Quote of the day: Walter Kaufmann defines theology

I can’t recommend Walter Kaufmann’s book Critique of Religion and Philosophy (1958) highly enough. It’s erudite, packed with original thought and analysis, and accessible to the general reader. I’m concentrating on the critique of religion rather than philosophy, but the former occupies most of the book. Kaufmann begins his book with a section on “philosophical […]

Quote of the day: Robert G. Ingersoll #5

Here The Great Agnostic describes the ungodliness of natural selection. The excerpt, like others I’ve given, is from his 1872 essay “The Gods“, and once again, like Jesus, Ingersoll speaks in metaphor. Would an infinitely wise, good and powerful God, intending to produce man, commence with the lowest possible forms of life; with the simplest […]

If biology were like theology

At first I thought this cartoon could be a metaphor for the Epigenetic Revolution, or for the more disreputable forms of evolutionary psychology. But then I realized that it’s best thought of as showing what science would be like if it resembled theology. I have realized, after finishing the Bible two days ago (congratulate me!), […]

Quote of the day: Robert G. Ingersoll #2

Again, from Ingersoll’s “The Gods,” (1872), free online. The passages below resonate for me because I am only 25 pages from the end of the Bible—and am feeling great relief. After plowing through the four contradictory canonical gospels, and now the epistles of Paul, I am soon to be on Revelation, and then: IT IS […]

The Argument from Pullet Tectonics

h/t: WW and JC

Quote of the day: Walter Kaufmann #5

This is the last of five quotes I’m putting up from Walter Kaufmann’s book, The Faith of a Heretic. I’ve nearly finished it now, and this quote, from p. 41, is about the hypocrisy of theologians: “Religion is as privileged a field as politics and advertising.  It is widely held to call for tact, not […]

Quote of the day: Walter Kaufmann # 2

This, like yesterday’s quote, is from Walter Kaufmann’s wonderful book,The Faith of a Heretic (Doubleday & Co., New York, 1961; quote from page 139): Let those who like inspiring interpretations be no less forthright in telling us precisely where they stand on immortality, the sacraments, and hell; on the virgin birth and resurrection; on the […]

Quote of the day for Wednesday: Kaufmann on theology

I’m reading a wonderful anti-religious book by Walter Kaufmann called The Faith of a Heretic. (Doubleday, New York, 1961). Kaufmann (1921-1980) was a colorful character and a polymath who knew tons about philosophy and theology. Raised as a Lutheran, he converted to Judaism at age 11 and subsequently rejected all faith, becoming an atheist and […]

R. Joseph Hoffman knows the truth about Jesus!

Over at The New Oxonian, R. Joseph Hoffmann,who has not exactly been a friend of this website, reports that he is writing a book that will at last tell us the historical truth about Jesus. In his piece, ”Jesus: The Outline,” Hoffmann previews what his researches have revealed: I am going out on a limb, this […]

I’ve reached the New Testament!

I had to take a Bible break for a while, for reading it straight through proved too much for my frail constitution. But I’ve finally reached the New Testament, 849 pages into the 1108-page book, and things are picking up. (Oy, the books of the minor prophets were deadly: one after another crying out that […]