A Test of Bayesian History: Efraim Wallach on Old Testament Studies
An interesting article has been published under peer review, which tests my concept (developed and argued in Proving History) that all historical reasoning is already in fact Bayesian (historians just don’t know it), by applying it to the analysis of a major...New Audiobook! The Scientist in the Early Roman Empire
My book The Scientist in the Early Roman Empire is now available in audio format! As for all my other audiobooks, I voiced the text myself for Pitchstone Publishing. They invest a lot in making these audiobooks possible, paying for professional studio time and audio...Bullshit from Day One: The First Century Gospel Is a Third Century Gospel
It’s officially the mythical mummy Gospel. The “first century” manuscript of Mark Christian apologists have been gloating about and beating everyone over the head with for years…is not a first century manuscript of Mark. It also didn’t...Debating Historicity with Dennis MacDonald Today (Live Online)
Wednesday (23 May 2018) at 2:30pm Pacific, I’ll be having a cordial online debate on the historicity of Jesus with eminent scholar Dennis MacDonald on Pinecreek Doug’s YouTube Channel (where around that time the feed should appear, so save that link)....Historicity Big and Small: How Historians Try to Rescue Jesus
When the question of the historicity of Jesus comes up in an honest professional context, we are not asking whether the Gospel Jesus existed. All non-fundamentalist scholars agree that that Jesus never did exist. Christian apologetics is pseudo-history. No different...The Mummy Gospel Isn’t Even a Mummy Gospel!? Updates on That Supposed First Century Manuscript of Mark
Remember that dubious claim going around for years now that a first century manuscript of the Gospel of Mark had been found? Well, there’s news! Last year I gave advice on how to vet suspicious claims about ancient Jesus literature before asking me about it (see...So What About Hannibal, Then?
This kind of argument has been tried again and again and again. I’ve discussed every one. (See Okay, So What about the Historicity of Spartacus?) It’s always of this form: P1. We should not doubt [x] existed. P2. The evidence for Jesus is better than for...On the Historicity of Jesus: The Daniel Gullotta Review
Two academic reviews of On the Historicity of Jesus now exist: one positive by Raphael Lataster published in the Journal of Religious History (38.4, 2014, pp. 614-16); and one negative by Daniel Gullotta published in the Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus...Did the Environment Kill Rome?
An article at Vox argues that environmental disasters destroyed the Roman Empire: “6 Ways Climate Change and Disease Helped Topple the Roman Empire,” by Kyle Harper, a professor of classics, whose article summarizes his book The Fate of Rome: Climate,...The Cosmic Seed of David
Nicholas Covington just produced an intersting article on the cosmic seed hypothesis that so vexes Jonathan Tweet (see Jonathan Tweet and the Jesus Debate). In Seed of David, Take Two, Covington makes two valuable points: he correctly frames the logic of the argument...How to Successfully Argue Jesus Existed (or Anything Else in the World)
In conjunction with my Critical Thinking course this month, and in light of a number of casual debates I’ve been in lately, I’ve drawn up this twelve step advice, which actually applies to all arguments for any conclusions in any subject whatever. But I’ll use...Ms. Christian Apologist on Empty Tomb Stuff
You’d have to pay me to waste my time on any of the millions of amateur Christian arguments on the internet. But of course, that being the case, occasionally someone actually does. A benefactor of mine wanted an expert take on the specious argumentation of a woman...Kristi Winters on the Historical Jesus: Part 2
Yesterday I pointed out the defects of Kristi Winters’ YouTube case for the historicity of Jesus in 2015. Her case then, mostly, was at least respectably mainstream and just uninformed about a lot of things. But then in 2016 and 2017 her videos on this subject...Kristi Winters on the Historical Jesus: Part 1
I’ve had on my to-do list for some time to write about all the weirdly inept videos on the historicity of Jesus posted by YouTuber Kristi Winters lately. So I’ll do that now. In two parts. In the first, she starts sensible and merely wrong. In the second,...Timothy Keller: Dishonest Reasons for God (Chapter 7)
I began my critique of Keller’s The Reason for God with an exposé of everything up through Chapter 1, then Chapter 2, then Chapters 3 through 5, and Chapter 6. Here I will cover Chapter 7. Next will be Chapter 8. I’ll continue to other chapters in future...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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