Published: Sept. 29, 2017

The Center for Values and Social Policy in the Philosophy Department invites you to their Oct. 3 Think! talk by Jerry L. Martin, titled "If There Is One God, Why Are There So Many Religions?"

If you go

Who: Open to the public
What: Think! talk "If There Is One God, Why Are There So Many Religions?"
When: Tuesday, Oct. 3, 7:30-9 p.m.
Where: Eaton Humanities, room 150

The lecture addresses what philosophers call the Problem of the Diversity of Revelations: One revelation is a blessing; multiple revelations are an embarrassment. As French philosopher Jean Bodin explains, each religion’s claims to absolute truth is negated by the other religions making the same claim.

Or is it? From within religion, there have been three major responses to the problem: exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism. The presentation will argue there is a germ of truth in each alternative, which a more comprehensive solution must retain, yet there are limits inherent in each alternative. Martin will offer a fourth view, centered on the hypothesis of divine complexity, that resolves the contradictions. 

Martin is the author of God: An Autobiography As Told to a Philosopher, coordinator of the Theology Without Walls project at the American Academy of Religion and the author of numerous articles on epistemology, philosophy of the mind, and public policy.

He is the former head of the National Endowment for the Humanities and a former tenured professor and chair of the CU Boulder Philosophy Department. He has taught in the Graduate Public Policy Program at Georgetown University and taught graduate courses on political science at the Catholic University of America. Martin also has testified before Congress.

All Think! talks are sponsored by the Center for Values and Social Policy and funded through the generosity of The Collins Foundation.