STRANGE NOTIONSGODMANATHEISMMORALITYSCIENCECULTURE by Dr. Randal RauserFiled under Uncategorized. The heart and foundation of Christianity is belief in a God who is worthy of worship: in the words of Anselm, that being than which none greater can be conceived. And so, when the Bible depicts God as acting in a manner that appears to be less-than-perfect, this creates a challenge

for the

THE ATHEIST ORTHODOXY THAT DROVE ME TO FAITH : STRANGE NOTIONS The Atheist Orthodoxy that Drove Me to Faith. Last Easter, when I was just beginning to explore the possibility that, despite what I had previously believed and been brought up to believe, there might be something to the Catholic faith, I read Letters to a Young Catholic by George Weigel. One passage in particular struck me. THE PRINCIPLE OF NON-CONTRADICTION’S INCREDIBLE Thomism’s metaphysical first principle of non-contradiction (PNC) reads, “Being cannot both be and not be at the same time and in the same respect.” Its sister first principles are those of identity and excluded middle. Its logical form reads, “The same predicate cannot be affirmed and denied of the RICHARD DAWKINS AND THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT : STRANGE Dawkins lists a number of objectionable Old Testament scenes, ending with God's command to massacre the Midianites ( Num 31:17-18 ), Joshua's putting all of the inhabitants of Jericho to the sword ( Josh 6:21 ), and God's "rules" for waging holy war in Canaan ( Dt 20:10-18 ). In regard to the last two, he remarks, "the Bible story of Joshua's HOW THE WORLD’S MOST NOTORIOUS ATHEIST CHANGED HIS MIND EDITOR'S NOTE: For the last half of the twentieth century, Antony Flew (1923-2010) was the world's most famous atheist. Long before Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris began taking swipes at religion, Flew was the preeminent spokesman for unbelief. However in

2004, he shocked th

THE VERY SAD CHILDFREE LIFE : STRANGE NOTIONS Time Magazine's recent cover story "The Childfree Life" has generated a good deal of controversy and commentary. The photo that graces the cover of the edition pretty much sums up the argument: a young, fit couple lounge languidly on a beach and gaze up at the camera with blissful smiles—and n AN ATHEIST HISTORIAN EXAMINES THE EVIDENCE FOR JESUS (PART An Atheist Historian Examines the Evidence for Jesus (Part 1 of 2) Scholars who specialize in the origins of Christianity agree on very little, but they do generally agree that it is most likely that a historical preacher, on whom the Christian figure "Jesus Christ" is based, did exist. The numbers of professional scholars, out of the

many

HOW DO ATHEISTS DEFINE LOVE? : STRANGE NOTIONS When I love a friend, as a Christian, I mean, “I love you, body and soul.”. But for an atheist, friendship is an evolved behavior related to living in a pack or herd or tribe. At root it has to do with self-protection and food acquisition. I'd be interested in hearing how other atheists, besides Dawkins, would describe “love”

to

THE SINGLE BEST ARGUMENT AGAINST PHILOSOPHICAL MATERIALISM An argument from the resurrection of Jesus remains implausible because their worldview fundamentally excludes this sort of event. In light of this, I'd like to engage one popular form of this worldview, namely philosophical materialism. Thus here’s my dilemma for materialists: 1. Either subjective experience, in its capacity as subjective CAN DARWINISM SURVIVE WITHOUT TELEOLOGY? : STRANGE NOTIONS The assumption of a Creator would explain that the universe exists and is what it is; and the assumption of a cosmic design would explain why the universe is this way. In that sense, even Darwinism needs some Divine Help—whether its fans like it or not. There is no way Darwinism could survive without teleology. STRANGE NOTIONSGODMANATHEISMMORALITYSCIENCECULTURE by Dr. Randal RauserFiled under Uncategorized. The heart and foundation of Christianity is belief in a God who is worthy of worship: in the words of Anselm, that being than which none greater can be conceived. And so, when the Bible depicts God as acting in a manner that appears to be less-than-perfect, this creates a challenge

for the

THE ATHEIST ORTHODOXY THAT DROVE ME TO FAITH : STRANGE NOTIONS The Atheist Orthodoxy that Drove Me to Faith. Last Easter, when I was just beginning to explore the possibility that, despite what I had previously believed and been brought up to believe, there might be something to the Catholic faith, I read Letters to a Young Catholic by George Weigel. One passage in particular struck me. THE PRINCIPLE OF NON-CONTRADICTION’S INCREDIBLE Thomism’s metaphysical first principle of non-contradiction (PNC) reads, “Being cannot both be and not be at the same time and in the same respect.” Its sister first principles are those of identity and excluded middle. Its logical form reads, “The same predicate cannot be affirmed and denied of the RICHARD DAWKINS AND THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT : STRANGE Dawkins lists a number of objectionable Old Testament scenes, ending with God's command to massacre the Midianites ( Num 31:17-18 ), Joshua's putting all of the inhabitants of Jericho to the sword ( Josh 6:21 ), and God's "rules" for waging holy war in Canaan ( Dt 20:10-18 ). In regard to the last two, he remarks, "the Bible story of Joshua's HOW THE WORLD’S MOST NOTORIOUS ATHEIST CHANGED HIS MIND EDITOR'S NOTE: For the last half of the twentieth century, Antony Flew (1923-2010) was the world's most famous atheist. Long before Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris began taking swipes at religion, Flew was the preeminent spokesman for unbelief. However in

2004, he shocked th

THE VERY SAD CHILDFREE LIFE : STRANGE NOTIONS Time Magazine's recent cover story "The Childfree Life" has generated a good deal of controversy and commentary. The photo that graces the cover of the edition pretty much sums up the argument: a young, fit couple lounge languidly on a beach and gaze up at the camera with blissful smiles—and n AN ATHEIST HISTORIAN EXAMINES THE EVIDENCE FOR JESUS (PART An Atheist Historian Examines the Evidence for Jesus (Part 1 of 2) Scholars who specialize in the origins of Christianity agree on very little, but they do generally agree that it is most likely that a historical preacher, on whom the Christian figure "Jesus Christ" is based, did exist. The numbers of professional scholars, out of the

many

HOW DO ATHEISTS DEFINE LOVE? : STRANGE NOTIONS When I love a friend, as a Christian, I mean, “I love you, body and soul.”. But for an atheist, friendship is an evolved behavior related to living in a pack or herd or tribe. At root it has to do with self-protection and food acquisition. I'd be interested in hearing how other atheists, besides Dawkins, would describe “love”

to

THE SINGLE BEST ARGUMENT AGAINST PHILOSOPHICAL MATERIALISM An argument from the resurrection of Jesus remains implausible because their worldview fundamentally excludes this sort of event. In light of this, I'd like to engage one popular form of this worldview, namely philosophical materialism. Thus here’s my dilemma for materialists: 1. Either subjective experience, in its capacity as subjective CAN DARWINISM SURVIVE WITHOUT TELEOLOGY? : STRANGE NOTIONS The assumption of a Creator would explain that the universe exists and is what it is; and the assumption of a cosmic design would explain why the universe is this way. In that sense, even Darwinism needs some Divine Help—whether its fans like it or not. There is no way Darwinism could survive without teleology. THE ATHEIST ORTHODOXY THAT DROVE ME TO FAITH : STRANGE NOTIONS The Atheist Orthodoxy that Drove Me to Faith. Last Easter, when I was just beginning to explore the possibility that, despite what I had previously believed and been brought up to believe, there might be something to the Catholic faith, I read Letters to a Young Catholic by George Weigel. One passage in particular struck me. THE SCIENCE OF MIRACLES : STRANGE NOTIONS The doctor need not believe in miracles, the doctor need not be Roman Catholic, nor even a Christian – but the doctor must fill two absolutely essential roles. The first role is to declare the prognosis hopeless even with the best of the art. This rigorous duty is built into the drama of every final illness. REFUTING THE MYTH THEORY: 6 REASONS WHY THE RESURRECTION Many non-Christians assert that the Gospel accounts of Jesus' death and resurrection are simply myths, much like the stories we find among the Greeks and the Norse. But here are six reasons the "myth" theory does not hold: (1) The style of the Gospels is radically and clearly different from the style of all the myths. TIM O’NEILL : STRANGE NOTIONS Tim O'Neill is an atheist blogger who specializes in reviews of books on ancient and medieval history as well as atheism and historiography. He holds a Master of Arts in Medieval Literature from the University of Tasmania and is a subscribing member of the Australian HOW CHRISTIANS—NOT THE “ENLIGHTENMENT”—LAUNCHED THE AGE OF How Christians—Not the “Enlightenment”—Launched the Age of Reason. As we all know, and as many of our well established textbooks have argued for decades, the Dark Ages were a stunting of intellectual progress to be redeemed only by the secular spirit of the Enlightenment. The Inquisition was one of the most frightening and

bloody

MARC BARNES : STRANGE NOTIONS Marc Barnes is an English major at The Franciscan University of Steubenville. He writes at Patheos.com for the Catholic Channel, focusing on bringing Catholicism to secular culture through natural law, humor, and ADD-powered philosophical outbursts. He recently created and released the website 1flesh.org with some friends, a

grassroots movement

WAS JESUS A ROMAN FICTION? : STRANGE NOTIONS According to the press release, Atwill is planning to explain his theory that Jesus Christ never lived. Atwill is a mythicist—a person who claims that Jesus is a myth, not a historical figure. According to Atwill’s version of mythicism, Jesus is a fictional character that was invented by the Roman emperor (s) and the circle around them. DOES SCIENCE MAKE GOD IRRELEVANT? : STRANGE NOTIONS Does God still matter? This is the question that seems to be at the heart of the modern debate about God’s existence. Many unbelievers who label themselves agnostic-atheists do not claim definitively that God does not exist. They take the softer position that God probably does not exist, and even if he does exist, he is irrelevant in explaining the universe. WHY HISTORY ISN’T SCIENTIFIC (AND WHY IT CAN STILL TELL US Why History isn’t Scientific (And Why it Can Still Tell Us About the Past) In April last year, Grundy, the author of the Deity Shmeity blog, wrote a post titled "History Isn't My Area". He commented on the release of Bart Ehrman's critique of Mythicism, Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth . IS THE MODAL ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT FOR GOD A SOUND PROOF Over the coming weeks, instead of exclusively posting articles asserting and defending a particular view, we'd also like to feature open-ended discussion posts that lay on the table a popular argument for or against God and then invite us to discuss it together, as a community, in the comment boxes. STRANGE NOTIONSGODMANATHEISMMORALITYSCIENCECULTURE by Dr. Randal RauserFiled under Uncategorized. The heart and foundation of Christianity is belief in a God who is worthy of worship: in the words of Anselm, that being than which none greater can be conceived. And so, when the Bible depicts God as acting in a manner that appears to be less-than-perfect, this creates a challenge

for the

HOW DO ATHEISTS DEFINE LOVE? : STRANGE NOTIONS When I love a friend, as a Christian, I mean, “I love you, body and soul.”. But for an atheist, friendship is an evolved behavior related to living in a pack or herd or tribe. At root it has to do with self-protection and food acquisition. I'd be interested in hearing how other atheists, besides Dawkins, would describe “love”

to

DR. CHRISTOPHER BAGLOW : STRANGE NOTIONS Dr. Christopher Baglow has a B.A. in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville, an M.A. in Theology from the University of Dallas, and a Ph.D. in Theology from Duquesne University. In July 2009 he began a full-time position at Notre Dame Seminary, where he now serves as Professor of Theology and Director of the Master of Arts

Program

STEPHEN BULLIVANT : STRANGE NOTIONS NOTE: The following post is an excerpt from the recently released Oxford Handbook of Atheism (Oxford University Press, 2013), co-edited by atheist philosopher Michael Ruse and Catholic theologian, and Strange Notions contributor, Dr. Stephen Bullivant. HOW CHRISTIANS—NOT THE “ENLIGHTENMENT”—LAUNCHED THE AGE OF How Christians—Not the “Enlightenment”—Launched the Age of Reason. As we all know, and as many of our well established textbooks have argued for decades, the Dark Ages were a stunting of intellectual progress to be redeemed only by the secular spirit of the Enlightenment. The Inquisition was one of the most frightening and

bloody

ARE BABIES ATHEISTS? : STRANGE NOTIONSSEE MORE ON STRANGENOTIONS.COM REFUTING THE MYTH THEORY: 6 REASONS WHY THE RESURRECTION Many non-Christians assert that the Gospel accounts of Jesus' death and resurrection are simply myths, much like the stories we find among the Greeks and the Norse. But here are six reasons the "myth" theory does not hold: (1) The style of the Gospels is radically and clearly different from the style of all the myths. AN ATHEIST HISTORIAN EXAMINES THE EVIDENCE FOR JESUS (PART An Atheist Historian Examines the Evidence for Jesus (Part 1 of 2) Scholars who specialize in the origins of Christianity agree on very little, but they do generally agree that it is most likely that a historical preacher, on whom the Christian figure "Jesus Christ" is based, did exist. The numbers of professional scholars, out of the

many

CAN DARWINISM SURVIVE WITHOUT TELEOLOGY? : STRANGE NOTIONS The assumption of a Creator would explain that the universe exists and is what it is; and the assumption of a cosmic design would explain why the universe is this way. In that sense, even Darwinism needs some Divine Help—whether its fans like it or not. There is no way Darwinism could survive without teleology. AN ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN CHRISTIANITY TO ATHEISTS IN A MANNER Between being told that Christianity is a system of oppression, a complex way to justify burning with hatred over the existence of gay people, and a general failure of the human intellect, I begin to suspect that few people know why Christians exist at all. This is my attempt to explain why I am a C STRANGE NOTIONSGODMANATHEISMMORALITYSCIENCECULTURE by Dr. Randal RauserFiled under Uncategorized. The heart and foundation of Christianity is belief in a God who is worthy of worship: in the words of Anselm, that being than which none greater can be conceived. And so, when the Bible depicts God as acting in a manner that appears to be less-than-perfect, this creates a challenge

for the

HOW DO ATHEISTS DEFINE LOVE? : STRANGE NOTIONS When I love a friend, as a Christian, I mean, “I love you, body and soul.”. But for an atheist, friendship is an evolved behavior related to living in a pack or herd or tribe. At root it has to do with self-protection and food acquisition. I'd be interested in hearing how other atheists, besides Dawkins, would describe “love”

to

DR. CHRISTOPHER BAGLOW : STRANGE NOTIONS Dr. Christopher Baglow has a B.A. in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville, an M.A. in Theology from the University of Dallas, and a Ph.D. in Theology from Duquesne University. In July 2009 he began a full-time position at Notre Dame Seminary, where he now serves as Professor of Theology and Director of the Master of Arts

Program

STEPHEN BULLIVANT : STRANGE NOTIONS NOTE: The following post is an excerpt from the recently released Oxford Handbook of Atheism (Oxford University Press, 2013), co-edited by atheist philosopher Michael Ruse and Catholic theologian, and Strange Notions contributor, Dr. Stephen Bullivant. HOW CHRISTIANS—NOT THE “ENLIGHTENMENT”—LAUNCHED THE AGE OF How Christians—Not the “Enlightenment”—Launched the Age of Reason. As we all know, and as many of our well established textbooks have argued for decades, the Dark Ages were a stunting of intellectual progress to be redeemed only by the secular spirit of the Enlightenment. The Inquisition was one of the most frightening and

bloody

ARE BABIES ATHEISTS? : STRANGE NOTIONSSEE MORE ON STRANGENOTIONS.COM REFUTING THE MYTH THEORY: 6 REASONS WHY THE RESURRECTION Many non-Christians assert that the Gospel accounts of Jesus' death and resurrection are simply myths, much like the stories we find among the Greeks and the Norse. But here are six reasons the "myth" theory does not hold: (1) The style of the Gospels is radically and clearly different from the style of all the myths. AN ATHEIST HISTORIAN EXAMINES THE EVIDENCE FOR JESUS (PART An Atheist Historian Examines the Evidence for Jesus (Part 1 of 2) Scholars who specialize in the origins of Christianity agree on very little, but they do generally agree that it is most likely that a historical preacher, on whom the Christian figure "Jesus Christ" is based, did exist. The numbers of professional scholars, out of the

many

CAN DARWINISM SURVIVE WITHOUT TELEOLOGY? : STRANGE NOTIONS The assumption of a Creator would explain that the universe exists and is what it is; and the assumption of a cosmic design would explain why the universe is this way. In that sense, even Darwinism needs some Divine Help—whether its fans like it or not. There is no way Darwinism could survive without teleology. AN ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN CHRISTIANITY TO ATHEISTS IN A MANNER Between being told that Christianity is a system of oppression, a complex way to justify burning with hatred over the existence of gay people, and a general failure of the human intellect, I begin to suspect that few people know why Christians exist at all. This is my attempt to explain why I am a C HOW CHRISTIANS—NOT THE “ENLIGHTENMENT”—LAUNCHED THE AGE OF How Christians—Not the “Enlightenment”—Launched the Age of Reason. As we all know, and as many of our well established textbooks have argued for decades, the Dark Ages were a stunting of intellectual progress to be redeemed only by the secular spirit of the Enlightenment. The Inquisition was one of the most frightening and

bloody

FOUR REASONS I THINK JESUS REALLY EXISTED : STRANGE NOTIONS A small handful of scholars today, and a much larger group of Internet commenters, maintain that Jesus never existed. Proponents of this position, known as mythicists, claim that Jesus is a purely mythical figure invented by the writers of the New Testament (or its later copyists.)In this post I’ll offer the top four reasons (from weakest to strongest) that convince me Jesus of Nazareth was FR. ANDREW PINSENT : STRANGE NOTIONS A Digital Areopagus // Reason. Faith. Dialogue. About Fr. Andrew Pinsent. Fr. Andrew Pinsent is Research Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion at Oxford University, a Research Fellow of Harris Manchester College and a member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at Oxford. AN ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN CHRISTIANITY TO ATHEISTS IN A MANNER Between being told that Christianity is a system of oppression, a complex way to justify burning with hatred over the existence of gay people, and a general failure of the human intellect, I begin to suspect that few people know why Christians exist at all. This is my attempt to explain why I am a C AN ATHEIST HISTORIAN EXAMINES THE EVIDENCE FOR JESUS (PART An Atheist Historian Examines the Evidence for Jesus (Part 1 of 2) Scholars who specialize in the origins of Christianity agree on very little, but they do generally agree that it is most likely that a historical preacher, on whom the Christian figure "Jesus Christ" is based, did exist. The numbers of professional scholars, out of the

many

ARE THE GOSPELS A MYTH? : STRANGE NOTIONS One of the most common pronouncements by the atheists is that “Christianity is a myth.” In one sense they are correct. The gospel story does operate like a myth. However, most of the atheists making this comment do not seem to have a very knowledgeable understanding of myth and how it works. They do DOES SCIENCE MAKE GOD IRRELEVANT? : STRANGE NOTIONS Does God still matter? This is the question that seems to be at the heart of the modern debate about God’s existence. Many unbelievers who label themselves agnostic-atheists do not claim definitively that God does not exist. They take the softer position that God probably does not exist, and even if he does exist, he is irrelevant in explaining the universe. RICHARD DAWKINS AND THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT : STRANGE Dawkins lists a number of objectionable Old Testament scenes, ending with God's command to massacre the Midianites ( Num 31:17-18 ), Joshua's putting all of the inhabitants of Jericho to the sword ( Josh 6:21 ), and God's "rules" for waging holy war in Canaan ( Dt 20:10-18 ). In regard to the last two, he remarks, "the Bible story of Joshua's 5 POSSIBLE THEORIES THAT EXPLAIN THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS NOTE: Christians around the world celebrated Good Friday and Easter last week, which commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.Thus we began a six-part series on these events by Dr. Peter Kreeft in which he examines each of the plausible theories attempting to explain what happened to Jesus at the end of his life, particularly whether he rose from the dead. THE TOP 5 PROBLEMS WITH CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS And so, without further ado, I will now count down the top five problems with contemporary Christian apologetics. 5. Lack of imagination. I’ve touched on this problem before in the article “ Apologetics and the Problem of the William Lane Craig Clones .”. The basic problem is that there is an inordinate focus on a limited set of

arguments

STRANGE NOTIONSGODMANATHEISMMORALITYSCIENCECULTURE by Dr. Randal RauserFiled under Uncategorized. The heart and foundation of Christianity is belief in a God who is worthy of worship: in the words of Anselm, that being than which none greater can be conceived. And so, when the Bible depicts God as acting in a manner that appears to be less-than-perfect, this creates a challenge

for the

HOW DO ATHEISTS DEFINE LOVE? : STRANGE NOTIONS When I love a friend, as a Christian, I mean, “I love you, body and soul.”. But for an atheist, friendship is an evolved behavior related to living in a pack or herd or tribe. At root it has to do with self-protection and food acquisition. I'd be interested in hearing how other atheists, besides Dawkins, would describe “love”

to

HOW CHRISTIANS—NOT THE “ENLIGHTENMENT”—LAUNCHED THE AGE OF How Christians—Not the “Enlightenment”—Launched the Age of Reason. As we all know, and as many of our well established textbooks have argued for decades, the Dark Ages were a stunting of intellectual progress to be redeemed only by the secular spirit of the Enlightenment. The Inquisition was one of the most frightening and

bloody

STEPHEN BULLIVANT : STRANGE NOTIONS Dr. Stephen Bullivant is Senior Lecturer in Theology and Ethics at St Mary's University, England. A former atheist, he studied philosophy and theology at Oxford University, and converted to Catholicism while completing his doctorate on Vatican II and the salvation of unbelievers. In 2010, he was the first non-American to receive the

"LaCugna

ARE BABIES ATHEISTS? : STRANGE NOTIONSSEE MORE ON STRANGENOTIONS.COM THE 6 VARIETIES OF ATHEISM (AND WHICH ARE MOST DEFENSIBLE 3. Religious belief is still intellectually defensible today, but not as defensible as atheism. An intelligent and well-informed person could be persuaded by the arguments presented by the most sophisticated contemporary proponents of a religion, but the arguments

of

REFUTING THE MYTH THEORY: 6 REASONS WHY THE RESURRECTION Many non-Christians assert that the Gospel accounts of Jesus' death and resurrection are simply myths, much like the stories we find among the Greeks and the Norse. But here are six reasons the "myth" theory does not hold: (1) The style of the Gospels is radically and clearly different from the style of all the myths. AN ATHEIST HISTORIAN EXAMINES THE EVIDENCE FOR JESUS (PART An Atheist Historian Examines the Evidence for Jesus (Part 1 of 2) Scholars who specialize in the origins of Christianity agree on very little, but they do generally agree that it is most likely that a historical preacher, on whom the Christian figure "Jesus Christ" is based, did exist. The numbers of professional scholars, out of the

many

CAN DARWINISM SURVIVE WITHOUT TELEOLOGY? : STRANGE NOTIONS The assumption of a Creator would explain that the universe exists and is what it is; and the assumption of a cosmic design would explain why the universe is this way. In that sense, even Darwinism needs some Divine Help—whether its fans like it or not. There is no way Darwinism could survive without teleology. AN ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN CHRISTIANITY TO ATHEISTS IN A MANNER Between being told that Christianity is a system of oppression, a complex way to justify burning with hatred over the existence of gay people, and a general failure of the human intellect, I begin to suspect that few people know why Christians exist at all. This is my attempt to explain why I am a C STRANGE NOTIONSGODMANATHEISMMORALITYSCIENCECULTURE by Dr. Randal RauserFiled under Uncategorized. The heart and foundation of Christianity is belief in a God who is worthy of worship: in the words of Anselm, that being than which none greater can be conceived. And so, when the Bible depicts God as acting in a manner that appears to be less-than-perfect, this creates a challenge

for the

HOW DO ATHEISTS DEFINE LOVE? : STRANGE NOTIONS When I love a friend, as a Christian, I mean, “I love you, body and soul.”. But for an atheist, friendship is an evolved behavior related to living in a pack or herd or tribe. At root it has to do with self-protection and food acquisition. I'd be interested in hearing how other atheists, besides Dawkins, would describe “love”

to

HOW CHRISTIANS—NOT THE “ENLIGHTENMENT”—LAUNCHED THE AGE OF How Christians—Not the “Enlightenment”—Launched the Age of Reason. As we all know, and as many of our well established textbooks have argued for decades, the Dark Ages were a stunting of intellectual progress to be redeemed only by the secular spirit of the Enlightenment. The Inquisition was one of the most frightening and

bloody

STEPHEN BULLIVANT : STRANGE NOTIONS Dr. Stephen Bullivant is Senior Lecturer in Theology and Ethics at St Mary's University, England. A former atheist, he studied philosophy and theology at Oxford University, and converted to Catholicism while completing his doctorate on Vatican II and the salvation of unbelievers. In 2010, he was the first non-American to receive the

"LaCugna

ARE BABIES ATHEISTS? : STRANGE NOTIONSSEE MORE ON STRANGENOTIONS.COM THE 6 VARIETIES OF ATHEISM (AND WHICH ARE MOST DEFENSIBLE 3. Religious belief is still intellectually defensible today, but not as defensible as atheism. An intelligent and well-informed person could be persuaded by the arguments presented by the most sophisticated contemporary proponents of a religion, but the arguments

of

REFUTING THE MYTH THEORY: 6 REASONS WHY THE RESURRECTION Many non-Christians assert that the Gospel accounts of Jesus' death and resurrection are simply myths, much like the stories we find among the Greeks and the Norse. But here are six reasons the "myth" theory does not hold: (1) The style of the Gospels is radically and clearly different from the style of all the myths. AN ATHEIST HISTORIAN EXAMINES THE EVIDENCE FOR JESUS (PART An Atheist Historian Examines the Evidence for Jesus (Part 1 of 2) Scholars who specialize in the origins of Christianity agree on very little, but they do generally agree that it is most likely that a historical preacher, on whom the Christian figure "Jesus Christ" is based, did exist. The numbers of professional scholars, out of the

many

CAN DARWINISM SURVIVE WITHOUT TELEOLOGY? : STRANGE NOTIONS The assumption of a Creator would explain that the universe exists and is what it is; and the assumption of a cosmic design would explain why the universe is this way. In that sense, even Darwinism needs some Divine Help—whether its fans like it or not. There is no way Darwinism could survive without teleology. AN ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN CHRISTIANITY TO ATHEISTS IN A MANNER Between being told that Christianity is a system of oppression, a complex way to justify burning with hatred over the existence of gay people, and a general failure of the human intellect, I begin to suspect that few people know why Christians exist at all. This is my attempt to explain why I am a C HOW CHRISTIANS—NOT THE “ENLIGHTENMENT”—LAUNCHED THE AGE OF How Christians—Not the “Enlightenment”—Launched the Age of Reason. As we all know, and as many of our well established textbooks have argued for decades, the Dark Ages were a stunting of intellectual progress to be redeemed only by the secular spirit of the Enlightenment. The Inquisition was one of the most frightening and

bloody

FOUR REASONS I THINK JESUS REALLY EXISTED : STRANGE NOTIONS A small handful of scholars today, and a much larger group of Internet commenters, maintain that Jesus never existed. Proponents of this position, known as mythicists, claim that Jesus is a purely mythical figure invented by the writers of the New Testament (or its later copyists.)In this post I’ll offer the top four reasons (from weakest to strongest) that convince me Jesus of Nazareth was FR. ANDREW PINSENT : STRANGE NOTIONS A Digital Areopagus // Reason. Faith. Dialogue. About Fr. Andrew Pinsent. Fr. Andrew Pinsent is Research Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion at Oxford University, a Research Fellow of Harris Manchester College and a member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at Oxford. AN ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN CHRISTIANITY TO ATHEISTS IN A MANNER Between being told that Christianity is a system of oppression, a complex way to justify burning with hatred over the existence of gay people, and a general failure of the human intellect, I begin to suspect that few people know why Christians exist at all. This is my attempt to explain why I am a C AN ATHEIST HISTORIAN EXAMINES THE EVIDENCE FOR JESUS (PART An Atheist Historian Examines the Evidence for Jesus (Part 1 of 2) Scholars who specialize in the origins of Christianity agree on very little, but they do generally agree that it is most likely that a historical preacher, on whom the Christian figure "Jesus Christ" is based, did exist. The numbers of professional scholars, out of the

many

ARE THE GOSPELS A MYTH? : STRANGE NOTIONS One of the most common pronouncements by the atheists is that “Christianity is a myth.” In one sense they are correct. The gospel story does operate like a myth. However, most of the atheists making this comment do not seem to have a very knowledgeable understanding of myth and how it works. They do DOES SCIENCE MAKE GOD IRRELEVANT? : STRANGE NOTIONS Does God still matter? This is the question that seems to be at the heart of the modern debate about God’s existence. Many unbelievers who label themselves agnostic-atheists do not claim definitively that God does not exist. They take the softer position that God probably does not exist, and even if he does exist, he is irrelevant in explaining the universe. RICHARD DAWKINS AND THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT : STRANGE Dawkins lists a number of objectionable Old Testament scenes, ending with God's command to massacre the Midianites ( Num 31:17-18 ), Joshua's putting all of the inhabitants of Jericho to the sword ( Josh 6:21 ), and God's "rules" for waging holy war in Canaan ( Dt 20:10-18 ). In regard to the last two, he remarks, "the Bible story of Joshua's 5 POSSIBLE THEORIES THAT EXPLAIN THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS NOTE: Christians around the world celebrated Good Friday and Easter last week, which commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.Thus we began a six-part series on these events by Dr. Peter Kreeft in which he examines each of the plausible theories attempting to explain what happened to Jesus at the end of his life, particularly whether he rose from the dead. THE TOP 5 PROBLEMS WITH CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS And so, without further ado, I will now count down the top five problems with contemporary Christian apologetics. 5. Lack of imagination. I’ve touched on this problem before in the article “ Apologetics and the Problem of the William Lane Craig Clones .”. The basic problem is that there is an inordinate focus on a limited set of

arguments

STRANGE NOTIONSGODMANATHEISMMORALITYSCIENCECULTURE by Dr. Randal RauserFiled under Uncategorized. The heart and foundation of Christianity is belief in a God who is worthy of worship: in the words of Anselm, that being than which none greater can be conceived. And so, when the Bible depicts God as acting in a manner that appears to be less-than-perfect, this creates a challenge

for the

HOW CHRISTIANS—NOT THE “ENLIGHTENMENT”—LAUNCHED THE AGE OF How Christians—Not the “Enlightenment”—Launched the Age of Reason. As we all know, and as many of our well established textbooks have argued for decades, the Dark Ages were a stunting of intellectual progress to be redeemed only by the secular spirit of the Enlightenment. The Inquisition was one of the most frightening and

bloody

HOW DO ATHEISTS DEFINE LOVE? : STRANGE NOTIONS When I love a friend, as a Christian, I mean, “I love you, body and soul.”. But for an atheist, friendship is an evolved behavior related to living in a pack or herd or tribe. At root it has to do with self-protection and food acquisition. I'd be interested in hearing how other atheists, besides Dawkins, would describe “love”

to

AN ATHEIST HISTORIAN EXAMINES THE EVIDENCE FOR JESUS (PART An Atheist Historian Examines the Evidence for Jesus (Part 1 of 2) Scholars who specialize in the origins of Christianity agree on very little, but they do generally agree that it is most likely that a historical preacher, on whom the Christian figure "Jesus Christ" is based, did exist. The numbers of professional scholars, out of the

many

WAS JESUS A ROMAN FICTION? : STRANGE NOTIONS According to the press release, Atwill is planning to explain his theory that Jesus Christ never lived. Atwill is a mythicist—a person who claims that Jesus is a myth, not a historical figure. According to Atwill’s version of mythicism, Jesus is a fictional character that was invented by the Roman emperor (s) and the circle around them. THE VERY SAD CHILDFREE LIFE : STRANGE NOTIONS Time Magazine's recent cover story "The Childfree Life" has generated a good deal of controversy and commentary. The photo that graces the cover of the edition pretty much sums up the argument: a young, fit couple lounge languidly on a beach and gaze up at the camera with blissful smiles—and n JESUS WOULD HAVE BEEN AN ATHEIST? : STRANGE NOTIONS In a recent interview with The Guardian, popular atheist Richard Dawkins made a strange and audacious claim: "I wrote article called ‘Atheists for Jesus,’ I think it wasSomebody gave me a t-shirt: ‘Atheists for Jesus.’ Well, the point was that Jesus was a great moral teacher and I was suggesting that somebody as intelligent as Jesus would have been an atheist if he had known CAN DARWINISM SURVIVE WITHOUT TELEOLOGY? : STRANGE NOTIONS The assumption of a Creator would explain that the universe exists and is what it is; and the assumption of a cosmic design would explain why the universe is this way. In that sense, even Darwinism needs some Divine Help—whether its fans like it or not. There is no way Darwinism could survive without teleology. DOES SCIENCE MAKE GOD IRRELEVANT? : STRANGE NOTIONS Does God still matter? This is the question that seems to be at the heart of the modern debate about God’s existence. Many unbelievers who label themselves agnostic-atheists do not claim definitively that God does not exist. They take the softer position that God probably does not exist, and even if he does exist, he is irrelevant in explaining the universe. JESUS’ BIRTH AND WHEN HEROD THE GREAT *REALLY* DIED Jesus’ Birth and when Herod the Great *Really* Died. The Gospel of Matthew tells us that Jesus Christ was born in the final years of the tyrant known as Herod the Great. He tells us that when Jesus was born, Herod panicked and had all the baby boys in Bethlehem killed. Fortunately, the Jesus' family escaped to Egypt and remained there

until

STRANGE NOTIONSGODMANATHEISMMORALITYSCIENCECULTURE by Dr. Randal RauserFiled under Uncategorized. The heart and foundation of Christianity is belief in a God who is worthy of worship: in the words of Anselm, that being than which none greater can be conceived. And so, when the Bible depicts God as acting in a manner that appears to be less-than-perfect, this creates a challenge

for the

HOW CHRISTIANS—NOT THE “ENLIGHTENMENT”—LAUNCHED THE AGE OF How Christians—Not the “Enlightenment”—Launched the Age of Reason. As we all know, and as many of our well established textbooks have argued for decades, the Dark Ages were a stunting of intellectual progress to be redeemed only by the secular spirit of the Enlightenment. The Inquisition was one of the most frightening and

bloody

HOW DO ATHEISTS DEFINE LOVE? : STRANGE NOTIONS When I love a friend, as a Christian, I mean, “I love you, body and soul.”. But for an atheist, friendship is an evolved behavior related to living in a pack or herd or tribe. At root it has to do with self-protection and food acquisition. I'd be interested in hearing how other atheists, besides Dawkins, would describe “love”

to

AN ATHEIST HISTORIAN EXAMINES THE EVIDENCE FOR JESUS (PART An Atheist Historian Examines the Evidence for Jesus (Part 1 of 2) Scholars who specialize in the origins of Christianity agree on very little, but they do generally agree that it is most likely that a historical preacher, on whom the Christian figure "Jesus Christ" is based, did exist. The numbers of professional scholars, out of the

many

WAS JESUS A ROMAN FICTION? : STRANGE NOTIONS According to the press release, Atwill is planning to explain his theory that Jesus Christ never lived. Atwill is a mythicist—a person who claims that Jesus is a myth, not a historical figure. According to Atwill’s version of mythicism, Jesus is a fictional character that was invented by the Roman emperor (s) and the circle around them. THE VERY SAD CHILDFREE LIFE : STRANGE NOTIONS Time Magazine's recent cover story "The Childfree Life" has generated a good deal of controversy and commentary. The photo that graces the cover of the edition pretty much sums up the argument: a young, fit couple lounge languidly on a beach and gaze up at the camera with blissful smiles—and n JESUS WOULD HAVE BEEN AN ATHEIST? : STRANGE NOTIONS In a recent interview with The Guardian, popular atheist Richard Dawkins made a strange and audacious claim: "I wrote article called ‘Atheists for Jesus,’ I think it wasSomebody gave me a t-shirt: ‘Atheists for Jesus.’ Well, the point was that Jesus was a great moral teacher and I was suggesting that somebody as intelligent as Jesus would have been an atheist if he had known CAN DARWINISM SURVIVE WITHOUT TELEOLOGY? : STRANGE NOTIONS The assumption of a Creator would explain that the universe exists and is what it is; and the assumption of a cosmic design would explain why the universe is this way. In that sense, even Darwinism needs some Divine Help—whether its fans like it or not. There is no way Darwinism could survive without teleology. DOES SCIENCE MAKE GOD IRRELEVANT? : STRANGE NOTIONS Does God still matter? This is the question that seems to be at the heart of the modern debate about God’s existence. Many unbelievers who label themselves agnostic-atheists do not claim definitively that God does not exist. They take the softer position that God probably does not exist, and even if he does exist, he is irrelevant in explaining the universe. JESUS’ BIRTH AND WHEN HEROD THE GREAT *REALLY* DIED Jesus’ Birth and when Herod the Great *Really* Died. The Gospel of Matthew tells us that Jesus Christ was born in the final years of the tyrant known as Herod the Great. He tells us that when Jesus was born, Herod panicked and had all the baby boys in Bethlehem killed. Fortunately, the Jesus' family escaped to Egypt and remained there

until

THE SCIENCE OF MIRACLES : STRANGE NOTIONS The doctor need not believe in miracles, the doctor need not be Roman Catholic, nor even a Christian – but the doctor must fill two absolutely essential roles. The first role is to declare the prognosis hopeless even with the best of the art. This rigorous duty is built into the drama of every final illness. HORUS MANURE: DEBUNKING THE JESUS/HORUS CONNECTION Horus is the son of the god Osiris, born to a virgin mother. He was baptized in a river by Anup the Baptizer who was later beheaded. Like Jesus, Horus was tempted while alone in the desert, healed the sick, the blind, cast out demons, and walked on water. He raised Asar from the dead. “Asar” translates to JESUS WOULD HAVE BEEN AN ATHEIST? : STRANGE NOTIONS In a recent interview with The Guardian, popular atheist Richard Dawkins made a strange and audacious claim: "I wrote article called ‘Atheists for Jesus,’ I think it wasSomebody gave me a t-shirt: ‘Atheists for Jesus.’ Well, the point was that Jesus was a great moral teacher and I was suggesting that somebody as intelligent as Jesus would have been an atheist if he had known WHY HUMANS ARE MORE THAN MERE ANIMALS : STRANGE NOTIONS Why Humans Are More Than Mere Animals. Ever since the time of Charles Darwin’s thunderous appearance on the human stage, evolutionary materialists have envisioned a world in which man appears without any rational need either for the God of classical theism or LYING AND TRUTH-TELLING: A QUESTION FOR CATHOLICS AND Written by Deacon Jim Russell. Deacon Jim Russell is a lifelong St. Louis resident, "cradle" Catholic, husband, father of eleven, and grandfather of two. Ordained to the Diaconate in 2002, Deacon Russell serves as Director of Liturgy for Immaculate Conception Parish in Dardenne Prairie, Missouri, the second-largest parish in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. THE 6 VARIETIES OF ATHEISM (AND WHICH ARE MOST DEFENSIBLE 3. Religious belief is still intellectually defensible today, but not as defensible as atheism. An intelligent and well-informed person could be persuaded by the arguments presented by the most sophisticated contemporary proponents of a religion, but the arguments

of

DEBUNKING THE “ONE GOD FURTHER” OBJECTION : STRANGE NOTIONS Philosopher Bill Vallicella recently replied to what might be called the “one god further” objection to theism. Bill sums up the objection as follows: "The idea, I take it, is that all gods are on a par, and so, given that everyone is an atheist with respect to some gods, one may as well make a clean sweep and be an atheist with respect to all gods. DOES THE BIBLE TEACH THAT PI = 3? : STRANGE NOTIONS Every year on March 14 fans of math gather to enjoy a slice of pie along with discussions about pi, or the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. Since the value of pi is approximately 3.14, pi day is held on March 14 (or 3/14) each year. One objection to the Bible that pops up all ov SKEPTIC BENJAMIN RADFORD ON THE FÁTIMA MIRACLE : STRANGE Paranormal investigator Benjamin Radford has written a piece for Live Science on the The Lady of Fátima & the Miracle of the Sun. Mr. Radford is the deputy editor of Skeptical Inquirer science magazine and a Research Fellow with the non-profit educational organization the Committee for Skeptical WHAT YEAR WAS JESUS BORN? THE ANSWER MAY SURPRISE YOU What year was Jesus born? The answer may surprise you. You might think that Jesus was born in the Year Zero–between 1 B.C. and A.D. 1. You often hear that Jesus was born around 6-7 B.C. The evidence from the Bible and the Church Fathers, however, support a different year. Here’s what the evide

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DID GOD COMMAND GENOCIDE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT?

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by Dr. Randal Rauser Filed under Uncategorized

1313 Comments

The heart and foundation of Christianity is belief in a God who is worthy of worship: in the words of Anselm, that being than which none greater can be conceived. And so, when the Bible depicts God as acting in a manner that appears to be less-than-perfect, this creates a challenge for the Christian reader. There is perhaps no more glaring an example of this problem than God’s command to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 20:16-17 : “16 However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. 17Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites,... Read

More

WHAT SCIENCE REALLY SAYS ABOUT THE SOUL (& LIFE AFTER DEATH) If you’re not following the debates on all things scientific and religious, it’s easy... Read More ARE FINE-TUNING ARGUMENTS FOR GOD (OR THE MULTIVERSE) CIRCULAR? In a recent video, theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder argues that design arguments... Read More IS THERE A LINK BETWEEN ATHEISM AND SKEPTICISM? There is a popular notion that doubt and skepticism are specially linked to atheism.... Read More HOW THOMISTS VIEW THE MODERN SCIENCES Debates concerning the existence of God typically run aground on prior unresolved metaphysical... Read More THE FLATLANDER’S ARGUMENT AGAINST MIRACLES In a Pentecost sermon that was later published as the essay “Transposition,” C.S.... Read More SCIENCE AS A RELIGION This essay is drawn from Dr. Logan Gage's new video course, How Science Became a Religion,... Read More HOW CAN THE GOD OF THE PHILOSOPHERS BE THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND

JACOB?

Doubt and questioning are a part of the Christian faith. In Randal Rauser's new... Read More WHY MIRACLES ARE CREDIBLE TO CATHOLICS Unlike many other articles dealing with miracles, this one is not actually expected to... Read More

ST. ANSELM’S GOD

St. Anselm’s ontological argument for God’s existence often gets a bad rap, not just... Read More RELIGION AFTER GOD: A REVIEW OF “PROGRESSIVE ATHEISM” “Atheism, we’ll say, for all we know may come at the beginning of religion rather... Read More

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RECENT COMMENTS

* Jim the Scott

Thanks for the clarification big guy.

Cheers.

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Indeed, I do not assume God’s existence in any of the premises.

:)

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