Reading Time: 2 minutes In writing my forthcoming book on the Resurrection of Jesus, it has been important to look at Jesus’ earliest source, Paul. Paul is famous for not actually telling us much at all about Jesus at all. There are some genuinely quite problematic Pauline verses that should raise some eyebrows concerning his agenda and methodology for […]
the nativity
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Verifying the Virgin Birth
Reading Time: 2 minutes To return to matters pertaining to Christmas and the Nativity of Jesus, let us think briefly about the virgin birth claims. I have elsewhere discussed the may issues with the claim (see “Debunking the Nativity: The Virgin Birth” and “Debunking the Nativity: The Mistranslation of ‘Virgin’“). Today, I am going to talk about verifiability. The […]
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My Nativity Interview. And Bananarama.
Reading Time: < 1 minute Here is today’s interview with me, hosted by Andy Hall for Laughing in Disbelief, discussing the Nativity. We had a seamless segue (!) at the end to talk Brexit – he couldn’t resist. And nor could I… I love talking with Andy – it’s always relaxed and he allowed me to cover a whole heap of […]
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Join Me in Live Stream Nativity Interview
Reading Time: < 1 minute I’m appearing on Andy Hall’s Laughing in Disbelief live stream vodcast. We’ll be taking about the Nativity because, well, that’s topical. Check it out here: Stay in touch! Like A Tippling Philosopher on Facebook: A Tippling Philosopher You can also buy me a cuppa. Or buy some of my awesome ATP merchandise! Please… It […]
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Luke 1 & 2 Infancy Narratives as a Later Interpolation
Reading Time: 13 minutes Luke 3:1 opens with an elaborate chronological statement: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was … the word of the Lord came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness”. This surely reads as if it was originally written as the opening section of a book. The impression […]
Posted inHistory
Possibiliter Ergo Probabiliter and the McGrew Nativity Debate
Reading Time: 9 minutes Possibiliter ergo probabiliter is a fallacy that Richard Carrier coined to express the ubiquitous technique that theists use to try to explain away issues that pop up in the Bible and this is no more evident in Christian approaches to defending problems within the infancy narratives of Luke and Matthew. Indeed, in my recent debate with […]
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My Unbelievable Nativity Radio Debate Is up
Reading Time: < 1 minute My Nativity radio debate on Premier Christian Radio is now up. Unfortunately, on the YouTube channel, Matthew Firth, the vicar with whom I was having a spat and who deleted my comments and threads and blocked me and a number of other people, took to outright lying for Jesus about me on the thread. Luckily, […]
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Jesus the “Nazarene”: More Prophecy Debate
Reading Time: 9 minutes I recently wrote an article about the Matthean prophecy, a prophecy that looks like this (Matt 2): Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee, 23 and came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfil what was spoken through the prophets: “He shall be called a Nazarene.” This tells us two things: […]
Posted inPsychology
My Chichester Humanists Nativity Talk Is Available for You to Watch
Reading Time: < 1 minute Here is a talk I gave to Chichester Humanists earlier this week on the Nativity – it is a romp through the territory of the infancy narratives. The Q&A session at the end was a little like my actual non-virtual talks of old where I would go round the houses and talk about all sorts […]
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Debunking the Nativity: The Philosophical Problems with the Magi Dream-Sequence
Reading Time: < 1 minute Here is one that is slightly different to your usual historical issues with the Nativity accounts. This has a moral dimension. Check it out: Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel and click that notification bell or whatever it is that YouTubers say… Please grab a copy of my book The Nativity: A Critical Examination [UK]. Stay […]