A discussion at First Things.
First, in “Response to ‘Fifty Shades of Nothing‘”, John Leslie and Robert Lawrence Kuhn respond to Ed Feser’s previous critique of their volume, The Mystery of Existence: Why Is There Anything At All?
“Ed’s criticism is an important one. We could plead that our volume tries to cover all the main ways, going back to Plato and ending with scientists such as Stephen Hawking, of reacting to the fact that there’s a world instead of utter emptiness. Philosophy, theology, cosmology, physics, were all competing for room on its pages. Still, why so little about classical theism? Why such ‘short shrift’ (Ed’s description) as calling classical theism ‘puzzling’?”
And Feser responds, “Why Is There Anything At All? It’s Simple“:
“Now, while our editors are of course the best experts on their mission for the volume, I would respectfully disagree with them about the relevance of classical theism to that mission. For the philosophical dispute between classical and modern forms of theism is, I would argue, exactly on point. And when we understand why, we will also see that the question whether God exists is in no way eclipsed by the question why there is something rather than nothing—on the contrary, the existence of God, as classical theism understands God, is (so the classical theist would argue) the only possible answer in principle to that question. Let me explain.”