When I initially stumbled across Jesus and Muhammad by Mark A. Gabriel I was both curious and skeptical. I was curious to see how Gabriel would handle discussing these two men who represent the world’s largest religions; and I was skeptical, wondering if he would portray them accurately and with fairness. As I read, my curiosity was more than satisfied and my skepticism was … [Read more...]
Absurd Heroism: Camus and the Real Walking Dead
“Most of us would rather die than live a life where nothing is fundamentally valuable at all, right?” So begins Rachel Robinson-Greene’s depressing foray into a post-zombie world in an article entitled “Better Off Undead." I have been blogging my way through The Walking Dead and Philosophy, a fascinating book that has so far addressed issues involving logic (zombies like the … [Read more...]
Introduction to Incarnational Apologetics
There are a lot of ways to “do” apologetics, but from my perspective far too many of the books and educational programs focus on winning debates rather than winning souls for Christ. My friend Paula summarizes this concern well when she writes, My concern is that apologetics, which is by nature a rational sharing of information, has become for some an emotional tool of … [Read more...]
European Witch Hunts and the Christian Church Part 2
This post is part 2 of 3. Part 1 can be read here. The Realities of the Witch Hunts The period of European witch hunts is generally defined as the four centuries between 1400 and 1800. Perhaps in part because of the intriguing, sensational nature of the subject, witch hunts have been blown well out of proportion in terms of their prevalence and victim estimations. According … [Read more...]
Cosmic Beginning And Grousing Of Religious Atheists
The first article of faith in Michael Palmer’s “The Atheist’s Creed” is that he believes, echoing Carl Sagan, that “the cosmos is all that is or ever was and ever will be.” (Palmer 2012:5) “The fact of the matter is that the most reasonable belief is that we came from nothing, by nothing and for nothing” (Smith 1993: 135), so we are told by Quentin Smith. Was Bertrand Russell … [Read more...]
Emergent Christianity in Memphis, Part 2
Emergents are Tolerant, Uncertain, and Relativistic, Except When They are Not In Part 1, I introduced a gathering of Emergent Christians in Memphis to honor Phyllis Tickle, Memphis' resident Emergent, and the forerunner in Emergent thinking. While the first post focused on Tickle's opening talk, and the claims she made in it, this post will focus on her controversial closing … [Read more...]
What is True Christianity(tm)? (part 2)
In my last post, I said that we should bow to the weaker brother and let him have his ritual. If he thinks that we must be baptized by triune immersion in a lake, then let him get baptized that way. If he thinks all Christians should abstain from alcohol, then don’t crack open an ice-cold Corona with a lime wedge in front of him. In the non-essentials of faith, let the … [Read more...]
The Hunger Games: Revisited
Last monthI posted a critique of the movie The Hunger Games. It came to my attention that Fred Edwords posted a short piece at the American Humanist Association's website addressing the general evangelical response to the movie. He linked to my original article and broadly addressed my comparison of the society of The Capital to where today's societies are leading. Mr. Edwords … [Read more...]
The Unembodied Person Objection Answered
One of the objections I've run across in speaking with atheists is the idea that God cannot exist because he's an unembodied mind. All of our experience dictates that persons cannot exist apart from bodies; if the God of traditional theism exists, he is both personal and an unembodied mind; hence, God cannot exist. So any arguments made from natural theology -- the moral … [Read more...]
"A New Kind of Christian" Critique – Part 1
(A three-part series critiquing Brian McLaren's book, A New Kind of Christian) Brian McLaren relays a story of two individuals on a spiritual journey in an attempt to parallel his own experience as a pastor who has become disenchanted with Christianity. His own crisis of faith led him to two alternatives: either practice a version of Christianity that he had reservations … [Read more...]