Ian N. Mills of the New Testament Review Podcast offered a critique of my critique of methodological naturalism. Here’s the video with a few points of critique below: First, a quick observation: if Mills can play clips from my video at 1.5x speed (or whatever it is) then why doesn’t he record himself at 1.5x […]
historiography
Resurrection and History: A Conversation with Counter-Apologist
Methodological Naturalism as a Wet Firecracker: A Response to Ian N. Mills
Can a Historian Accept that God Raised Jesus from the Dead on Historical Grounds?
Methodological Naturalism is BAD Historical Method
Methodological naturalism — the idea that all causes to which one appeals must be “natural” — is bad historical method. It’s pure dogmatism, that’s all. Here is a simple illustration: in his famous book Chariots of the Gods, Erich Von Daniken visited ancient human civilizations. It’s a bad theory but note that it is, nonetheless, […]
Reasonable Belief, Reasonable Doubt, and the Resurrection of Jesus
Two days ago, I posted two Twitter surveys directed at two different groups and asking a similar question about an event which is purported to have occurred two thousand years ago. One would think it is possible for people reasonably to disagree about a topic this far removed in time and based on documentary evidence […]
25. Do the gospels have errors? Michael Licona’s new insights on ancient history
Christians have always been aware of the apparent contradictions in the Gospel accounts. For example, how does one reconcile the genealogies of Matthew (1:2-17) and Luke (3:23-38)? Did Jesus cleanse the temple at the beginning of his ministry (John 2:13-17) or the end (Mark 11:15-19)? Who appeared at the empty tomb? Was it a young man […]
Royal flushes, resurrections, and the things you teach your children
The Atheist Missionary’s criteria for what he would teach his children has continued to evolve (or devolve, I’m not sure yet). That’s a good thing because it is important for him to work out the principles that guide how he raises his progeny. The key issue concerned past event types that are unique and unrepeatable. […]
From Paul meeting Jesus to Pheidippides meeting Pan?
In the last post I argued that many skeptics ignore evidence for the resurrection based on an indefensible generalized skepticism about ancient miracle reports. And then the skeptics came, they commented, and they served to illustrate the point. They didn’t even acknowledge the historical evidence I presented for the resurrection. Instead they went to other points. Walter […]
On the general skepticism about ancient miracle reports
Many highly educated ancient historians (by which I mean historians that study ancient history, not historians that are really old) believe that the historical evidence supports the conclusion that Jesus was resurrected. For example, they point to the strong evidence for the empty tomb, post resurrection appearances, and the beliefs of the earliest followers of […]
