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Our selection of books and associated reviews. Each cover is an affiliate link to Amazon for purchase.
A Drop of Reason: Essays from the Secular Web
In 1995, the Secular Web made its debut online with the goal of promoting a naturalist view of reality, without recourse to God or gods or any supernatural realm. Now, thirty years on, the site is still going strong, and during that period it has assembled an impressive collection of scholarly essays from contributors. Now, to commemorate the site's 30th anniversary, we have assembled a number of those essays in book form: A Drop of Reason. Please enjoy this stellar collection of critical thinking.
Where did Everything Come From? A Short Philosophy Novel for Kids (Starring Billy and Bee, Who are Blue and Green)
Join young Billy and Beatrice, squabbling siblings, as they visit imaginary neighborhoods in different time periods, and even blast off into outer space! Engaging with oddball characters like Mr. Whom (a balloon), Mr. Sour Hour (a vulture) and Mr. Darwinkle (a bearded moose), they come to grips with Big Questions, like the nature of God, time, evolution, death, and the biggest question of all: where did everything come from?
Heterodox Hymns: Three Poets, One Purpose
The following works are from three writers who are members of the Internet Infidels Discussion Board (IIDB), which, in affiliation with the Secular Web, promotes a naturalistic world view, free of God or gods and the supernatural. The works in the main are in keeping with the basic idea of metaphysical or methodological naturalism, and the idea that ultimately we are responsible for our own lives, and not beholden to some eye in the sky always watching and judging us.
Killing History: Jesus in the No-Spin Zone
Description Killing Jesus, the bestselling blockbuster by Bill O’Reilly, claims to be a purely historical account of the events in the life of Jesus leading up to his crucifixion. New Testament scholar Robert M. Price (a member of the Jesus Seminar) shows how unfounded this claim is in this critical review of O’Reilly’s work. In […]
God’s Gravediggers: Why No Deity Exists
Description Raymond Bradley is probably the most important atheist you’ve never heard of. 16 years before the release of Richard Dawkin’s The Selfish Gene, Professor Bradley was completing his Ph.D. regarding the theological problem of free will, setting off a long, esteemed and distinguished career. As a veteran professor of philosophy back in 1994–long before […]
The Bad Jesus: The Ethics of New Testament Ethics
Description Did Jesus ever do anything wrong? Judging by the vast majority of books on New Testament ethics, the answer is a resounding “No.” But since the historical Jesus was a human being, must he not have had flaws, like everyone else? According to Avalos, it shows that New Testament ethics is still primarily an […]
The Bible Against Itself: Why the Bible Seems to Contradict Itself
Description All books are written for or against some point of view, and the books of the Bible are no different. Bible book authors were often motivated to write because they wanted to challenge or correct those who had written before them. As Helms explains, The Bible is a war zone, and its authors are […]
What If I’m an Atheist?: A Teen’s Guide to Exploring a Life Without Religion
Description Can you have guidance without God? This thoughtful, one-of-a-kind guide offers answers to all of your questions about atheism and nonbelief. Have you ever wondered what religion and belief mean for your life? Maybe you believe in nothing at all. Does that mean you’re an atheist? What does atheism even mean? Regardless of the […]
God or Godless? One Atheist. One Christian. Twenty Controversial Questions
Description Perhaps the most persistent question in human history is whether or not there is a God. Intelligent people on both sides of the issue have argued, sometimes with deep rancor and bitterness, for generations. The issue can’t be decided by another apologetics book, but the conversation can continue and help each side understand the […]
50 Simple Questions for Every Christian
Description Written in a respectful and conversational style, this unique book is designed to promote constructive dialogue and foster mutual understanding between Christians and non-Christians. The author, a skeptic and journalist, asks basic questions about Christian belief. What is the born-again experience? Why would God want to sacrifice his only son for the world? Do […]
Doubting Jesus’ Resurrection: What Happened in the Black Box? (2nd Edition)
In this outline of what may have given rise to the beliefs and traditions in 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 if Jesus did not rise from the dead, Kris D. Komarnitsky explains why using these verses to support the historical reliability of the Gospels is problematic.
Atheist Universe: The Thinking Person’s Answer to Christian Fundamentalism
New Expanded Edition The world’s best-selling book on atheism just got better. Building upon two years of voluminous reader feedback, David Mills has just revised and expanded Atheist Universe to include all the latest arguments and debate, including detailed rebuttals to the newest Christian books on “Intelligent Design.” The New Edition (published August 28, 2006, […]
Sword of Islam: Muslim Extremists from the Arab Conquests to the Attack on America
Undoubtedly timely and full of fascinating detail, Sword of Islam is a thorough, well-researched, and revealing account of global Islamic terrorism. A military historian, John F. Murphy Jr. traces the intricate interconnections among various terrorist cells, including Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda and its relationship with the Taliban of Afghanistan, the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt, Islamic […]
The Historical Jesus Quest: Landmarks in the Search for the Jesus of History
The possibility of finding reliable information about the life of the historical Jesus has fascinated the imagination of generations of scholars from as early as the seventeenth century. Opinion on the issue has moved in waves, coming and going along with moods of pessimism and optimism. Until now, no one has brought together a comparison of the points of view of the most influential writers about the historical Jesus.
The Historical Jesus Quest brings together substantial extracts from the seminal works in Jesus studies over the last two centuries. The extracts are accompanied by brief introductions to each writer, helpful summaries of the central arguments of the works from which the extracts are taken, and incisive assessments of their continuing relevance to current debates. In one resource, this compendium provides the foundation upon which modern research is based and allows these great scholars—Spinoza, Troeltsch, D. F. Strauss, Wrede, Schweitzer, Kahler, Bultmann, Kasemann, and others—to speak in their own words. It is essential reading for all serious students of the Gospels and of the historical Jesus.
The Historical Jesus Quest brings together substantial extracts from the seminal works in Jesus studies over the last two centuries. The extracts are accompanied by brief introductions to each writer, helpful summaries of the central arguments of the works from which the extracts are taken, and incisive assessments of their continuing relevance to current debates. In one resource, this compendium provides the foundation upon which modern research is based and allows these great scholars—Spinoza, Troeltsch, D. F. Strauss, Wrede, Schweitzer, Kahler, Bultmann, Kasemann, and others—to speak in their own words. It is essential reading for all serious students of the Gospels and of the historical Jesus.
Vision of War
Originally published: 1915 Genre: Poetry Subject: World War, 1914-1918 — Poetry
Physics and Psychics : The Search for a World Beyond the Senses
Editorial Reviews From Book News, Inc. , June 1, 1990 Stenger (physics, U. of Hawaii) critically examines theories of a transcendentreality in terms of what is currently known about matter at its most fundamentallevel. He offers a convincing rebuttal to those who attempt to link physicsto mystical truths.Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or
Friends, Robots, Countrymen (Abridged Audio Cassette)
Isaac Asimov, the modern master of science fiction and fact, and Martin H. Greenberg, a leading anthologist of our time, team together to produce an unprecedented collection of science fiction audio books. This landmark series presents their favorite robot stories from Asimov’s private library, with a personal introduction read by the master himself. This volume […]
Have Space Suit, Will Travel
One minute Kip Russell was walking about in his backyard, testing out an old space suit and dreaming about going to the Moon — and the next he was out cold, the captive of an insidious space pirate. The whole thing seemed like a bad dream until Kip discovered there were other prisoners on board, […]
Howl
Howl came on the American scene during the Beat movement of the late 1950s. Ginsberg’s Howl was to Beat poetry what Kerouac’s On the Road was to Beat literature, proclaiming the subtle malaise that manifested itself among American youth, which eventually led to a full-blown crisis of meaning during the 1960s.
In Discordance With the Scriptures: American Protestant Battles over Translating the Bible
Explores one of the most colorful but least understood phenomena in American religion: controversies over Bible translation. Modern Bible translation controversies arose during the late nineteenth century, when rapid advances in textual criticism and translation seemed to threaten the inherited historical picture of Jesus. Unable to separate the quest for accurate translation from the quest […]
Is Christianity Good for the World?
Description The gloves come off in this rowdy literary bout (originally hosted by, and published in, Christianity Today) as atheist Christopher Hitchens (“one of the beltway’s most respected public intellectuals,” “an intimidating intellectual Goliath”) and Christian apologist Douglas Wilson (“an ultra-conservative pastor from Idaho who looks like a lumberjack”) go head-to-head on this divisive question. […]
Jihad: The Origin of Holy War in Islam
The most up-to-date and detailed historical and linguistic study of the rise and evolution of the concept of “Holy War” within Islam, tracing it to social, theological and pre-Islamic Arabic influences. As a study of a religious and ethical idea, Firestone’s work makes a nice supplement to Paul Fregosi’s Jihad in the West, which covers […]
Life After Death : A History of the Afterlife in Western Religion
A magisterial work of social history, Life After Death illuminates the many different ways ancient civilizations grappled with the question of what exactly happens to us after we die. In a masterful exploration of how Western civilizations have defined the afterlife, Alan F. Segal weaves together biblical and literary scholarship, sociology, history, and philosophy. A […]
Media, Culture, and the Religious Right
As the religious right has increased in both power and visibility, there has been a commensurate growth in the prominence of Christian media. In this important and timely collection, the best minds in media studies, sociology, political science, religious studies, and gay and lesbian studies come together to paint a revealing portrait of conservative Christian […]
Muslim Women Reformers: Inspiring Voices Against Oppression
Description We are dealing with an influential fundamentalist international that has a clear strategy. In order to secure women’s rights, we need a democratic international of women otherwise we have absolutely no chance of conquering this beast. Not only Algerian, but Sudanese, Iranian, and Afghani women know what I am talking about. They know the […]
Not the Impossible Faith: Why Christianity Didn’t Need a Miracle to Succeed
Book Description Not the Impossible Faith is a tour de force, dissecting and refuting the oft-repeated claim that Christianity could not have succeeded in the ancient world unless it were true. Dr. Carrier surveys a whole range of topics regarding the origin of Christianity and its cultural context, demonstrating that its success has entirely natural […]
Other Minds : Critical Essays 1969-1994
Over the past twenty-five years, Thomas Nagel has played a major role in the philosophico-biological debate on subjectivity and consciousness. This extensive collection of published essays and reviews offers Nagel’s opinionated views on the philosophy of mind, epistemology, and political philosophy, as well as on fellow philosophers like Freud, Wittgenstein, Rawls, Dennet, Chomsky, Searle, Nozick, […]
Please Don’t Wish Me a Merry Christmas
Feldman, a professor of law, builds a persuasive case against the “dominant story of the separation of church and state.” The first claim of that story, that “the separation of church and state stands as a constitutional principle that promotes democracy and equally protects the religious liberty of all,” obscures the extent to which the […]
Reading Bayle
Pierre Bayle (1647-1706) has been described by Richard Popkin as the key intellectual figure at the outset of the eighteenth century. Examinations of libraries from the period show him to have been by far the most successful author of the century, and his Historical and Critical Dictionary is in fact the philosophy best-seller of all […]
Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman : The Classic Story
“My soul would be an outlaw,” begins the storyteller in this short tale of the timeless war between Conformity and Rebellion, in the guise of the Master Timekeeper (a.k.a. the Ticktockman) and the renegade Harlequin. In a completely regulated society, where being a minute late here and there shortens your life accordingly, the Ticktockman is […]
