A Symposium on Hud Hudson’s The Fall and Hypertime, 2014, Oxford University Press

The editors are very pleased to present a symposium on Hud Hudson’s The Fall and Hypertime. We consider Hudson’s monograph to be an important contribution to theology and science discussions coming from one of today’s most gifted analytic metaphysicians. The book thoughtfully extends the implications of Hudson’s previous work on hypertime and furthers his contributions to a defense of theism in the face of the problem of evil and other objections.

The symposium consists of four scholars engaging in different aspects of Hudson’s thesis informed by their own areas of expertise, along with Hudson’s reply to each paper. Andrew Torrance shares Hudson’s concerns for the presumptions inherent in the weaponizing of science against religion, but also raises several significant theological concerns for Hudson’s project. Natalja Deng argues against the plausibility of the central hypertime hypothesis, suggesting that the reasons given to consider it a ‘live epistemic option’ are insufficient. Hans Madueme is supportive of much of what Hudson attempts to achieve but raises what he finds to be serious challenges for Hudson’s approach from Christian tradition, Scripture and the nature of God. Finally, Ty Goldschmidt and Samuel Lebens offer in their reply a précis of part of a forthcoming paper. They intend to show further work that hypertime can do by exploring alternatives for answers to the problem of evil. The symposium’s finale is Hudson’s replies to these critical appraisals of his work.

We could not be more pleased with how fruitful the exchange here seems to be. One comes away with a renewed appreciation for constructive work being done in Analytic Theology and, in this particular case, with far more than what may strike some at first blush as a merely whimsical or unhelpfully speculative proposal.

The Editors of the Journal of Analytic Theology