Whatever “Divine Simplicity” means to Theologians, Richard Swinburne means “Simplicity” in the Scientific Sense. And this makes nonsense of his argument.

This is my follow-up to the argument that took place between Richard Swinburne and me in the Royal Institution in June 2023 about whether God can be considered a simple entity, in the sense of a unitary, economical explanation for all existence. I begin by reproducing my 1996 Sunday Times review of Swinburne’s book, Is there a God?

Review for The Sunday Times*, of Richard Swinburne: Is There a God?

It is a virtue of clear writing that you can see what is wrong with a book as well as what is right.  Richard Swinburne is clear.  You can see where he is coming from.  You can also see where he is going to, and there is something almost endearing in the way he lovingly stakes out his own banana skin and rings it about with converging arrows boldly labelled ‘Step here’.