What's New Archive ● 2010 ● March
What's New on the Secular Web?
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March 16, 2010
Added An Agnostic Theology (2010) by Kile Jones to the Agnosticism page under Faith & Reason in the Modern Documents section of the Secular Web Library.
Insofar as theology depends upon revelation, can it possibly be agnostic? Kile Jones argues that an "agnostic theology" is not only not a contradiction in terms, but is an intellectually honest position that allows one to provide reasons for possible belief in God while simultaneously allowing reasons for possible nonbelief in God. Though our tools may be limited, this does not mean that they cannot grasp what is or is not actually there.
March 15, 2010
New in the Kiosk: A Chat with Noah (2010) by Charles Martin Hallé
"On arrival at the pearly gates we were all issued with the standard sandals, seamless white full-length smocks, clip-on halos, strap-on wings and harp, and told to select our personal cloud on which to relax. This not being my idea of fun, I asked for directions and eventually found the unacknowledged Patron Saint of all animals—NOAH. On expressing my admiration to him for the stupendous job he had done in building the Ark and saving all those animals, I was rather taken aback when he commented that the best thing about Heaven was that there were no smelly animals there..."
March 4, 2010
Added An Analysis of Richard Swinburne's The Existence of God (2010) by Gabe Czobel to the Other Theistic Arguments page under Arguments for the Existence of a God, as well as the Christian Apologetics and Apologists page under Richard Swinburne in the Modern Documents section of the Secular Web Library.
On first appearance, Richard Swinburne's The Existence of God offers a highly structured, coherent, and rigorous argument for God's existence grounded in Bayes' theorem, inductive reasoning, confirmation theory, the intrinsic probability of simple hypotheses, substance dualism, and moral realism. But Gabe Czobel questions both the rigor of Swinburne's overall argument, and whether it really yields the conclusion that Swinburne expects the reader to reach. An unsympathetic reader would have difficulty overlooking its major structural flaws, particularly where the argument does not live up to its promise of being grounded in premises undisputed by all. Moreover, it only promises a threadbare deity who is almost robotic in nature, and who offers little assurance of benefit to his adherents in this life or any other.
March 1, 2010
New in the Kiosk: A Review of Gregory Dawes' Theism and Explanation (2010) by Nick Covington
In Theism and Explanation, Gregory Dawes tries to get to the bottom of some very important questions: Could a theistic explanation ever, even in principle, be a good explanation for anything? What would a successful theistic explanation look like? How strong could a theistic explanation be?