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Kalam cosmological argument

The Kalam cosmological argument is a modern formulation of the cosmological argument for the existence of God. It is named after the Kalam (medieval Islamic scholasticism), from which its key ideas originated. William Lane Craig was principally responsible for giving new life to the argument in the 20th century, due to his book The Kalām Cosmological Argument (1979), among other writings.

For the book on the topic by William Lane Craig, see The Kalām Cosmological Argument.

The argument's key underpinning idea is the metaphysical impossibility of actual infinities and of a temporally past-infinite universe, traced by Craig to 11th-century Persian Muslim scholastic philosopher Al-Ghazali. This feature distinguishes it from other cosmological arguments, such as that of Thomas Aquinas, which rests on the impossibility of a causally ordered infinite regress, and those of Leibniz and Samuel Clarke, which refer to the principle of sufficient reason.[1]


Since Craig's original publication, the Kalam cosmological argument has elicited public debate between Craig and Graham Oppy, Adolf Grünbaum, J. L. Mackie and Quentin Smith, and has been used in Christian apologetics.[2] According to Michael Martin, the cosmological arguments presented by Craig, Bruce Reichenbach, and Richard Swinburne are "among the most sophisticated and well argued in contemporary theological philosophy".[3]

(1999). "Cosmological Kalamity". The Secular Web. Retrieved 28 August 2022.

Barker, Dan

(1979). The Kalām Cosmological Argument. Wipf & Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-57910-438-2.

Craig, William Lane

Craig, William Lane (1996). . Leadership University. Retrieved 28 November 2009.

"Initial Arguments: A Defense of the Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God"

Craig, William Lane (1994). Reasonable Faith. Moody Press.  978-0-89107-764-0.

ISBN

Craig, William Lane (2000). The Kalam Cosmological Argument. Wipf and Stock Publishers.  978-1-57910-438-2.

ISBN

Craig, William Lane (2007). . Reasonable Faith. Archived from the original on 15 December 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2009.

"Causal Premiss of the Kalam Argument"

Craig, William Lane (2008). Reasonable Faith. Crossway Books.  978-1-4335-0115-9.

ISBN

Craig, William Lane; (1993). Theism, Atheism, and Big Bang Cosmology. Clarendon. ISBN 978-0-19-826348-7.

Smith, Quentin

Craig, William Lane; (2009). The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 978-1-4051-7657-6.

Moreland, J. P.

Erasmus, Jacobus (2018). The Kalām Cosmological Argument: A Reassessment. Springer.  9783319734378.

ISBN

(2017). God and Ultimate Origins. Springer International. ISBN 9783319575476.

Loke, Andrew Ter Ern

Craig, William Lane (1999). . Religious Studies. 35 (1): 57–72. doi:10.1017/s0034412598004703. S2CID 55878583.

"A swift and simple refutation of the Kalam cosmological argument?"

; Craig, William Lane (2004). Creation out of Nothing: A Biblical, Philosophical, and Scientific Exploration. Baker Academic.

Copan, Paul

(1987). Scaling the Secular City: A Defence of Christianity. Baker Academic.

Moreland, J. P.

Nowacki, Mark (2007). The Kalam Cosmological Argument for God. Studies in Analytic Philosophy. Prometheus Books.  978-1-59102-473-6.

ISBN

Vaas, Rüdiger (2004). "Time before Time – Classifications of universes in contemporary cosmology, and how to avoid the antinomy of the beginning and eternity of the world". Bilder aus der Wissenschaft. 10: 32–41. :physics/0408111. Bibcode:2004physics...8111V.

arXiv

Waters, B. V. (2013). (PDF). Philosophia Christi. 15 (2): 463–469. doi:10.5840/pc201315240.

"Methuselah's Diary and the Finitude of the Past"