By Douglas Groothuis, PhD It is easy to underestimate and hard to overestimate the significance of an introduction to philosophy course. I recently met a young lady who took a required introduction to philosophy course at a prestigious Christian university. When I said I taught introduction to philosophy at Cornerstone University, she replied that her course elsewhere made her want “to pull her hair out.” I have long believed that taking such a course can either make or break

By Douglas Groothuis, PhD As a Christian, I feel an odd affinity with the most famous atheist in history. While a freshman in college, I was assigned to read the work of Frederick Nietzsche (1844-1900), and I had never read anything like it, before or since. Unlike some other philosophy, this wasn’t abstract, or abstruse, or arid, but invigorating. I felt intellectual adventure, discovery, and risk. I read about him in the main textbook, but then read his own words—far more t

By Douglas Groothuis, PhD Despite the sufficiency of Holy Scripture to tell us of the teachings and work of Jesus Christ, many have sought out other revelations purportedly from him from outside the Bible. In every case I have observed, these supposed revelations contradict the Bible, which is to be expected, given the Bible’s warnings about false gospels, false philosophies, false angels, and false prophets (Galatians 1:6-10; Colossians 2:8; 2 Corinthians 11:13-14; 1 John 4:

By Douglas Groothuis, PhD AI poses significant intellectual and moral challenges for Christians. Here are some of my essays on the subject. 1. “Resurrecting the Dead with Digital Necromancy.” https://www.equip.org/articles/resurrecting-the-dead-with-ai-digital-necromancy-and-the-christian/. 2. “Plagiarism, AI, and the Suicide of the Author,” https://mindingthecampus.org/2024/11/04/plagiarism-artificial-intelligence-and-the-suicide-of-the-author. 3. “AI and the Eclipse of the

By Douglas Groothuis, PhD Since we moved to Michigan in June of 2024, I have had much time to write, especially to write books. Where I live in Lowell is quiet and lonely. I don’t have the group of friends and knowledge of culture that thirty-one years in Denver gave me. So, I hunker down and pound the keyboard. (Some of my keyboards needed replacement letters for some keys, since I wore off the lettering.) Of course, I have my responsibilities and opportunities at Cornerston

By Douglas Groothuis, PhD I have been reading and listening to Sue Prideaux’s superbly written and fascinating biography of Friedrich Nietzsche, I am Dynamite (Tim Duggan Books, 2018). It has the drama of a novel and the analysis of a philosopher, although she fails to criticize Nietzsche’s worldview or attack on Christianity. Instead of offering a thorough review of this book, I return to the question of Nietzsche’s insanity from 1899 to his death in 1900. Her account of his

By Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D., Cornerstone University and Cornerstone Theological Seminary How should a Christian understand gambling? Gambling is an activity in which someone puts up money, goods, or services on the chance of being rewarded by unknown outcomes by the gambler. I do not mean the investment of money, goods, services. By “chance,” I mean unknown outcomes not determined by the gambler, not chance in the metaphysical sense of being beyond the control or knowledge

By Douglas Groothuis, PhD Author and environmental activist, Paul Klingsnorth, predicts in his best-selling book, Against the Machine, “that the next great division of the world will be between people who wish to live as creatures and those who wish to live as machines.”[i] Which side are you on? Long before this, Francis Schaeffer (1912-84), warned that a secular-materialistic worldview reduces God’s image-bearers to a machine status, shorn of human personality, authenticity