Pankratz Loren David  <br/><br/>
Traditional Christian and Mormon views of God and their compatibility with the moral theistic argument: An exercise in ramified natural theology 

 - Johannesburg  South African Theological Seminary  2020 
 - 269p  PDF  A4  Abstract, TOC 
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<br/><br/> In a 2013 article in Philosophia Christi, David Baggett and Ronnie Campbell argued that the moral argument for God’s existence can bolster the case for uniquely Christian points of theology. In this spirit, Francis Beckwith authored a chapter in The New Mormon Challenge(2002) in which he argued that the Mormon worldview does not adequately ground moral laws. In 2006, LDS philosopher Blake Ostler published a monograph in which he offered a response to Beckwith’s argument and attempted to demonstrate LDS theism’s compatibility with objective moral values and duties. A substantial portion of Ostler’s work argues for a reinterpretation of Joseph Smith’s teaching about God that he dubs “kingship monotheism”. Christian scholars have yet to respond to Ostler’s critique of Beckwith’s argument or his grounding of objective moral values and duties within an LDS worldview. This paper represents a beginning of such a response. It argues that the moral argument for God’s existence provides good evidence for Christian theism and also serves as a defeater for LDS theism as well as Ostler’s LDS “kingship monotheism”. Key terms Metaphysics, naturalism, natural theology, objective morality, ontology, ramified natural theology, traditional Christian theism, divine command theory, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), the moral argument for God’s existence, monarch theism.