What it’s About In Without Buddha I Could Not be a Christian, theologian Paul Knitter explores numerous intersections of Christianity and Buddhism and the ways in which they both give shape to his own religious/spiritual life, beliefs, values, and ethics.1Paul F. Knitter, Without Buddha I Could not be a Christian (London: Oneworld Publications, 2013). Writing Read More…
Category: Christianity
Review: The Mirror or the Mask by Lydia McGrew
What It’s About In a previous post I reviewed New Testament scholar Michael R. Licona’s book, Why Are There Differences in the Gospels?, in which he makes the case that many differences between the four Christian Gospels can be accounted for by their authors’ use of certain compositional conventions, or devices, common to the genre Read More…
Review: Why Are There Differences in the Gospels? by Michael R. Licona
What It’s About The title says it all. In Why Are There Differences in the Gospels? New Testament scholar Michael R. Licona addresses the longstanding issue of the numerous differences between the four Gospels of the Christian Biblical canon: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.1Licona, Michael R., Why Are There Differences in the Gospels?: What We Read More…
Christianity and Marxism
I don’t think any reasonable person could deny that it is important to consider the impact of socioeconomic factors and class struggle in history. I would also certainly agree that there are lots of gaps in the historical record, which frequently included the now-lost voices of marginalized people. I think it is also good that Read More…
On Marxism
Hello again, and thanks for your most recent post. I’m sure I’ll try and formulate a more direct response to it, but I wanted to get this stuff on Marxist historical theory out there first:1Disclaimer: I do not in any way fancy myself an expert on the views of Karl Marx, Marxism, or Marxist historical theory Read More…
On Belief
I have to admit that you raise a lot of good points in your last post on the Holy Spirit. I can really understand where you’re coming from, but I think you go too far in saying that the past 2,000 years of church history back up the hypothesis that Jesus did nothing to ensure Read More…
On the Holy Spirit
I believe I understand what you mean that the Spirit is a key topic related to everything else we’ve been discussing. It also could very well be the thing about which I am most skeptical — maybe not so much that some sort of Spirit could or does exist that influences people and groups, or Read More…
On Christian Origins
Belief I suppose I would have to agree that belief that an extraordinary event has occurred requires somewhat stronger evidence than belief that an ordinary event has occurred. I would also have to agree that agnosticism can be a reasonable position to hold on an issue; everyone is agnostic about certain matters. On important issues Read More…
3 Points of Departure
Jed, Thanks for all your responses and for the post on the resurrection. I think it it’s especially brilliant! You cover a lot in a few words, and I like the way you set it up by addressing each of the alternative hypotheses in turn. So, I guess we could start with that. You have Read More…
The Historical Case for the Resurrection of Jesus
I. Presuppositions When assessing the historical evidence for Jesus’ resurrection, the matter of presuppositions is of fundamental importance. If someone believes that miracles are in principle impossible, no amount of evidence will convince them that Jesus rose from the dead, since they have ruled out this possibility a priori. If someone believes that miracles might Read More…