Learning from the persecuted Church
The ‘Seize the Day’ podcast for August is now online. In it, John Ayrton is talking to Andy Dipper, the CEO of Release International, about what we can learn from the persecuted Church. Last in series. Go here to listen.
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The new atheism and ‘God: new evidence’
The ‘new atheists’ have succeeded in obtaining a high profile in the media: Richard Dawkins’ book ‘The God Delusion’ sold more than two million copies, and spent a year on the NY Times best-seller list. His latest book, ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ is now being widely promoted. A few years ago, UK Channel 4 [...]
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What’s different about the ‘new atheism’?
Is the ‘new atheism’ just the same old same old, but with a different skin? Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, says not, according to a recent blog post by Michael Patton. Mohler identifies the following key differences (my words, not his, nor Patton’s): It celebrates atheism, rather than mourning the loss of [...]
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If
the documents of the Bible are so reliable, why are people so
skeptical about them?
We have
seen that there are more copies of the New Testament documents than
of any comparable ancient documents; that these copies go back significantly
closer in time to the originals than the copies of other ancient documents
do, and that the variations that exist do not alter any significant
fact of history or Christian belief. So we might ask why an attitude
of such extreme suspicion is often applied to a document as well-attested
as the New Testament? Could it be that the people applying such suspicions
have a vested interest in reaching a particular conclusion?
It
is sometimes claimed that historians simply as historians
regard Old and New Testament history as unreliable on some
independent historical grounds. But... many events which are
regarded as firmly established historically have far less
documentary evidence than many Biblical events, and the documents
on which historians rely for much secular history are written
much longer after the event than many records of Biblical
events. Furthermore, we have many more copies of biblical
narratives than of secular histories; and the surviving copies
are much earlier than those which our evidence for secular
history is based.'
[i] People
do not doubt the New Testament records because the documents are
unreliable, but because the New Testament records include miracles,
and they are not willing to believe in these. The argument for
documentary unreliability may be nothing more than a convenient
way of attacking the records. So people come to these records
with the presupposition that they could not be true. In doing
so, they are not being unbiased or objective.
[i]
Richard Purtill, 'Thinking About Religion' Prentice Hall 1978,
chapter 6
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