Stephen Law is a leading English philosopher, author, and editor for the journal Think. In his spare time, he beats the skins and climbs mountains. What I appreciate most about Stephen is his commitment to public philosophy, and that commitment is perfectly demonstrated in his new online course on critical thinking. You can check out the […]
critical thinking
Jeff Wanted to Please God: The suspect salvation of the Milwaukee Cannibal
This is part two of my series on psychopaths and Christianity. For the first article on Ted Bundy, click here. Evangelical Christians love their trophy conversions, dramatic stories of notorious sinners that find their way to the foot of the cross. For example, forty years ago I was fascinated by Run Baby Run, the story […]
On Keeping a Closed Mind: Lessons from The Friendly Atheist
A couple days ago The Friendly Atheist posted an article titled “Christian Textbook Urges Readers To ‘Keep a Closed Mind’.” The short article features a screenshot from a page out of a textbook for Christian young people. (Before this I’d never heard of the book, What’s on Your Mind? Discover the Power of Biblical Thinking, or […]
Why Brilliant People Believe Nonsense: A review
J. Steve Miller and Cherie K. Miller, Why Brilliant People Believe Nonsense: A Practical Text for Critical and Creative Thinking. Wisdom Creek Academic, 2015. There may be no skill more basic to human flourishing than the ability to reason well. It’s a skill that encompasses knowledge, wisdom, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence. And it seems to […]
The Myth of the Free Thought Parent
Some years ago while I was delivering a lecture on faith and reason at a secular university, I informed my audience that I had taught the Apostles’ Creed to my daughter, who was four or five at the time. I then noted that as a family we recited the creed every day during our family […]
Has Stephen Law been sucked into an intellectual black hole? A Review of Law’s “Believing Bullshit”
Stephen Law. Believing Bullshit: How Not to Get Sucked into an Intellectual Black Hole. Prometheus, 2011, 271 pp. ISBN: 978-1-61614-411-1. In the vein of Carl Sagan’s The Demon Haunted World (Ballantine, 1997) and Michael Shermer’s Why People Believe Weird Things (Holt, 2002), comes this new book by Stephen Law, senior lecturer in philosophy at Heythrop […]
