2010-01-04

Taking Eddy & Boyd Seriously (2)

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

by Neil Godfrey

Eddy and Boyd are often touted as having written some sort of authoritative rebuttal of arguments sceptical of “the historical reliability of the Synoptic Jesus tradition”, but as I began to show in my earlier part 1 post, and will continue here, their work

  •  misrepresents specific arguments they claim to refute;
  •  demonstrates a shoddiness, sometimes bordering on intellectual dishonesty.

Uncharitable post?

One commenter said I lack a sense of charity or humanity when I speak harshly against certain authors. I sometimes think he might have a point, and I reconsider. But other times I confess I have little patience with public intellectuals who are looked to as authorities yet whose work demonstrates a lack of respect for the integrity of their public audiences and/or the logical norms of wider scholarly discourse, and who substitute these for popular or partisan assertions and obfuscations.

“The Case for the Authenticity of 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16” (Part 2)

Continuing from my Part 1 post, here is the passage under discussion: Continue reading “Taking Eddy & Boyd Seriously (2)”


The background to the Irish blasphemy laws: interview with Irish Times journalist

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

by Neil Godfrey

This is a follow up post to Atheist Group Breaks Blasphemy Law

There is an online interview with journalist Elaine Edwards from The Irish Times discussing the political and legal background to the new blasphemy laws in Ireland, and the response of Atheist Ireland.

One interesting detail is the the Minister of Justice has had the law framed in a way to make any prosecutions unlikely to succeed.

It’s about 8 minutes long and you need either Real Player or Windows Media Player.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/breakfast/stories/2010/2784674.htm

Check the Atheist Ireland website for their list of 25 delicious blasphemous quotations from Jesus, Richard Dawkins, et al.