Reykjavik, Iceland (photo from trekearth.com)
Update: A person has placed my satire and theology blog on a list of atheist blogs. Someone don't know me very well, do they?
http://satireandtheology.blogspot.com/2007/03/this-is-classic.html
Greetings,
The start of another work week and I wish to share a little of the feedback I have received concerning the problem of evil questionnaires I am issuing. I have received 74 surveys back so far and the overall feedback has been positive. I would like between 100-200 completed questionnaires in my possession eventually.
1. Several church attendees have mentioned to me that the questionnaire helped them think about important issues related to evil but was not too long or difficult to complete. They also appreciated the anonymous nature of the survey as no name is required. The questionnaires can be returned by mail with no return address. A previous advisor at Wales informed me that perhaps no one, especially in North America has taken complex theodicy questions and put them in a questionnaire form at a PhD level, although I have done it at a MPhil level previously. I am not an expert at empirical theology and so the positive feedback is encouraging.
2. Some church attendees have mentioned that questions can be answered in a variety of ways. A reason for this is that without the academic context of the theoretical work to review it is not always simple to know what is meant by the survey questions. On the other hand the questions are basic enough to provide a theological understanding to provide legitimate results.
3. A person mentioned that the questionnaire seemed biased. I admit that my written work like all written work comes with bias. I ask the Lord for guidance with my work and depend on the Bible for understanding where applicable. It must be stated that the questions on the questionnaire are not biased in a strong way towards any particular world-view because they are taken from the writings of five different writers. These exemplars are Augustine, Plantinga, Feinberg, Hick, and Gebara. The actual problem of evil questions are therefore representative of five different perspectives and are not simply put together by myself or a committee. Within the questionnaire there are other standard type survey questions concerning the nature of God and sociological questions which my previous advisor helped me place in the questionnaire. If certain concepts related to the problem of evil are missing from the questionnaire it is likely because the ideas were not covered by the writers I reviewed. The survey questions represent views from the theological left and right and in between. The previous blog article below is a review of some main texts I used from the five writers and will provide a brief and basic description of viewpoints expressed by these writers.
http://thekingpin68.blogspot.com/2007/01/five-influential-books-on-problem-of.html
4. A person informed me that a Methodist congregation did not assist me with the questionnaires because Methodists were private people. I answered back that I had received twenty surveys from Methodists that same week! There was no response to my comment.
5. Some questionnaires supposedly went missing, but have since returned.;)
http://satireandtheology.blogspot.com/2007/03/stolen-questionnaires.html
Thank You.
Russ:)
