Religion - A Tippling Philosopher (Page 3)

A Tippling Philosopher

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Religion

A collection of 233 posts

The prima facie problems with prayer

There are obvious—prima facie—problems with prayer. Prime problems that hit you in the face like a divinely unstopped tsunami. But what is really evocative of the bind that religious believers find themselves in is the idea that they are praying in the first place. Okay, let's

Biblical Exegesis

Christian apologetics and defending Matthew's guards

There's something meta going on when a Christian apologist takes aim at a biblical account of mine with some typical apologetics, claiming I am making stuff up out of whole cloth when I myself accused the Gospel writers (or apologists) of making stuff up out of whole cloth

conceptual nominalism

What is transcendence?

Transcendence can mean an awful lot of things in many different contexts. But it is a word that carries some heft in philosophical and theological discussions. I have to say, though, that my opinion is that there is often equivocation going on in its usage. This entails that its meaning

Why Matthew's guards at Jesus' tomb are so important

I've written before on why the guards at the tomb of Jesus, included only in the Gospel of Matthew, are almost certainly invented by the author of that Gospel. Today I will tell you how they fit into a larger narrative construction of the Jesus story, and that

What have I been doing in the meantime?

In the seemingly massive (but actually really not that extensive) period between Patheos Nonreligious closing up shop for most of its writers and this wonderfully shiny new enterprise opening its door, what have I been doing? This is a question that approximately none of you will have been asking. However,

Photo by Greg Bulla on Unsplash

Jesus' family were asylum-seeking political refugees

Making America great again was largely about building a wall. Indeed, we have all seen footage of Trump rallies with large contingents of white conservative Christians shouting, "Build the wall!" Those with would be one side and those without the other (political refugees included). And that wall -

A Spiritual Body Resurrection vs Corporeal Resurrection

I have had another interview with Derek Lambert of MythVision in the series where we are working through my book The Resurrection: A Critical Examination of the Easter Story [UK]. This latest episode (8) concentrated on the conflict between Paul, who believed in a two-body spiritual resurrection thesis, as opposed

the Resurrection

The Swoon Theory: Did Jesus Really Die?

In short, yes, I think so. But these theories are interesting and are far more probable than the Christian thesis in explaining the data (the Gospel and Pauline accounts). "Swoon Theory" comes from "swooning", meaning to fall unconscious, and several of these theories contest that Jesus

Matthew & John's Threes: Fact or Literary Device?

The Gospels are littered with literary devices and mechanisms that serve narrative purposes but leave the reader doubting the veracity of the claims. These may include deus ex machina plot devices, allusions, mimesis and other hallmarks intertextual links, numerology, and other such things. Numerology is certainly important, whether it be

The Tower of Babel, Immigration, and Google Translate

I have just been inspired to write this piece by an arguably throwaway comment on my YouTube channel in response to a recent video on the Tower of Babel. Sometimes, comments that are intended as light-hearted jest actually contain some theological or philosophical punch. I found this with my book

The Tower of Babel Story Is OBVIOUSLY Not Historical

I've got to the point where, and I know this will be counter-productive, I have to claim that anyone who believes this story actually happened is an idiot. Such believers are idiots. There, I've said it. Deal with it. I know there will be some Christians

the Resurrection

Presentation - The Resurrection: A Critical Examination

Although I have been serialising my book in a lot of detail with Derek Lamber of MythVision, for a truncated account, here is a presentation I gave to Dorset Humanists just after lockdown had ended - it was one of their first so the audience was very small. Please grab

Was Jesus on a suicide Mission

Here is another guest piece by the inimitable David Austin, this time on the topic of the suicidal Jesus. Was Jesus on a suicide Mission There appears to be a contradiction (one of many) in the Gospel accounts of Jesus’s life and death. In a few places in the

"Of course there are discrepancies, embellishments, made-up stories, and historical problems in the Gospels"

There is no doubt that Bart Ehrman is a brilliant author. Two of his books are particularly worth investing in: Jesus Before the Gospels: How the Earliest Christians Remembered, Changed, and Invented Their Stories of the Savior and How Jesus Became God: the Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee.

The Bible Shows God Is Not Omniscient

I feel like triggering Dave Armstrong and what better way to do this than to get his longjohns in a twist about the Noah's Flood story. This is from a chapter I am editing in a book I am just finishing (would be ready for proofers to look

The “Empty Tomb” & The “Minimal Facts” argument

Here is another guest piece by the inimitable David Austin, this time on the topic of the Empty Tomb. The “Empty Tomb” & The “Minimal Facts” argument The “Empty Tomb” claim has been the mainstay of Christian apologists’ arguments for a long time. The apologists love to say, whenever the

Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?

As I have said many times before, I really do feel like my worldview is solid, that there are no crumbling or missing bricks in my epistemological wall. It is why I wrote my latest book Why I Am Atheist and Not a Theist [UK]: Jesus and Mo cartoon is

divine foreknowledge

Noah's Flood Story Invalidates God's Omniscience

I know it's a myth; it's obviously a myth. But go with it. As I am writing elsewhere: One of a number of Hebrew Bible stories that shows that God really doesn’t have omniscience is the Noah’s flood story. This never happened, that much

Gospel of Matthew

Matthew's Guards at the Tomb

Matthew is the only Gospel to include the story of the guards at the tomb - supposedly the only actual eyewitnesses of the Resurrection - in the Resurrection narrative. For a number of reasons discussed below, this piece of the narrative is clearly ahistorical, acting (I argue) as a counter-counter-argument

Was Sodom Hit by a Meterorite?

The story of Sodom (and Gomorrah) is a famous one. But it could be that the story is on one of aetiology - a post hoc story to explain the origins of something. Aetiology is a really interesting idea that pops up an awful lot in the context of the

The Polarisation and Turbulence within the Evangelical Movement

The evangelical movement is a favourite target for liberal atheists like myself, partly because it is an easy target - people believing either silly or heinous things. Or both. You only have to look at Joel Osteen and Kenneth Copeland. However, in the wake of the rise of populism and

divine foreknowledge

Heaven and Hell as a Hot Mess

Check out the latest interview, this time with Gnostic Informant. We discuss the philosophy of heaven and hell, carrying on the conversation started with another video interview I did with MythVision (also below): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8AdHOGRbRI And the previous one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

Decline in Religion?

Surveys have shown that religious belief is declining in the US, especially among younger cohorts of our population, but it seems like religious influence in politics is on the upswing. Legislatures in the red states are passing laws that grant special privileges to religious believers who claim they are “oppressed”

Gist Memory and the Gospels

Bart Ehrman’s book Jesus Before the Gospels is really quite excellent. It’s a must-read for anyone looking into how stories became Gospels, about memory, memorisation, distorted memories, and transmission. I am listening to it now, but let me pick out a few sections for you. In the last

Quote of the Day: Cynthia on Oral Transmission

I recently wrote a piece on oral transmission and memory excerpting Bart Ehrman's excellent book, Jesus Before the Gospels. Cynthia added this in the comments section: Interesting that Ehrman mentions the Baal Shem Tov stories. I've heard a ton of them. There are a few points