What's New Archive ● 2011 ● July
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July 31, 2011
New in the Kiosk: On the Value of Ontological Arguments (2011) by Tim DeLaney
An ontological argument is one that uses reason and intuition alone to come to a conclusion, most often the conclusion that God exists. Well-known Christian apologists William Lane Craig and Alvin Plantinga use ontological arguments for this very purpose. DeLaney argues, however, that we cannot derive knowledge regarding external reality simply by manipulating words, and that every attempt to generate knowledge must be grounded in empirical observations.
July 15, 2011
New in the Kiosk: Heaven and Hell (2011) by Larry Hohm
In spite of its popularity, the traditional Christian doctrine of heaven and hell is riddled with problems. It implies that God is cruel, unjust, and evil, and it contradicts fundamental Christian doctrines. One does not need to dig very deep to uncover these problems.
July 12, 2011
Added Arguments from Perfection (2011) by Ryan Stringer to the Ontological Arguments page under Theistic Arguments, and to the Logical Arguments page under Atheistic Arguments, in the Modern Documents section of the Secular Web Library.
In this paper Ryan Stringer discusses arguments from perfection, both for and against the existence of God. He begins with a simple argument from perfection for the existence of God and argues that it is unsuccessful. Then he defends two kinds of arguments from perfection against the existence of God. The first ones are inductive and thus present atheism as a tentative conclusion, while the second one is deductive and thus purports to conclusively demonstrate atheism based on the logical inconsistency between God's existence and the imperfect world in which we live.
July 5, 2011
New in the Bookstore: The Case Against the Case for Christ: A New Testament Scholar Refutes the Reverend Lee Strobel (2010) by Robert M. Price.
New Testament scholar Robert M. Price has taken umbrage at the cavalier manner in which Rev. Lee Strobel has misrepresented the field of Bible scholarship in his book The Case for Christ. Price exposes and refutes Strobel's arguments chapter-by-chapter. In doing so he decimates the entire field of Christian apologetics as summarized by Strobel.