Scott Smith

As one of his central concerns, Scott challenges the common mindset in academia and the west that we cannot know things as they really are; instead, we only work with our interpretations. This pervasive view affects not only ethics and religion, but most every discipline. Yet, Scott has written extensively against this "constructivist" view, arguing instead that we can have knowledge in ethics, religion, and other areas, including the sciences. But this is due to the reality of what many deny to exist, namely, universals and essences. So, he has written against naturalism, nominalism, postmodernism, and critical race theory, which undermine what we know to be true. Additionally, he has written on human dignity, the moral argument for God's existence, progressive Christians and the emergent church, and the need to live in the fullness of Jesus.

Affiliation Faculty, Alumnus
Position Professor of Christian Apologetics
Degree M.A., Talbot School of Theology

Author's books

authentically-emergent
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Authentically Emergent: In Search of a Truly Progressive Christianity

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Like Truth and the New Kind of Christian (2005), this book gives careful attention to their thought. It also offers its own portrait of major shaping influences on Western, Americanized Christianity. But, there remains a root issue that keeps the Western church, whether progressive emergents or evangelicals, in its “Babylonian captivity.” It is liberation from that root that will lead to an authentically emergent Christianity.

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christian-physicalism
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Christian Physicalism?: Philosophical Theological Criticisms

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On the heels of the advance since the twentieth-century of wholly physicalist accounts of human persons, the influence of materialist ontology is increasingly evident in Christian theologizing. To date, the contemporary literature has tended to focus on anthropological issues (e.g., whether the traditional soul / body distinction is viable), with occasional articles treating physicalist accounts of such doctrines as the Incarnation and Resurrection of Jesus cropping up, as well. Interestingly, the literature to date, both for and against this influence, is dominated by philosophers. The present volume is a collection of philosophers and theologians who advance several novel criticisms of this growing trend toward physicalism in Christian theology. The present collection definitively shows that Christian physicalism has some significant philosophical and theological problems. No doubt all philosophical anthropologies have their challenges, but the present volume shows that Christian physicalism is most likely not an adequate accounting for essential theological topics within Christian theism. Christians, then, should consider alternative anthropologies.

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exposing-roots-constructivism
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Exposing the Roots of Constructivism: Nominalism and the Ontology of Knowledge

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Constructivism dominates over other theories of knowledge in much of western academia, especially the humanities and social sciences. In Exposing the Roots of Constructivism: Nominalism and the Ontology of Knowledge, R. Scott Smith argues that constructivism is linked to the embrace of nominalism, the theory that everything is particular and located in space and time. Indeed, nominalism is sufficient for a view to be constructivist. Yet, even the natural sciences have embraced nominalism, and Smith shows that this will undermine knowledge in those disciplines as well. Indeed, the author demonstrates that, at best, nominalism leaves us with only interpretations, but at worst, it undermines all knowledge whatsoever. However, there are many clear examples of knowledge we do have in the many different disciplines, and therefore those must be due to a different ontology of properties. Thus, nominalism should be rejected. In its place, the author defends a kind of Platonic realism about properties.

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naturalism-knowledge-reality
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Naturalism and Our Knowledge of Reality: Testing Religious Truth-claims

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R. Scott Smith argues in a fresh way that we cannot know reality on the basis of naturalism. Moreover, the “fact-value” split has failed to serve our interests of wanting to know reality. The author provocatively argues that since we can know reality, it must be due to a non-naturalistic ontology, best explained by the fact that human knowers are made and designed by God. The book offers fresh implications for the testing of religious truth-claims, science, ethics, education, and public policy. Consequently, naturalism and the fact-value split are shown to be false, and Christian theism is shown to be true.

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passionate-conviction
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Passionate Conviction: Contemporary Discourses on Christian Apologetics

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Passionate Conviction brings together the most popular and heart-stirring presentations in defense of Christianity from the annual fall conference on apologetics held in association with the Evangelical Philosophical Society, the C. S. Lewis Institute, and the Christian Apologetics program at Biola University. Applicable to pastors, serious-minded lay people, and university and high school students, these twenty essays are grouped into six dynamic categories: (1) Why Apologetics? (2) God (3) Jesus (4) Comparative Religions (5) Postmodernism and Relativism (6) Practical Application.

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truth-new-kind-christian
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Truth and the New Kind of Christian: The Emerging Effects of Postmodernism in the Church

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R. Scott Smith surveys the influence of postmodernism and presents the claims of several Christian postmodern authors, including two key leaders in the Emerging Church. He uses their ideas as a starting point for a thorough critique of postmodernism, testing it against Scripture, reason, and logic, and evaluating its strengths and weaknesses. He assesses to what extent, if any, Christians should embrace “Christian” postmodernism.

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