What's New Archive ● 2006 ● April
What's New on the Secular Web?
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April 22, 2006
Added When Death Comes Knockin', Who Ya Gonna Call? (2006), by David Voron, to the Kiosk.
A Review of Facing Death: Epicurus and His Critics, by James Warren.
April 7, 2006
Added Why I Am Not a Christian (2000) by Keith Parsons to the Biblical Criticism, Biblical Errancy, Resurrection, Christian Worldview, and Why I Am Not a Christian pages, as well as the Christian Apologetics and Apologists pages for William Lane Craig, C.S. Lewis, and Peter Kreeft.
In this explanation of why he is not a Christian, Keith Parsons discusses the role that Christianity has played in perpetuating suffering throughout human history, the bizarre doctrine of inflicting eternal punishment on persons for having the wrong beliefs, the composition, inconsistencies, and absurdities of the New Testament Gospels, William Lane Craig's flawed case for the resurrection of Jesus, the role of legendary development and hallucinations in early Christianity, and C.S. Lewis' weak justifications for the Christian prohibition on premarital sex.
April 4, 2006
The closing statements in the Carrier-Wanchick debate on Naturalism vs. Theism have been posted.
Richard Carrier's closing statement, Wanchick Failed to Make His Case, briefly defends the 7 arguments for naturalism Carrier offered in his opening statement, while concentrating on why the 9 arguments for theism offered in Wanchick's opening statement purportedly fail. Tom Wanchick's closing statement outlines why he thinks Carrier's 7 arguments for naturalism fail. The four independent judges both debaters initially agreed upon now have two weeks to review and assess who won the debate and by how much, and offer their takes on the most significant merits and errors of each side.
April 3, 2006
Corrected Newman on Prophecy as Miracle, part 4D of Review of In Defense of Miracles (1999, 2005) by Richard Carrier.
Though Greeks and Macedonians no longer used chariots in warfare by the time of Alexander, the Persians did resort to them, so the text has been amended to reflect this distinction.
April 2, 2006
Added Misquoting Jesus : The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, by Bart D. Ehrman to the Secular Web Bookstore
World-class biblical scholar Bart Ehrman tells the story behind the mistakes and changes--both accidental and intentional--that ancient scribes made to the New Testament, and he shows the great impact they had upon the Bible we use today. He frames his account with personal reflections on how his study of the Greek manuscripts made him abandon his once ultraconservative views of the Bible.
April 1, 2006
Current Feature: Does The Claim of Jesus' Resurrection Prevail Under the Federal Rules of Evidence? (2002), by Edward Tabash
A critical analysis of Faith on Trial by attorney Pamela Binnings Ewen. Whereas Ewen attempts to show that a trial conducted under the Federal Rules of Evidence would uphold the claim that Jesus was supernaturally resurrected following his execution, Tabash argues that the so-called evidence of Jesus' supernatural resurrection would not be admitted into evidence, thus the jury would not even get to hear it--let alone decide if it were true.
Book-of-the-Month: What Really Happened to Jesus? (1996), by Gerd Lüdeman
This book created a storm of controversy in Europe as soon as it was published. Were the resurrection appearances real physical events--or nothing more than grief-induced hallucinations? What does it mean to say, Jesus rose from the dead? Dissatisfied with what he regarded as evasive answers given by theologians and scholars about the nature of the resurrection of Jesus, Gerd Lüdemann analyzes the story of the empty tomb and the subsequent appearance stories first related by Peter. A great starting book for beginners.
Special Feature: Historical Evidence and the Empty Tomb Story: A Reply to William Lane Craig (2001), by Jeffery Jay Lowder
Lowder provides a point-by-point rebuttal to Craig's case for the empty tomb. Along the way, Lowder defends a naturalistic explanation of the empty tomb. He concludes that historians should be agnostic about the empty tomb story.