books of interest

Did Jesus Exit? – Part 6

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Here is my clarified version of the Minimal Jesus Hypothesis (MJH): ======================= There was a flesh-and-blood person who was… 1A. named Yeshu’a, and 2A. an adherent of Judaism, and a male descendant of the Hebrew people, and 3A. living in Palestine as an adult (in his twenties and/or thirties) in the 20s C.E., and 4A. … Did Jesus Exit? – Part 6

Did Jesus Exit? – Part 5

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In his book Did Jesus Exist? Bart Ehrman argues for something like the following Minimal Jesus Hypothesis (MJH): ====================== There was a flesh-and-blood person who was… 1. named ‘Jesus’, and 2. a Jewish man, and 3. living in Palestine as an adult in the 20s C.E., and 4. known to be a preacher and a … Did Jesus Exit? – Part 5

Did Jesus Exit? – Part 4

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When Bart Ehrman asserts that “Jesus existed”, he is asserting something like the following Minimal Jesus Hypothesis (MJH): ====================== There was a flesh-and-blood person who was… 1. named ‘Jesus’, and 2. a Jewish man, and 3. living in Palestine as an adult in the 20s C.E., and 4. known to be a preacher and a … Did Jesus Exit? – Part 4

Did Jesus Exit? – Part 3

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If Jesus did not EXIST, then Jesus did not EXIT this life by dying on a cross in Jerusalem. If Jesus did not die on a cross in Jerusalem, then Jesus did not rise from the dead. So, this question of whether Jesus existed has a direct logical connection to the question of whether Jesus … Did Jesus Exit? – Part 3

Did Jesus Exit? – Part 2

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Author: Bart D. Ehrman Publisher: HarperCollins Copyright: 2012. Full Title: Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth Contents: Introduction (p.1-7) Part I: Evidence for the Historical Jesus (p.11-174) Chapters 1-5 Part II: The Mythicists’ Claims (p.177-264) Chapters 6 & 7 Part III: Who Was the Historical Jesus? (p.267-339) Chapters 8 & 9, … Did Jesus Exit? – Part 2

Preliminary Thoughts about Stephen Meyer’s Signature in the Cell, Part 2

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Re-reading Theism and Explanation by Gregory Dawes suggested another potential logical problem with Stephen Meyer’s argument in The Signature in the Cell.  Remember that Meyer explicitly provides the logical form of his argument. Premise One: Despite a thorough search, no material causes have been discovered that demonstrate the power to produce large amounts of specified information. Premise Two: … Preliminary Thoughts about Stephen Meyer’s <I>Signature in the Cell</I>, Part 2

Did Jesus Exit? – Part 1

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Let me lay my prejudices out on the table, before I get into the pros and cons about Bart Ehrman’s case for Jesus being an actual historical person. My current opinion is that it is very likely that Jesus existed, but I don’t think that anything about Jesus is certain, so I would allow for … Did Jesus Exit? – Part 1

Preliminary Thoughts about Stephen Meyer’s Signature in the Cell

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I’ve been reading Stephen C. Meyer’s massive book, Signature in the Cell. For those who are unfamiliar with the book, it is a sophisticated defense of the intelligent design (ID) hypothesis. Meyer argues that intelligent design is the best explanation for the origin of biological, functionally specified information. In other words, Meyers is not arguing … Preliminary Thoughts about Stephen Meyer’s <I>Signature in the Cell</I>

Books I’d Like to Read Someday

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The Mystery of Existence: Why Is There Anything At All? – John Leslie & Robert Lawrence Kuhn, eds. (Wiley-Blackwell, April 2013) This compelling study of the origins of all that exists, including explanations of the entire material world, traces the responses of philosophers and scientists to the most elemental and haunting question of all: why … Books I’d Like to Read Someday