the nativity - A Tippling Philosopher (Page 3)

Summing up the Nativity as Concisely as Possible.

I'm going to work on this, but here it is, so far. Joseph ended up taking his 9 month pregnant partner (impregnated without anyone’s permission) on an 80 mile journey on donkey-back on unmettaled roads to a census that, as a woman, his wife did not need

Biblical Exegesis

Casting Doubt on the Nativity of Jesus

As I have said before, Holidays are coming, holidays are coming... It's that time of year, you know, the interminable run-up to Christmas when big corporations vie for your hard-earned cash in an attempt to exploit the seasonal goodwill brought on by the imaginary birth of a godmanspirit.

Speaking Engagements

#CrackingNight

I had the absolute pleasure of talking to Barnsley Skeptics in the Pub last night in their "Skeptic Dungeon" - a lovely cellar bar venue below a pub in Barnsley city centre. The topic for the night was The Nativity (about which I have written a book and

the nativity

Zombie nativity scene ordered taken down by Ohio town bureaucrats

You’ve not seen a baby Jesus in the manger quite like it. His eyes are bruised and glaring, his face slashed with scars and his teeth protrude from his mouth like rotting vampires’ fangs.

Featured ATP

Response to Triablogue’s Jason Engwer on Nativity Accounts (Part 2)

A few days ago I responded to Jason Engwer of Triablogue as he critiqued some posts I had made, and my book, on the nativity. I responded here. This post is the second in the series. It might go on for some time as he has responded here to my first response.

Aaron Adair

Response to Triablogue's Jason Engwer on Nativity Accounts (Part 1)

Triablogue's Jason Engwer has written a criticism of some of my recent posts (as well as my book The Nativity: A Critical Examination) on the Nativity accounts in Matthew (and Luke). Here, I will respond to him and his points.

Biblical Exegesis

Quote of the Day, epicurus on Herod

In my post on Herod, epicurus brought up a great point with regard to the news of the Messianic prophecy which shook Jerusalem at the arrival of the MAgi: In the same way that the resurrection story tosses out a verse that should cause a revolution, then moves on as if no big deal (the dead comin

Featured ATP

Herod would never have slaughtered the innocents

It's that time of year when those nativity accounts get brought up. And summarily debunked. My book, The Nativity: A Critical Examination, hopefully does a good job of dealing with the many attempts to harmonise the contradictory accounts in Matthew and Luke.

Debate

A Christmas Debate for You

A few years ago, around the time of the release of my book The Nativity: A Critical Examination, Reasonable Doubts hosted a radio podcast debate, pre-recorded, between myself and Randal Rauser. Here is the fruit of our labour, detailing the arguments for and against the historicity of the Nativity accounts.

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It's that Nativity time again!

As I have said before, Holidays are coming, holidays are coming... It's that time of year, you know, the interminable run-up to Christmas when big corporations vie for your hard-earned cash in an attempt to exploit the seasonal goodwill brought on by the imaginary birth of a godmanspirit.

Featured ATP

The Nativity: A Critical Examination

Holidays are coming, holidays are coming... It's that time of year, you know, the interminable run-up to Christmas when big corporations vie for your hard-earned cash in an attempt to exploit the seasonal goodwill brought on by the imaginary birth of a godmanspirit.

Biblical Exegesis

Why return to an ancestral town for a census?

This excerpt is taken from my book, The Nativity: A Critical Examination, and details why Joseph returning to his ancestral town for a census, as according to Luke is a ridiculous idea.

atheism

Me and Koresh vs the Gospel Writers and Jesus

Christian: Why is it more probable that your god exists than man made him up? We have an exceptionally high prior probability that your god is false given that we both believe that every other god claimed to be true (before and after) is false. Thus, on prior probability, the JC God is HIGHLY

Book Reviews

Cracking review of The Nativity: A Critical Examination

I’ve never written a book review before. Occasionally I’ve considered reviewing books and essays I found to be not only interesting, but enjoyable and enlightening. So I’ve decided that once in a while, when I’ve read something I consider really well done, I would write about it here that I might

Jesus

The historicity of the Nativity

Just to topically remind people of my last authored book, on the Nativity, called The Nativity: A Critical Examination. I recently cleared the book up of a few typographical errors and whatnot so that it is looking better than ever. The book is a concise yet comprehensive look at the

Biblical Exegesis

Merry Christmas Everybody - it never happened though, and here's why (and also why we shouldn't believe anything else about Jesus)...

Christmas is upon us, the season of joy and merriment, the season, it seems, of massacres reminding us of other massacres. I have a book out called The Nativity: A Critical Examination, which is available from the sidebar over there. As a result of the book's release this year, I have been doing a n

Debate

It's Christmas - my Nativity Debate

Here's a reminder about my debate with Randal Rauser which took place last year over the historicity of the nativity accounts. Listen in and enjoy! The post from last year. My nativity book is available from the sidebar over there!

Jesus

The Nativity tomorrow night at Southampton University

Be there, or be square. Jonathan Pearce: The Nativity Hi all, This Monday, 2nd December, local skeptic and author Jonathan Pearce will be giving a talk entitled The Nativity: A Critical Examination, based on a book of his of the same name, followed by a Q&A. Jonathan has

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Slaughter of the innocents

Surely both, that the star appeared and the wise men knew to follow it to find the baby Jesus, was a miracle. Can there be any doubt? So why did it lead them to Jerusalem, the wrong town -- and much worse -- to Herod, who only became aware of His rival after the wise men inquired about the new born

Bart Ehrman

Ehrman on the Nativity

This is the sort of stuff I talk about in my book The Nativity: A Critical Examination, available from the sidebar over there on your right! From Bart Ehrman's blog: - Christianity In Antiquity (behind a members only wall):

Speaking Engagements

High Wycombe talk well received

I did my Nativity talk at the Wycombe Skeptics in the Pub (nice boutique beer pub with a menu of beers longer than my arm, both arms).the talk went well, and there were some interesting questions throughout the talk itself. The Q and A was very tangential and went

Gospel of Luke

"Jonathan Pearce Points Out the Many Questions Raised By The Stories of Jesus' Infancy in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke"

Ed Babinski has recently kindly written about my book, The Nativity: A Critical Examination. Here is his post. Thanks, Ed! Jonathan Pearce has composed a book titled, The Nativity: A Critical Examination in which he asks questions like these (to which I have added a few comments myself below-

Biblical Exegesis

Some reflection on my Nativity debate with Randal Rauser

It's been a few months since my radio debate with Randal Rauser on the subject of the reliability of the nativity accounts in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. You can listen to the debate by following the link from here. If you have not listened to it, please let me know what you think.

Biblical Exegesis

How do you solve a problem like Herod?

Over on a previous post and thread, one (Christian) commenter declared that the likes of JP Holding and Jason Engwer had basically dealt with all of the harmonisation issues within the context of the historical problems in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew and their infancy accounts. I will now, as Ra

guns

AAAARRGGGHHH! William Lane Craig does it again. The school massacre sends the message that God provides hope for us...

Oh my cosmos, he does it again. William Lane Craig has moved from the Slaughter of the Canaanites to trying to make sense of the massacre in Connecticut in the context of Christmas. Get ready to scream at the computer screen.