Gnosticism Didn’t Exist (Say What Now?)
It’s scandalous to say, because so much pop theorizing about early Christianity is anchored to it, but it turns out, Gnosticism was never actually a thing. It was an invention of modern scholars; an interpretive category, it turns out, that refers to no actual...99 Problems & the Truth Ain’t One: Q&A on the Inspiring Philosophy / Godless Engineer Historicity-of-Jesus Debate (Part II)
For the gist of this two-part series see the intro of Part I. That part covered the first of two videos spanning the 2018 debate between YouTubers Godless Engineer and Michael Jones. Here I dive into the second of those (you can watch them online: Part 1 and Part 2)....99 Problems & the Truth Ain’t One: Q&A on the Inspiring Philosophy / Godless Engineer Historicity-of-Jesus Debate (Part I)
In March of 2018 the NonSequitur show hosted a debate between two YouTubers: Godless Engineer, who runs the popular eponymous atheist channel, and Michael Jones, who runs the popular Christian apologetics channel Inspiring Philosophy. The topic was whether evidence...Open Thread On the Historicity of Jesus
Upon request I am creating an open thread here for any continued scholarly Q&A on my book On the Historicity of Jesus (published under peer review by Sheffield-Phoenix) and its thesis—that at best there is only (but still possibly as much as) a 1 in 3 chance...N.T. Wright Demonstrates the Bankruptcy of Christian Apologetics in Under Nine Minutes
On the Ask NT Wright Anything show, Justin Brierley recently read a write-in question that challenged Anglican apologist N.T. Wright on a claim he’s made that I’ve thoroughly debunked: his claim that women would never be invented by the author of Mark as...No, Seriously, the Romans Neither Could Nor Cared to Investigate the Resurrection of Jesus
This is my final written response to Jonathan Sheffield’s argument that the Romans could have disproved the resurrection unless it really happened and therefore it must really have happened. See Sheffield’s opening statement for a description of the debate and...Sheffield’s Response on Whether the Romans Would Have Refuted the Resurrection of Jesus
This is Jonathan Sheffield’s response to my opening response to his argument that the Romans could have disproved the resurrection unless it really happened and therefore it must really have happened. See Sheffield’s opening statement for a description of...The Romans Neither Could Nor Cared to Investigate the Resurrection of Jesus
This is my opening response to Jonathan Sheffield’s argument that the Romans could have disproved the resurrection unless it really happened and therefore it must really have happened. Thus begins a new short debate. See Sheffield’s opening statement for a...Shouldn’t the Romans Have Refuted the Resurrection of Jesus? A Debate with Jonathan Sheffield
Anglican autodidact Jonathan Sheffield is back and we will this time be debating whether the Romans should have disproved the resurrection of Jesus—and thus, their not having done so proves Jesus really did rise from the dead. Last time we had an extended...Join My Course on Combating Christian & Islamic Propaganda! Hone Your Skills in Counter-Apologetics & Debate.
I’ve now added my popular course “Counter-Apologetics: Learning the Best Ways to Refute Arguments for God” to my monthly roster. You can register now and join us starting next week or any subsequent month. (Among any of my Ten Courses in philosophy and history...Murray’s Primer on Atheism
I’ll shortly announce the addition of my popular class on Christian and Islamic counter-apologetics to my monthly online course offerings. Which means it’s time to discuss the few issues I do have with my preferred course text for that: Malcolm Murray’s...Lataster v. McGrath: Jesus Must Be Real…Because, Reasons
With my move back to California and so much else going on I haven’t had time to closely read several books I want to review here, including Raphael Lataster’s peer reviewed defense of historicity agnosticism regarding Jesus, Questioning the Historicity of...Mason on Josephus on James
A German academic reference book appeared in 2017 titled Jesus Handbuch (more or less meaning “Jesus Handbook” or the Jesus Manual) edited by Jens Schröter and Christine Jacobi (you can access its table of contents and descriptive foreword at Mohr...Litwa’s Confused Critique of Mythicism
M. David Litwa’s new book How the Gospels Became History: Jesus and Mediterranean Myths (Yale 2019) argues the authors of the Gospels “deliberately shaped myths about Jesus into historical discourse to maximize their believability for ancient...Come See Marketing the Messiah!
I’m one of several luminaries interviewed for this new, amusing, and fascinating documentary about the origins and development of Christianity and how much it was about marketing different fictional versions of the Christ (whether Jesus existed or not). Details...Get Dr. Carrier’s Latest!
About the Author
Richard Carrier is the author of many books and numerous articles online and in print. His avid readers span the world from Hong Kong to Poland. With a Ph.D. in ancient history from Columbia University, he specializes in the modern philosophy of naturalism and humanism, and the origins of Christianity and the intellectual history of Greece and Rome, with particular expertise in ancient philosophy, science and technology. He is also a noted defender of scientific and moral realism, Bayesian reasoning, and historical methods.
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