BA: Hello, this is Brian Auten of Apologetics315. Today’s interview is with Clifford Williams. Cliff teaches philosophy at Trinity College in Deerfield, Illinois. He is an author of numerous books, but the one we will discuss today is entitled, Existential Reasons for Belief in God: A Defense of Desires and Emotions for Faith. The purpose of this interview is to explore some of the themes in the book, and look at the role of existential arguments for belief. Thanks for joining me today, Cliff.
CW: You’re welcome, thanks for having me.
BA: Well, Cliff, before we get started, would you mind telling our listeners a bit more about and your background?
CW: I teach philosophy at Trinity College in Deerfield, Illinois, and have for the last twenty-nine years; and fourteen years before that, I taught in a college in Rochester, New York; and before that, I earned a PhD at Indiana University; and before that I went to Wheaton College, where I fell in love with philosophy and got to thinking about the ways in which philosophy and Christianity meld together.
. He talks about his background and how he got into philosophy, the role of philosophy in theology and apologetics, the meaning of "existential" and the existential argument for belief in God, needs and desires and their role in the existential argument, various objections to the argument, the role of the argument in a cumulative case for God, practical application for apologetics, further resources, and more.
