God and Cosmos God and Cosmos Moral Truth and Human Meaning z DAVID BAGGETT JERRY L. WALLS 1 1 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Oxford University Press 2016 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Baggett, David. Title: God and cosmos : moral truth and human meaning / David Baggett and Jerry L. Walls. Description: New York : Oxford University Press, 2016. | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2015030027| ISBN 978–0–19–993121–7 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 978–0–19–993119–4 (cloth : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Religion and ethics. | Ethics. | God. | Religious ethics. Classification: LCC BJ47 .B338 2016 | DDC 205—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc. gov/2015030027 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed by Sheridan, USA To Marybeth Baggett, with profound gratitude and love Contents Acknowledgments  ix Introduction  1 Introduction to Part I 1. Alone in the Cosmos  23 2. The Case for Abduction  54 3. The Problem of Evil, Freedom, and Moral Responsibility  79 Introduction to Part II 4. Moral Value  115 5. Moral Obligations  145 6. Moral Knowledge  179 7. Moral Transformation  213 8. Moral Rationality  243 Introduction to Part III 9. A Moral Argument  273 Conclusion  303 Index  309 Acknowledgments it is our pleasure to acknowledge and thank the many friends and col- leagues who contributed to this project. Those in our respective depart- ments at Liberty University and Houston Baptist University deserve many thanks, as do the administrators at our respective universities who sup- port us by allowing us the time necessary to do this sort of work. Thanks also to our students for stimulating discussion of these issues, particularly students in the Ph.D. seminar Dave taught in the spring of 2015, using an earlier draft of this manuscript as the main text. Thanks to the Harvard Theological Review for permission to reprint Dave’s critical review of Tom Nagel’s book Mind and Cosmos, and to Philosophia Christi for permission to reprint a few paragraphs from the Spring 2014 article “Omnibenevolence, Moral Apologetics, and Double Ramified Natural Theology,” by David Baggett and Ronnie Campbell. As always, Jerry is grateful to Tim, Angela, Madelyn, and Mackenzie Amos, and Jonathan and Emily Walls, for love and inspiration all along. Thanks to Kurt Jaros, Nick Dodson, and Lindi Rigg for logistical help, and to Jonathan Pruitt, Managing Editor at MoralApologetics.com, a bril- liant budding scholar and a dear friend, for much great assistance, includ- ing the idea for the cover. As always, we have enjoyed working with Cynthia Read, and we deeply appreciate the whole team at Oxford University Press who believed in this project and in myriad ways supported it along the way. Finally, profoundest thanks to Marybeth Baggett, whose adroit editing strengthened the book considerably, whose encouragement and love made their mark on each page, and whose patience during a long, arduous pro- cess was steadfast. To her, with gratitude, we dedicate this book.