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Added The Witnesses to the Historicity of Jesus (1912, 2003) by Arthur Drews to the Secular Web Bookstore.
"Historical theology has hitherto endeavoured to interpret tradition in the sense of its historical Jesus, and has lost its way in a labyrinth of difficulties, contradictions, and insoluble problems. We raise the question whether the documents may not be better and more simply interpreted in the opposite sense, and whether there is any need at all to interpret the tradition historically. On which side the truth is found cannot be determined by the starting point of the inquiry, but only by showing which interpretation best squares with the facts and which can be most easily established." - Arthur Drews
Added The Christ Myth (1910, 1998) by Arthur Drews to the Secular Web Bookstore.
First published in 1910, The Christ Myth drew violent criticism from theologians, the press, and the public. Drawing on the late-eighteenth-century French philosophies and the more contemporary studies of Sir James Frazer and other cultural anthropologists, Eminent German philosopher Arthur Drews (1865-1935) argues that no basis exists for seeking a historical figure behind the Christ myth. Through a comparative study of ancient religions, Drews argues that Christianity is a syncretism of various pagan and Jewish beliefs, and that a strong pre-Christian cult of Jesus as son of God and messiah existed.
New in the Kiosk: Charles Darwin and the Evolution of the Human Mind (2008) by Dr. Khalid Sohail
"As time passes we become more and more aware of the contributions of Charles Darwin, not only in the world of biology but also in the disciplines of psychology and sociology. Darwin's book The Descent of Man is a goldmine of understanding, not only about the similarities and differences between animal and human minds but also about the different stages of the evolution of the human mind." - Khalid Sohail
From the Bookstore: The Secular Conscience: Why Belief Belongs in Public Life (2007) Austin Dacey
The open, secular society is in retreat. From Washington to Rome to Tehran, religion is a public matter as never before, and secular values--personal autonomy, toleration, separation of religion and state, and freedom of conscience--are attacked on all sides and defended by few. The godly claim a monopoly on the language of morality in public debate, while secular liberals stand accused of standing for nothing. Secular liberals have undone themselves. For generations, too many have insisted that questions of conscience--religion, ethics, and values--are "private matters" that have no place in public debate. Dacey calls for a bold rethinking of the nature of conscience and its role in public life.
Added a Kiosk/Bookstore Author Index to the Kiosk/Bookstore listings on the Secular Web Library main index page.
The Kiosk contains articles which are intended to be easily read and of general interest to secularists. The Bookstore contains books on the same subjects. Although one could always search for articles or books by a given author on the main Kiosk page, the new author index should make it even easier to find articles and books of interest by a given author.
Added Review of Irreligion (2008) by William Faris to the Atheism Book Reviews page in the Modern Documents section of the Secular Web Library.
John Allen Paulos is a mathematician who writes popular books about the role that mathematics plays in everyday life. In Irreligion he tackles arguments for the existence of God, from design arguments to arguments from miracles to Pascal's wager. His refutations are intended to plant the seeds of doubt more than to offer scholarly analysis. In some cases mathematics is relevant to the argument, but overall the book is a rather light-hearted and personal account of why the author remains unconvinced.
Added Review of The Historical Figure of Jesus (2008) by Jacob Aliet to the Historicity of Jesus page in the Modern Documents section of the Secular Web Library.
Many New Testament scholars have presented their personal reconstruction of the historical Jesus, laboring to painstakingly separate fact from myth. Unfortunately, in the absence of a rigorous methodology, religious beliefs have doggedly militated against their best efforts, and E. P. Sanders' The Historical Figure of Jesus is no exception to this tendency. In this review, Jacob Aliet outlines what he takes to be the five main weaknesses of Sanders' scholarship, some philosophical, some methodological, as revealed in The Historical Figure of Jesus.
Added The Camel Is Heading for Your Tent (2008) by Gil Gaudia to the Secular Web Kiosk.
"The curious thing about the old Arabic tale of the kind and considerate camel owner is that we never seem to get it. The compassionate owner, who permitted his camel to warm his nose under his tent, was victim of his own tolerance, which eventually cost him his abode. Now it looks as if we have to confront another camel--and it's all about the elective study of the Bible in high schools."
Added The Atheism Tapes to our Products page.
The Atheism Tapes is a ground-breaking series that will challenge your basic beliefs. In these off-the-record interviews, neurologist turned playwright, filmmaker and self-described atheist Jonathan Miller filmed conversations with six of today's leading men of letters and science: the New York Times best-selling author Richard Dawkins, philosophers Daniel Dennett and Colin McGinn, distinguished playwright Arthur Miller, theologian Denys Turner, and Nobel Prize winning physicist Steven Weinberg, who discuss their personal intellectual journeys and offer an illuminating analysis of nontheism from a wide range of perspectives.
Added Comments Regarding "Creationist Science" Apropos of Dr. Joe White's Darwin's Demise (2008) by Daniel June to the Secular Web Kiosk.
"This is presented as science. There is no method to it. There is no predictivity, no falsifiability, no plausibility, no consistency. It is not science. It is not a philosophy. It is not even a theology. It is a waste of my time."
The Great Debate: Section Four: Faith and Uncertainty, of God or Blind Nature? Philosophers Debate the Evidence (2007-2008), edited by Paul Draper, in the Modern Documents section of the Secular Web Library.
In the final debate, "Faith and Uncertainty," John Schellenberg argues that a certain kind of uncertainty about the existence of God actually provides strong evidence that God does not exist, given that a loving God would not deny those open to accepting him grounds to believe in him. Shedding Pascal's wager of its numerous shortcomings, Jeffrey Jordan attempts to strengthen what he thinks is right in the wager by developing an updated "Jamesian wager." Jordan's contention is that individuals should believe in God for pragmatic reasons: belief in God increases one's chances of living a longer or happier life.
Please note that readers may submit questions to any of the authors in this debate about their contributions. Q&A sessions for all debate topics will be published in Spring/Summer 2008.
Featured Article: Nonbelief vs. Lack of Evidence (1998) by Theodore Drange
Here are two atheological arguments, called the "Lack-of-evidence Argument" (LEA) and "the Argument from Nonbelief" (ANB). LEA: Probably, if God were to exist then there would be good objective evidence for that. But there is no good objective evidence for God's existence. Therefore, probably God does not exist. ANB: Probably, if God were to exist then there would not be many nonbelievers in the world. But there are many nonbelievers in the world. Therefore, probably God does not exist. Reasons are given for saying that although LEA is not totally implausible, ANB is a stronger atheological argument than it is.
Book-of-the-Month: God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question--Why We Suffer (2007) Bart Ehrman
For Ehrman, the question of why there is so much suffering in the world is more than a haunting thought. Ehrman's inability to reconcile the claims of faith with the facts of real life led the former pastor of the Princeton Baptist Church to reject Christianity. In God's Problem, Ehrman discusses his personal anguish upon discovering the Bible's contradictory explanations for suffering and invites all people of faith--or no faith--to confront their deepest questions about how God engages the world and each of us.
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