Sean McDowell interviews me on Jesus is No Myth

Josh McDowell introduced me, and many others of my generation, to the idea that strong historical evidence can be found for the Christian faith. So it is a special privilege to be interviewed by his son Sean, a professor at Biola University and prolific author in his own right, about my new book, Jesus is No Myth: The Fingerprints of God on the Gospels:

http://seanmcdowell.org/…/is-jesus-merely-a-myth-interview-…

Problems with Ferguson's Presuppositions against Miracles

In my last post, I described several problems I perceive at least with the "short" version of the Minimal Facts approach to proving the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  (Which appeals to scholarly consensus to support those points.  But John Fraser, who has studied with Gary Habermas for several year, argues that Habermas, at least, does not really relying on authority so strongly as I was assuming.)  But the original question posed was actually in regard to Matthew Ferguson's critique of that approach.  So I posted that first thought experiment (it may not rise to the category of "essay"), in view of the danger of allying on this point with Ferguson, who of course is an opponent of Christian thought (and, in the past, of mine). 

So now let me critique part of Ferguson's argument.  

Problems with the "Minimal Facts" Approach to the Resurrection

Gary Habermas, whom I respect and count as a friend, has made a mark on scholarship in part by his exhaustive cataloguing of views which scholars have taken towards various facets of the Jesus story, and what can be made of what facts scholars generally concede.  (The oft-cited internet crank Richard Carrier implies that Habermas may not be accurately representing this data base, but I think that tells us more about Carrier than it does about Habermas.)  Habermas explains:

Valerie Tarico and David Fitgerald "Debunk" Jesus

Valerie Tarico, a Seattle psychologist, is fond of bad New Atheist arguments.  She doesn't know much about some of the subjects she posts on, but she is open to learning -- from non-scholars like David Fitzgerald -- whether someone named Jesus who didn't play for a Hispanic baseball team ever walked the Earth.

Here the two are on my birthday, blogging about how my favorite ancient political philosopher never lived.

I doubt she'll read this rebuttal and up her game on the subject.  As Geico would put it, that's not what a clearing house for bad Gnu arguments does.  But refuting such arguments is what I do.  So let's get started.

Genesis: "The Two Shall Be One."

I didn't plan to dedicate a whole post to the role of women in Genesis alone -- I wanted to feast on the the entire Torah in one meal.  But the banquet was too large for a single sitting.  Genesis includes both profound philosophical thinking on gender, but also a number of fascinating, and sometimes horrifying, stories.  It contains some of the most famous passages on sex in the Bible, which Jesus would later quote, and obscure stories that we often overlook, but merit consideration.  This is also the book of origins, a unique position which carries unique importance.

How Jesus Liberates Women: Does St. Paul lock them up again?

Friend of the Ladies?  

Over the past several years, I have been arguing in this forum that "Jesus Liberates Women."  My initial posts in this series came in response to posts by John Loftus claiming that Christianity has imprisoned women, and that that is his chief reason for now rejecting the faith he once preached.

The notion that Christianity is bad for "the laidees" is one of the standard hits against Christianity these days, not only among atheists, but also among New Agers and in the general culture.   It has become an "article of faith."  Weren't three quarters of those persecuted as "witches" female, after all?  Weren't women denied the vote in traditional America?  Doesn't Saint Paul tell women to shut up and ask their husbands what the pastor was yammering about after the service?