Faith, Beer, and Other Things That Interest Geoff

James White's New Book on the 'Jesus Tomb' Is For Sale

Labels: jesus tomb

Victor Davis Hanson on the Progression of Support for Iraq War

Always good to hear from a knowledgable war historian.

Labels: iraq

Knut Is Extremely Cute

Go here and here.

Lew Bryson, Welcome to the Blog Roll

Triumph Brewing before it is opening. And the awesome news about Philadelphia Beer Week.

I know and like Lew. He is a good beer writer and I highly recommend all his work, and know his blog.

Labels: beer

What is Wrong with "God of the Gaps" Reasoning?

Here's the ending:

At this point in the argument, one tends to meet the claim that it is always more rational to believe that the advance of science will someday provide an explanation in terms of natural causes, than ever to believe that an event was the result of supernatural intervention in the course of nature. But on what grounds is this to be asserted?

To claim that no matter what the event in question, or the context in which it occurred, one should believe that it has a natural, though totally unknown, cause is to retreat to the dogmatic and question-begging view that it is, in principle, illegitimate ever to explain a physical event as having a supernatural cause. To claim, however, that the advance of science has provided empirical support for the view that natural causes will someday be uncovered to explain the phenomena typically appealed to in “God of the gaps” arguments is simply false.

I conclude that there is nothing wrong with the reasoning typically involved in “God of the gaps” arguments. The widespread dismissal of such arguments as unworthy of serious consideration is, therefore, unjustified.

Labels: ID, philosophy

Elaine Pagels and Karen King

A good time was had by my friend and I. Unfortunately, Pagels had the flu and had to cancel.

King seems less prone to make sweeping statement like Pagels, alhtough I'm not sure how much their beliefs differ.

I asked King why the advertising of the Discovery channel advertised the Gospel of Judas as overthrowing our understanding of Christianity when the author had no connection to the apostles and those who did liberally quote the New Testament. She said they weren't involved in the advertising.

King was arguing that the writer of the Gospel of Judas had a problem with the glorification of martyrdom. Now, King didn't come out and say it, but she came close to equating Christian views about martyrdom with Islamic violence.

My friend pointed out to her that this is just a continuation of the Old Testament. Abel testifies by his sacrifice and is killed by Cain. The prophets were killed and harassed. The Christian martyrs were no different.

Labels: gnostic

Examination of 'Jesus Tomb' Statistics

Just looks mainly at the stats and how to interpret them.

Link is from James White's website.

Labels: jesus tomb

Preparing for Elaine Pagels

I'm going to see Elaine Pagels (of Gnostic gospels fame) Thursday at the Philadelphia Free Library, so I'm currently doing research.

One interesting thing I read concerning the authorship of the traditional Gospels. Why would anyone attribute the gospels of Mark (an associate of Peter) and Luke (an associate of Paul) if it weren't true? If you making things up, wouldn't you attribute the gospels to more important people, like apostles themselves?

Labels: elaine pagels, gnostic