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OBU—Oklahoma Baptist University

Anderson to Discuss “The Argument for God From Evil” at Philosophy Forum Oct. 11

October 10, 2019

Dr. Tawa Anderson, associate professor of philosophy, will deliver the philosophy forum on Friday, Oct. 11. It will be held from 4-5:15 p.m. in the Tulsa Royalties Auditorium in Bailey Business Center. The lecture is titled “Whose Problem? The Argument for God from Evil.”

The forum will engage the problem of evil. This lecture is designed to be a thought provoking and illuminating seminar on a perennial human question. There will be substantial time for Q&A after the lecture.

One of the thorniest questions for Christian theology revolves around the presence of evil and suffering in the world.  If God is good and all-powerful, the skeptic (and oftentimes the believer) asks, then why is there evil and suffering in the world?  If God loves us, then why do bad things happen to good people? For many, the classical “Problem(s) of Evil” serve as a powerful reason to reject Christianity.

Anderson joined the OBU faculty as assistant professor of philosophy in fall 2011, shortly after completing his Ph.D. in worldview and apologetics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) in Louisville, Kentucky. Before arriving at OBU, Anderson served as a Garrett Fellow at SBTS, guest lecturing in a broad variety of philosophy courses. Prior to that, he served for seven years as the English Pastor of Edmonton Chinese Baptist Church and part-time Baptist Chaplain at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Anderson is passionate about contemporary Christian philosophy, particularly philosophical apologetics – explaining and defending the truth of Christian theism in the face of cultural and academic objections, doubts and challenges. He has led apologetics workshops, seminars and conferences at churches throughout western Canada, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Colorado. In addition to full-time service at OBU, Anderson occasionally teaches at The Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary (Alberta, Canada) and Minot State University (North Dakota). Anderson also maintains a blog dedicated to Christian apologetics.

This forum is the third of five Philosophy Forums offered in the fall 2019 semester, with future forums scheduled for Nov. 15 and Dec. 6. Philosophy Forums intend to bring issues of broad philosophical importance to the sphere of public conversation on campus.