sierra drove down to main campus for the events. Students taking philosophy in Yosemite have read Adam’s book and were able to speak with her about her contribution to the discussion of evil.
“Professor Adams communicated to me that she was very moved and impressed by the caliber of questions and that thoughtfulness in which they were asked,” Merrick said.
According to the students professor of philosophy Steve Wilkens talked to, they appreciated that she was able to integrate theology and philosophy.
“This is a natural interest to people. [The question of evil] stands as the biggest hurtle to people who are considering coming to faith,” Steve Wilkens said. “That was encouraging to them to know you don’t have to leave one aside to delve deeply into these topics. Where philosophy needs theology when it comes to evil and philosophy might illuminate what we think of as purely religious acts.”
