The Secular Frontier

PREVIOUSLY: THE QUEST FOR THE HISTORICAL PAUL (Introduction with Prof Nina E. Livesey) Last time we levelled the playing field and established a spectrum of interpretation of Paul from the far right of Christian fundamentalism with a very early date ... Read Article

Previously: Announcing A New Blog Series: THE QUEST FOR THE HISTORICAL PAUL The Letters of Paul in their Roman Literary Context: Reassessing Apostolic Authorship (by Nina E Livesey, Peer Reviewed Cambridge Press, 2024) (INTRODUCTION TO THIS S ... Read Article

Conversion on the Way to Damascus, a 1601 portrait by Caravaggio (wiki) I'm excited to announce my new blog series on The Quest For The Historical Paul! This hub page will have a continuous rollout of links to the posts as I make them. STAY ... Read Article

LAST TIME: Ehrman’s New Free Lecture on the Historicity of Jesus Now, Carrier Responds! 1. The Article Bart Ehrman’s Latest Weird Attempt to Refute Mythicism 2. The Podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWWNTmTAqnA ... Read Article

The Texas flood and the children it killed has shocked the world. But why? Childhood death has been the historical norm, and makes it obvious to atheists there is no caring creator. We must question why others imagine otherwise.  So what do Americ ... Read Article

*Slides were provided for free to all listeners! Ehrman gave his lecture today on the existence of Jesus on earth in history contra mythicism, so here are a few of the new takeaways you may not have heard before. So what's kind of new here is po ... Read Article

Ehrman's new lecture is coming this Saturday, and he shared some free resources as supplements: Free Articles: 15 Historically Accurate Facts About Jesus Josephus on Jesus: What did Josephus Say About Jesus? Teachings of Jesus: 10 Messages Je ... Read Article

see: Trump’s religious liberty commission might be the end of religious freedom for all ... Read Article

Canada and the USA were the best of friends and now Canada is terrified of Trump's tariffs putting our economy into recession or worse so he can annex us. ... Read Article

As I work away revising my three Paul essays, largely influenced by Prof Livesey's work, here is a recent interview of her by Prof M David Litwa. My biggest takeaway? I look a lot like Litwa, lol. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZCr0AhG_AU ... Read Article

My 3 essays on the historical Paul are under review and should be out soon. In the meantime, here are some thoughts on Jacob Berman's podcast on a three-fold Paul from yesterday: Last Time: Review-  The Letters of Paul in their Roman Literary Cont ... Read Article

Bob is in need of a new car and would greatly appreciate your help. Here is his Go Fund Me: https://www.gofundme.com/f/x9httb-help-bob-get-back-on-the-road?attribution_id=sl:2ab9d1e8-99a0-4846-bd4c-bdd38a6e5274&lang=en_US&utm_campaign=man_shar ... Read Article

(1) We know from Paul's Philippian Christ hymn and Corinthian Creed that Paul thought God raised Jesus from the dead and because of his service unto death exalted Jesus to the highest possible position (Lord), a name and status Jesus didn't previously ... Read Article

It should be terrifying for people that many USA politicians are Christian and use that superstition to inform their political policies. Here is Senator Ted Cruz admitting the basis for his support of Israel is first and foremost that the bible tells him ... Read Article

Well, a lot of bright people are superstitious... uh ,,,, Christian. This includes this guy, the smartest person: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1athoNwR7Q0 Here's the thing. Having a ridiculously high intelligence quotient (IQ) doesn't impl ... Read Article

In George Orwell's 1984, doublespeak is not explicitly named but is embodied in the concept of "doublethink," a key mechanism of the Party's control. Doublethink is the act of simultaneously holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind and accepting bo ... Read Article

(HINT -- PARTLY BECAUSE THE SLAUGHTER OF TENS OF BILLIONS OF KIDS MEANS THERE CANNOT BE A WISE AND LOVING CREATOR) TO BEGIN WITH We are hearing it all the time these days. That the American economy is now the envy of the world. Wages are higher in t ... Read Article

Last Time: Trump Playing 4-D Chess Once again Trump put on a mask, pushed an old lady down the stairs, and tore off the mask to go help her up: he once again wants to be congratulated for solving a problem he created.  Putting on his stron ... Read Article

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geKNWCQpvfg ... Read Article

"Concept/conceive/understand" are etymologically related to the hand/grasping in either (sort of) Greek or Latin etymology, e.g., "I was able to grasp his meaning." The words "concept," "conceive," and "understand" have etymological connections to the id ... Read Article

Large scale war and mass atrocities have been afficting humanity since the advent of civilization. So who is most to blame for these disasters? According to the religion industry if most or all folks would just be good and obedient sheep and behave themse ... Read Article

These days many who are secular and/or on the center-left just don’t get why so many on the evangelical right seem so darn dead set against the threat of global climate change, to the point they thrill in chanting “drill, baby, drill!” After crude i ... Read Article

We looked at the idea last time of the understanding relationship we have with the world, and so for example this is manifest in the encounter with beings founded on an understanding of their Being, which is conspicuous in allegory like Plato’s allegory ... Read Article

Last time I ended with: For example, when we think of experience in a modern way, we usually think of sense vs thought.  But if we reflect back on Plato, the sensuous is not just the immediate but also the most thoughtful and the true place for th ... Read Article

“Faith has no place in thought” (Heidegger, Anaximander’s Saying [1946, pg 280]) "Concerning the gods, I have no means of knowing whether they exist or not, nor of what sort they may be …” (Protagoras, On the Gods) Protagoras was a pro ... Read Article