Did Jesus Exit? – Part 17
Does L, the special source used by the author of the Gospel of Luke, represent Jesus as a male descendant of the Hebrew people? Like Mark and Q, L uses masculine nouns, pronouns and verbs of Jesus: L 7:11b-15 “his disciples” “with him” “As he approached” “When the Lord saw her, he had compassion” “he … Did Jesus Exit? – Part 17
A Ten-Year Project – Part 2
Before deciding what topics and issues to cover in my multi-volume critique of Christianity, I want to look over some lists of common topics in (a) Christian Apologetics, (b) Systematic Theology, and (c) Philosophy of Religion. I looked through the table of contents of a number of handbooks on Christian Apologetics to come up with … A Ten-Year Project – Part 2
A Ten-Year Project
I’m starting to build a plan for a ten-year project for myself. The goal will be to produce a multi-volume critique of Christianity, with a focus on Evangelical Christianity, but I would also like to touch on Catholic Christianity and Liberal Christian views. One objective would be for the critique to be systematic and comprehensive, … A Ten-Year Project
God as a ‘Necessary Being’ – Part 3
Richard Swinburne analyzes the concept of ‘necessary being’ into two implications (COT, p.241-242): 1. It is not a matter of fortunate accident that there is a God; he exists necessarily. 2. God is necessarily the kind of being which he is; God does not just happen to have the properties which he does. In his … God as a ‘Necessary Being’ – Part 3
Did Jesus Exit? – Part 11
I will now take a brief break from answering the 44 questions about Mark, Q, M, and L. For your reading enjoyment, I bring you John Crossan’s brief defense of the historicity of the crucifixion of Jesus: Jesus’ death by execution under Pontius Pilate is as sure as anything historical can ever be. For, if … Did Jesus Exit? – Part 11
The Six Kinds of Unbelievers
According to a recent study by UT-Chattanooga, one in five Americans are now non-believers. They have identified six categories: I wonder if they are not missing another very large segment, what I would call the “de facto unbeliever.” The de facto unbeliever attends church, often regularly. He (they are mostly men, in my experience) might … The Six Kinds of Unbelievers
Is Atheism Presumptuous? A Reply to Paul Copan
My reply to Copan was published in 2000. To the best of my knowledge, Copan has neither published a reply nor issued a retraction of his claim. LINK
God as a ‘Necessary Being’ – Part 2
Although there is an extensive discussion of the meaning of the claim ‘God is a necessary being’ by Richard Swinburne in his bookThe Coherence of Theism (revised edition, hereafter: COT), the main passages that I’m interested in understanding are found in a shorter and more popular book: Is There a God? (hereafter: ITAG), also by … God as a ‘Necessary Being’ – Part 2
John Danaher’s Blog Series on Mind-Body Physicalism
Overview: Part 1: The Argument from Past Explanatory Success Part 2: Hempel’s Dilemma Part 3: The Knowledge Argument Part 4: Absent and Inverted Qualia
God as a ‘Necessary Being’ – Part 1
In his book The Coherence of Theism (Revised edition, hereafter: COT), Swinburne defends the claim that the sentence ‘God exists’ makes a coherent statement. In Part II of COT, Swinburne defends the coherence of the concept of “a contingent God”, which is basically the traditional concept of God minus the attribute of ‘necessary being’. In … God as a ‘Necessary Being’ – Part 1