[ Author Index | Subject Index ]
The Modern Library contains material written during or after 1970, which tends to be more scholarly than Kiosk material.
Paul Obrien Gentle Atheism3
Thomas Aquinas made this argument famous in the 13th century, though Aristotle had his own version of it centuries earlier. This argument appeals to such notions as cause and effect, and it addresses that which can be as confounding as a Zen koan. It seems certain that the world exists and we exist in the […]
Peter Kirby Tomb Improbabilities
Improbabilities in Mark I will start with those objections to the plausibility of the story that have little merit and proceed to those that are more serious. As always, I am not declaring any of these to be insuperable, but I do think that some provide a degree of evidence against the story. It is […]
Quentin Smith Cosmology
Atheism, Theism and Big Bang Cosmology (1991) Quentin Smith The following article was originally published in AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY in March 1991 (Volume 69, No. 1, pp. 48-66). I. Introduction The idea that the big bang theory allows us to infer that the universe began to exist about 15 billion years ago has attracted […]
Ralph Wagenet Response To Drange
The Coherence of God: a response to Theodore M. Drange (2003) Ralph C. Wagenet Theodore M. Drange, in his article Incompatible-Properties Arguments: A Survey (1998), presents a collection of arguments designed to demonstrate that a being with the attributes commonly associated with God cannot exist because the attributes are mutually incompatible. If Drange is […]
Richard Carrier Addendae
Bad Science, Worse Philosophy: the Quackery and Logic-Chopping of David Foster’s The Philosophical Scientists (2000) Addendum E: Zero Entropy Richard Carrier Although there is no such thing as zero entropy in reality, it does exist as a mathematical ideal. In Thermodynamics: Foundations and Applications by Elias P. Gyftopoulos and Gian Paolo Bereth (MacMillan, […]
Richard Carrier Carrier Oconnell Carrier2
Carrier’s First Rebuttal (2008) A Weaker Case Cannot Defeat a Stronger O’Connell makes five arguments. None establish his case. I will treat each in turn, then reiterate my conclusion. 1. Vocabulary Argument O’Connell: Whenever the word “resurrection” (anastasis) occurs in Jewish sources within and around the first century A.D., it always denotes […]
Richard Carrier Carrier Wanchick Jointstatement
What We Are Debating (2006) Welcome to Naturalism vs. Theism: The Carrier-Wanchick Debate. Here Richard and Tom cowrote and approved a joint statement stating as clearly as is reasonable what claims each intends to defend here. JOINT STATEMENT In the present debate Richard Carrier and Tom Wanchick will each be defending a different thesis […]
Richard Carrier Foster3
Bad Science, Worse Philosophy: the Quackery and Logic-Chopping of David Foster’s The Philosophical Scientists (2000) 3. Exercises in Self-Refutation Richard Carrier Some of Foster’s philosophizing can be used against his own position. Chapters 4 and 5, for example, are the only good chapters in the book, in my opinion, though they do not […]
Richard Carrier Improbable Checked
Was Christianity Too Improbable to be False? (2006) [See Introduction] Richard Carrier 13. Would the Facts Be Checked? 13.1 Boiling away the Hyperbole 13.2 Evidence from Acts 13.3 Evidence from Early Apologists 13.4 Conclusion 13.1. Boiling away the Hyperbole Revisiting an earlier argument, James Holding contends that “Christian claims would have been easy to check out […]
Richard Carrier Improbable Responses
Was Christianity Too Improbable to be False? (2006) [See Introduction] Richard Carrier Not the Impossible Faith: Why Christianity Didn’t Need a Miracle to Succeed Now available as a book, fully updated and reorganized. This is the definitive edition of “Was Christianity Too Improbable to Be False?” Even better than online, improved and revised […]
Do Religious Life and Critical Thought Need Each Other?
Richard Carrier [The following article was originally published in the Fall 1996 issue of Inquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines, published by the Institute for Critical Thinking at Montclair State University (Upper Montclair, NJ).] William Reinsmith’s paper “Religious Life and Critical Thought: Do They Need Each Other?” was well written and very communicative, but I […]
Richard Carrier Ought
What an Atheist Ought to Stand For (1999) (Revised 2004) Richard Carrier A Justifiable Lament There is a common and justifiable lament that atheists are so preoccupied by naming and arguing what they are against, that people rarely hear what atheists are for. This is not only heard from the religious critics of […]
Richard Carrier Resurrection 2e
This file has been relocated: it is now Section V of Probability of Survival vs. Miracle: Assessing the Odds.
Richard Carrier Resurrection 3i
This file has been relocated: it is now Section IX of General Case for Spiritual Resurrection: Evidence Against Resurrection of the Flesh.
Richard Carrier Skepsis
Comprehensive Bibliography on Skeptical Thought in the Ancient World (1998) Richard Carrier (copyright 1999) This bibliography is not as complete as I would like. However, it does contain every reference that could be found in every relevant electronic database known to me (and accessible through Columbia University), including everything that could be found in […]
Richard Packham Jsmith
Joseph Smith as a Prophet Richard Packham The Latter-Day Saints (“Mormons”) hold as among the first and most important principles of their religion, on which all the rest is based, that the founder of their church, Joseph Smith Jr. (1805-1844) was literally a prophet of God, if not the greatest prophet ever to have […]
Robert Mcnally Challenge
McNally’s Challenge Robert McNally This is an experiment for Christians (or theists in general) who are in a crisis of faith. Perhaps you’re hanging around atheist areas of Usenet or the Web because you’ve begun to doubt your faith, and are hoping to find something there to push you one way or the other. Well, […]
Robert Price Beyond Born Again Footnote
________________________________________ 143 Beyond Born Again Footnote References Introduction Malcolm Boyd, Christian, Its Meanings in an Age of Future Shock (New York: Hawthorn Bokos, 1975), p. 70. Clark H. Pinnock, Biblical Revelation– The Foundation of Christian Theology (Chicago: Moody Press, 1976), p. 14. Carl F. H. Henry, Frontiers in Modern Theology (Chicago: Moody Press, 1968), pp. […]
Robert Price Price Rankin Price2
Closing Statement Robert M. Price Well, my presentation has not tried to promote a dogma, as some have heard. I think that may be a result of just sort of hearing what you’re used to hearing, perhaps. I don’t mean to preach any notion as infallibly true. I seek in any teaching I do […]
Science Creationism Gish
Duane Gish Duane Gish quote about ER 1470 (1997) (Off Site) by Jim Foley An example of Gish misquoting a scientist. Creationist Arguments: Duane Gish and Wadjak Man (1998) (Off Site) by Jim Foley Gish claimed that Eugène Dubois concealed information on the Wadjak skulls until 30 years after their discovery. Even after being shown […]
The Fool More
The author has requested that he be referred to as “Gaunilo II.” We have therefore moved his files into a new directory. The address for his files is now: /library/modern/gaunilo2/late.html Please update your links. Thank you.
Theism Christianity Criticism
Biblical Criticism Ancient Historical Writing Compared to the Gospels of the New Testament (2016) by Matthew Wade Ferguson Unlike historical writing, the New Testament Gospels read like ancient prose novelistic literature. Outside of Luke, the Gospel authors say nothing about any textual sources for Jesus that they consulted, and even Luke does not name, explain, […]
Theism Debates
Theistic Arguments: Debates These are formal debates between theists and nontheists on topics relating to the theistic arguments: Scripture, Miracles, Design, Cosmological, Moral, Transcendental, and Other. To purchase related reading, go to the Secular Web Book Store. See also Atheism: Debates Argument from Holy Scripture: The Barker-Horner Debate: Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead? […]
Theism Moral Reviews
Moral Argument and Divine Command Theory: Reviews/Critiques "Why I Believe in Moral Absolutes" (1995) from Commentary on D. James Kennedy’s "Why I Believe" by Anachronist Anachronist critiques Chapter 7 of D. James Kennedy’s book, Why I Believe, which makes a "fairly good case, with only a few glaring weaknesses, for the moral system offered by […]
Timm Triplett Horner Triplett Triplett1
Debates: The Horner-Triplett Debate: Mr. Triplett’s Opening Remarks So I’m the local neighborhood atheist. And I think that the theists here tonight should worry too much about the fact that they have a local atheist but they had to fly in Mr. Horner from British Columbia. I think that in spite of the appearance of […]
Tyler Wunder Davis Refs
References Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament. (Doubleday: New York). 1997. Bruce, F.F. Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament (Hodder and Stoughton Limited: Great Britain). 1974. Cavin, Robert Greg. “Is There Sufficient Historical Evidence to Establish the Resurrection of Jesus?” Faith and Philosophy, July 1995. Charlesworth, James. Jesus Within […]
Anachronist Why I Believe
Commentary on D. James Kennedy’s book Why I Believe “Anachronist” D. James Kennedy is the founder of Coral Ridge Ministries in Florida. A television show exists by the same name, although I have not seen it. Dr. Kennedy is an evangelical Christian who has written several books, including Evangelism Explosion and Why I Believe. […]
Bill Schultz O Hair A
O’Hair vs. Huxley – Appendix A The Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia – Agnosticism ***The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Gutenberg Encyclopedia*** !!!Remember. . .the information contained herein is OLD. . .!!! *!!!It reflects the mindset of the turn of the last century!!!* **Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** **Etexts Readable By Both […]
Charles Echelbarger Hume Atheism
Hume’s Tacit Atheism (1975) Charles Echelbarger This article was originally published in Religious Studies, Vol. 2 (1975), pp. 19-35. Reprinted with the permission of Cambridge University Press. For more information, see Cambridge Journals Online. 1. INTRODUCTION A recent paper, ‘Hume’s Immanent God’, (in (1)* by George Nathan, contains an insightful interpretation of Hume’s Dialogues Concerning […]
Dan Barker Barker Horner
“Did Jesus Really Rise From The Dead?” Debate between Michael Horner and Dan Barker. This debate transcript is copyrighted. © Copyright 1996 by Dan Barker and Michael Horner. All rights reserved. Please do not make copies of this transcript for distribution in any form without permission from the copyright owners. The debate was transcribed by […]