Rob Bowman, Jr. is looking for a non-Trinitarian who’d be willing to engage in a written debate with him on the Parchment & Pen blog. Go here for details. I for one would be very interested in reading such a debate. It would be nice if perhaps Servetus the Evangelical would be willing to participate given that he’s getting ready to reveal his identity and he’s just written a book arguing against the doctrine of the Trinity.
B”H
That sounds like it would be an interesting debate, but I wouldn’t have the time to commit to even 2,000 words a week at this point.
Didn’t he say he was willing to debate anyone. Well, there you go.
Pingback: Great Trinity Debate Challenge « Daniel O. McClellan
Daniel: I think it will be interesting. I just hope that whoever his opponent is is as sharp as Bowman.
Jeff: Yup, anyone provided they agree to the rules he set forth, which I think are fair. The one thing that worries me is allowing readers to comment before the debate is actually over. That might just muddle things in the early stages.
I listened to his Bowman’s audio series on LDS and JW’s, it was excellent. He is very thorough. The style of debate would be key for him. He wouldn’t do so hot in a machine gun debate, but would do well in a open format with lots of time. Kind of the opposite of James White. :)
Kevin: Bowman’s got an encyclopedic knowledge of JW and Mormon beliefs. It’s really uncanny. I’ve engaged in many written debates over the years; at one point on my old AOL homepage I had more than 30 available to read but I’ve since lost them since AOL shut down all of their homepages last year. I didn’t bother to back up all of the files in my FTP space because I had them on my PC. Little did I know that the computer would crash and I’ve lose it all! But I personally prefer written debates because of the time it gives one to reflect on their opponents arguments and prepare a response. I think they’re more thorough and make for less confusion in general.
Pingback: Challenge to Debate on the Trinity « Near Emmaus: Christ and Text
I have a feeling this debate will be a blow out. Who is out there who can compete?
Brian: I have the same feeling. I actually don’t think any non-Trinitarian can make a good case for their view, but even the best case I don’t think could be better than Bowman’s. You never know though, someone might surprise us.
I vote for Sir Anthony Buzzard to give his best shot! I’ll email him Now:)
Drew: I’m sure he’d be willing.
I’d like to see someone like Daniel Seagraves who is Oneness Pentecostal debate Bowman. That would interesting as Seagraves is no dope.
I heard that one of the recent issues of Pneuma was devoted to Oneness, but I don’t have access to it. Did anyone else read it?
Jonathan: I have a feeling that he’s going to pick a Mormon to debate, but we’ll see what happens. You should contact Seagraves and tell him about it. He might like to throw his hat into the ring.
I haven’t seen the issue of Pneuma that you’re talking about.
I don’t know that I have access to it but I’ll check. Apparently I do have access but there’s a 12 month delay. From what I can see though, it appears that the latest issue that I do have access to is the one you’re talking about. There’s a lot of articles on Oneness Pentecostalism.Nick and Jonathan,
What article is that? In the past few years, there has been this ongoing dialogue between Trinitarians and Oneness in the Society for Pentecostal Studies. They released a bunch of articles that were responses from all sides. Segraves was one of them. Might that be the issue?
John: It’s Pneuma 30/2 (2008): 197-269. There’s 11 articles on Oneness-Trinitarian Pentecostalism in that section and Segraves is one of them (p. 233-9).
Nick, thanks for the issue. Segraves posted his article on his blog (danielsegraves.blogspot.com). I can do an interlibrary loan but I’m not sure my library would be too happy paying for so many articles. :-) Norris’s is one I’d be interested in reading, along with Reed from the Catholic side. Macchia’s, of course, is always worth a read for me. From what I understand, baptism totally flew under the radar in those responses.
John: Did I send you the articles? If not would you like me to?
Nick, yes, that would be much appreciated. Shall I consider this my Christmas present? :-)
John: My pleasure, and yeah, Merry Christmas! :-)
It looks like Christadelphian Dave Burke will be the chosen debating partner of Rob Bowman!
Troy: Nice! I debated a Christadelphian a few years back.
Yes indeed! Dave Burke is a very sharp Christadelphian as well, so we will be in for a treat!
Troy: I haven’t heard of him until now, but I look forward to seeing how he does against Bowman.