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Our selection of books and associated reviews. Each cover is an affiliate link to Amazon for purchase.
Who Was Jesus?
In Who Was Jesus?, G.A. Wells presents a survey of critical scholarly findings on the New Testament, in each case explaining the reasons for the scholars’ conclusions, and describing those issues where scholars still disagree. By lucidly recounting the principles on which New Testament criticism is based, this book enables readers to make up their […]
Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Scientific Critique of the New Creationism
Is Darwinian evolution established fact, or a dogma ready to be overtaken by the next scientific revolution? The intelligent design movement argues the latter. Why Intelligent Design Fails assembles a team of physicists, biologists, computer scientists, mathematicians, and archaeologists to examine intelligent design from a scientific perspective. They consistently find grandiose claims without merit. Contributors […]
A 21st Century Rationalist in Medieval America: Essays on Religion, Science, Morality, and the Bush Administration
Book Description In his new book, A 21st Century Rationalist in Medieval America: Essays on Religion, Science, Morality, and the Bush Administration, (a collection of his newspaper opinion columns–highly critical of religion, faith, and the Bush administration–published between 2002 and 2006), John Bice demonstrates that it is possible to present religious criticism from an unapologetically […]
A Rebel to His Last Breath: Joseph McCabe and Rationalism
A Rebel to His Last Breath is the first biography of Joseph McCabe (1867-1955), a former Catholic priest who became one of the best-known champions and a prolific popularizer of freethought and rationalism in the first half of the twentieth century. McCabe’s encyclopedic curiosity, rigorous scholarship, and unswerving intellectual honesty led him through a tumultuous […]
An Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism
This anthology fills a conspicuous gap in the discussion of religion and theism. The issues that theology addresses, the meaning of life, the existence of God, the truth of the Bible, the possibility of life after death, are so important to people that they ought to examine both sides of these fundamental questions. The atheist […]
Atheism: A Philosophical Justification
A detailed and scholarly justification of atheism. Contains an outstanding appendix defining terminology and usage in this (necessarily) tendentious area. Argues both for “negative atheism” (i.e. the “non-belief in the existence of god(s)”) and also for “positive atheism” (“the belief in the non-existence of god(s)”). Includes great refutations of the most challenging arguments for god.
Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics
This is the most recent and most extensive apologetics reference work ever written. Geisler is a prominent apologist who writes from an Evangelical perspective on virtually every subject conceivable: persons, issues, movements, concepts, arguments of all kinds are all addressed. For secularists who want to know what tunes the Devil is playing, this is the […]
Beyond the Body
Susan Blackmore’s Beyond the Body provides a comprehensive historical overview of out-of-body experience (OBE) research. She surveys anecdotal case studies, including cross-cultural comparisons of OBEs, and concludes that there are no essential experiential differences between spontaneous OBEs and voluntarily-induced OBEs. Blackmore considers how common OBEs are in the population at large, reviews proposed techniques for […]
Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
Widely acclaimed as the most authoritative and accessible one-volume dictionary available in English (and now with translations into Chinese, Korean, Russian, Italian, and Spanish underway) this second edition offers an even richer, more comprehensive, and more up-to-date survey of ideas and thinkers written by an international team of 436 contributors. This second edition includes the […]
Close Encounters With the Religious Right
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C.S. Lewis and the Search for Rational Religion
Book Description C. S. Lewis was one of the most influential Christian apologists of the 20th century. An Oxford don and former atheist who converted to Christianity in 1931, he gained a wide following during the 1940s as the author of a number of popular apologetic books such as Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem […]
Deconstructing Jesus
Arguing that perhaps Jesus never existed as a historical figure, Price maintains an agnostic stance, while putting many puzzles and scholarly debates in a new light. He also incorporates neglected parallels from Islam, the Baha’i Faith, and Buddhism. Deconstructing Jesus provides a valuable bridge between New Testament scholarship and early freethinkers in a refreshing cross-fertilization […]
Does God Exist?
In a lively debate, which includes questions from the audience, Christian philosopher and ethicist J.P. Moreland and Kai Neilsen, one of today’s best-known atheist philosophers, go head to head on the fundamental issues and questions that have shaped individual lives, races, and nations throughout history. After the debate, several contributors from both sides chip in […]
Eternal Hostility : The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy
Frederick Clarkson’s Eternal Hostility provides a chilling road map to a growing movement whose roots go back to the founding days of the country. Clarkson asks the reader to consider what it would be like if having an abortion was punishable by death, if gays and lesbians were thrown into jail, or if our constitutional […]
Faces in the Clouds: A New Theory of Religion
Guthrie proposes that religion is basically an outgrowth of the natural human propensity, probably hardwired in by evolution, to interpret vague or random appearances anthropomorphically. That is, we naturally tend to see faces in clouds or the image of Jesus in a spaghetti ad. This makes perfect sense from an evolutionary viewpoint since it would […]
Forward the Foundation
A stunning testament to ISaac Asimov’s creative genius, Forward The Foundation is a the Foundation saga’s dramatic climax — the story Asimov fans have been waiting for. An exciting tale of danger, intrigue, and suspense, Forward The Foundation brings to vivid life Asimov’s best loved characters: hero Hari Seldon, who struggles to perfect his revolutionary […]
God and Design: The Teleological Argument and Modern Science
This book is a collection of essays by nearly two-dozen different contributors on all sides of the debate about whether the designs of a theistic God are the best explanations for the observations of scientists. The contributors are of the highest quality, including: Michael Behe, William Lane Craig (Does God Exist: The Craig-Flew Debate, and […]
Gospel Fictions
In this slim and readable book, Helms analyzes the most familiar and powerful stories about Jesus, and suggests that the Gospels are works of narrative art, contrived and creative interpretations, the supreme fictions of our culture.
House Of Cards: Psychology and Psychotherapy Built on Myth
A controversial look at the therapy profession today. Noted psychological research scientist Dawes critically examines some of the most cherished clinical assumptions and therapeutic methods now in use. In addition, he takes issue with many of the treatment methods commonly used in therapy practices.
Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Culture
Showalter takes on the history of mass cultural hysteria, from witch hunts to mesmerism, and discusses today’s versions–ranging from chronic fatigue or Gulf War Syndrome to recovered memories–and the attendant publicity.
Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics
The last decade saw the arrival of a new player in the creation/evolution debate–the intelligent design creationism (IDC) movement, whose strategy is to act as “the wedge” to overturn Darwinism and scientific naturalism. This anthology of writings by prominent creationists and their critics focuses on what is novel about the new movement. It serves as […]
James the Brother of Jesus
In a profound and provocative work of scholarly detection, Professor Robert Eisenman establishes James–a figure marginalized in the New Testament–as the leader of all opposition groups in the Jerusalem of his day and spiritual heir–rather than Peter–to his famous brother, Jesus.
Language, Metaphysics, and Death
A collection of essays from various perspectives addressing basic issues inherent in a philosophy of death, exploring themes such as the meaning of death, the nature of the soul, and the prospects for immortality. This second edition includes ten new essays and a new introduction.
Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America and Found Unexpected Peace
Description William Lobdell’s journey of faith—and doubt—may be the most compelling spiritual memoir of our time. Lobdell became a born-again Christian in his late 20s when personal problems–including a failed marriage–drove him to his knees in prayer. As a newly minted evangelical, Lobdell–a veteran journalist–noticed that religion wasn’t covered well in the mainstream media, and […]
Misquoting Jesus : The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why
When world-class biblical scholar Bart Ehrman first began to study the texts of the Bible in their original languages he was startled to discover the multitude of mistakes and intentional alterations that had been made by earlier translators. In Misquoting Jesus, Ehrman tells the story behind the mistakes and changes that ancient scribes made to […]
New Approaches to the Book of Mormon
Mormons believe that the Book of Mormon was revealed to church founder Joseph Smith on gold plates. Brent Lee Metcalfe and other important Mormon researchers present the linguistic, textual, archeological and other evidence which shows that that Book of Mormon was probably written in the 19th century based on the King James Version of the […]
On the True Doctrine: A Discourse Against the Christians
Although the works of many early critics of the Church were burned by Christian emperors or were otherwise destroyed in the second and third centuries, the major work of the Greek philosopher, Celsus, is an exception. His polemical attack on the beliefs and practices of Christianity, On the True Doctrine, written around 178 A.D., is […]
Paul: The Founder of Christianity
New Testament scholar Gerd Lüdemann continues his exploration of the life and teachings of Paul in this groundbreaking monograph, which synthesizes the research of his four previous books on Christianity’s leading apostle. As the subtitle of the present work makes clear, Lüdemann comes to the conclusion that Paul should be considered not only Christianity’s most […]
Quarantine
It all started on November 15, 2034: the night the impenetrable gray shield slid into place around our solar system. Some see the Bubble as the revenge of an insane God. Some see it as justice. Some even see it as protection. But it seems the earth is completely cut off from the universe–until a […]
Religion and Science
Russell recalls the the conflicts between science and traditional religion during the last four centuries. Examining accounts in which scientific advances clashed with Christian doctrine or biblical interpretations of the day, from Galileo and the Copernican Revolution, to the medical breakthroughs of anaesthesia and inoculation, Russell points to the constant upheaval and re-evaluation of our […]
