Today, someone who watched my debate with David Smalley emailed me to ask if I could provide a more fulsome reply to his suggestion in the debate that New Testament scholars draw positive conclusions about Jesus (e.g. his existence, resurrection, etc.) because they are constrained by the requirements of institutional doctrinal statements. Here is my […]
historical Jesus
Are Biblical Scholars Constrained by the Doctrinal Statements?
Why Pinecreek Doug’s Flying Man Can’t Get Off the Ground
In this video, I explain how Pinecreek Doug conflates psychological and epistemological questions with his Flying Man Thought Experiment. And for that reason, his critique of 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 cannot get off the ground.
The Jesus Creed Meets the Flying Man Creed
Atheist YouTuber and provocateur Pinecreek Doug has produced a “Flying Man Creed” which appears to be an attempt to undermine the creed of 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 by way of reductio ad absurdum or a slippery slope. Alas, Doug’s Flying Man Creed cannot even get off the ground.
If Jesus has not been raised, is our faith in vain?
Back in November, 2017, I posted a survey on Twitter asking if Christianity requires the historical resurrection of Jesus. A couple days ago, I posted a similar survey with a few notable differences. First, while the original survey was directed to everyone, this survey was targeted at Christians; second, while the original survey only had […]
Bauckham’s Exorcism: A Review of Jesus and the Eyewitnesses
Richard Bauckham. Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony. 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2017), 680 pp. We’ve all played the telephone game in our youth. Whisper a sentence in your neighbor’s ear and they whisper it in their neighbor’s ear and so on around the circle. We also all know how that ends: […]
A Family Defense of the Resurrection of Jesus
This article is based on a chapter in my 2013 book God or Godless, a collection of twenty short debates coauthored with atheist John Loftus. What would it take to persuade you that your brother is the long-expected messiah? Quite a lot, I suspect. You grew up with the guy. You saw him scrape his […]
“There is no evidence for…” On the unqualified and indefensible claims of bad apologists
A few months ago I was approached by an individual after a speaking event. “Do you believe in evolution?” he asked. It was a surprising question given that it had nothing to do with my topic. I replied that on matters outside my area I defer to the consensus of experts unless I have a […]
