Bradley Bowen

I was a devout Evangelical Christian from 1970 to 1982. The study of philosophy, especially philosophy of religion, led me to see that my Christian faith was founded on weak and faulty arguments. I followed where reason led me, and left Christianity in favor of skepticism, critical thinking, and a secular humanist worldview. Background in Philosophy - B.A. in philosophy from Sonoma State University. M.A. in philosophy from University of Windsor. Candidate for PhD in philosophy from University of California at Santa Barbara.

The Unreliability of the 4th Gospel – Part 1: The Last Gospel to be Written

WHERE WE ARE In order to make a reasonable case for the resurrection of Jesus, one must first put together a set of relevant historical facts about Jesus, especially about his arrest, trials, crucifixion, burial, and about alleged appearances of Jesus to his disciples after he was crucified and allegedly buried. This is a key The Unreliability of the 4th Gospel – Part 1: The Last Gospel to be Written

Craig’s Historical Claims for His Objection #1 against the Swoon Theory

WHERE WE ARE In his book The Son Rises (hereafter: TSR), William Craig raises three objections against the Swoon Theory (which he refers to as the Apparent Death Theory). The Swoon Theory is the skeptical view that Jesus survived his crucifixion, later met with some of his disciples, and that this experience of seeing a Craig’s Historical Claims for His Objection #1 against the Swoon Theory

Why Christian Apologists are Doomed to FAIL – Part 2: Dozens of Historical Facts Required

WHERE WE ARE In the first post of this series, called “Why Christian Apologists are Doomed to FAIL“, I put forward this skeptical argument about the attempts of Christian apologists to prove the resurrection of Jesus: 1. One can construct a reasonable argument for the claim that God raised Jesus from the dead ONLY IF Why Christian Apologists are Doomed to FAIL – Part 2: Dozens of Historical Facts Required

Raymond Brown on the Trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin

LOWERED EXPECTATIONS ABOUT THE PASSION NARRATIVES As I mentioned in my previous post “Raymond Brown on the Trial of Jesus before Pilate“, Brown expresses significant doubt about the historical reliability and historical accuracy of the Passion Narratives in the Gospels. From the opening pages of his massive two-volume commentary on the Passion Narratives, The Death Raymond Brown on the Trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin

Raymond Brown on the Trial of Jesus before Pilate

LOWERED EXPECTATIONS ABOUT THE PASSION NARRATIVES From the opening pages of his massive two-volume commentary on the Passion Narratives, The Death of the Messiah (hereafter: DOM), the eminent New Testament scholar Raymond Brown lowers expectations of historical reliability and historical accuracy from these important parts of the Gospels. On the first page of the introduction, Raymond Brown on the Trial of Jesus before Pilate

Craig vs. Spinoza: INDEX of Posts

WHERE WE ARE Although Spinoza’s primary objection against miracles fails, Spinoza’s second objection against miracles appears to be a powerful and devastating objection against belief in miracles. Spinoza points out that humans cannot distinguish between true miracles (that are brought about by God) and fake miracles (that are brought about by some other supernatural being, such as an angel or a Craig vs. Spinoza: INDEX of Posts