Alvin
Plantinga, the John A. O'Brien Professor of
Philosophy at the
University of Notre Dame, is widely considered one of the most important
philosophical figures of the past century. A Calvinist,
Plantinga successfully refuted the "logical
problem of evil" in his work,
God, Freedom, and Evil(1974), with what is known as the "
Free Will Defense".
In so doing, Plantinga forced the philosophic debate over the existence and nature of God away from logical refutation into arguments about the
improbability of the existence an all-powerful, all-good
God in light of the existence of
evil. It is here that the new debate continues, thanks to
Plantinga's work.
Plantinga's other philosophic contributions have been in the realm of defending
Christian knowledge.