Estranged Notions: Was the Star of Bethlehem Real?: Responding to the Go-To Skeptic

Today's post:

Was the Star of Bethlehem Real?: Responding to the Go-To Skeptic

Whose law is it about headlines? If the headline is a question, the answer is always "No."?

Estranged Notions: What Makes a Person Special?

Today's post:

What Makes a Person Special?

Estranged Notions: The Acts We Perform and the People We Become

Today's article:

The Acts We Perform and the People We Become

Estranged Notions: How Should We Define ‘Atheism’?

Today's post discusses the definition of the word "atheism". Yawn.

How Should We Define ‘Atheism’?

That said, I find Ruse (an arch-accomodationist atheist who also identifies as agnostic) and Bullivant (a Catholic) to be rather odd choices to edit the "Oxford Handbook of Atheism". Ruse has spent years engaging in unwarranted and unjustified attacks on other atheists (see for example Rosenhouse here and here or Coyne here). Anyone read the book or seen a useful review?

Estranged Notions: What Does the Latest “Big Bang” Discovery Mean?

Today's post:

What Does the Latest “Big Bang” Discovery Mean?

Estranged Notions: “Cosmos” and One More Telling of the Tired Myth

Today's post:

“Cosmos” and One More Telling of the Tired Myth

Book Reviews Thread

A thread for reviews, comments, recommendations etc. of books related to atheism or religion.

Estranged Notions: A Manual for Creating Atheists: A Critical Review

Today's post is Trent Horn's review of Peter Boghossian's book:

A Manual for Creating Atheists: A Critical Review

Estranged Notions: Detectives of Despair

Today's post:

Detectives of Despair

I guess this is more of the "wah, wah, materialism = meaninglessness" drivel, but I'm somewhat hampered by not actually having heard of the TV show in question.

Estranged Notions: Is This Mention of Jesus a Forgery?

Today's post is on the Testimonium Flavianum:

Is This Mention of Jesus a Forgery?

Estranged Notions: Picasso’s Sublime Tragedy

Today's post is very much in the "WTF is this doing here" category:

Picasso’s Sublime Tragedy

Biblical scholarship vs. tradition

Periodically on SN the issue comes up of the “traditional” authorship and dating of the gospels, as opposed to the modern scholarly conclusions. The latest advocate of the traditional position is one “Irenaeus of New York” (one wonders what happened to the real-names policy), who endorses not only Matthean priority but also the idea that Matthew was originally written in a Semitic language (Hebrew or Aramaic).

So I thought a post reviewing the evidence and some resources would be useful.

Estranged Notions: Jesus: Liar, Lunatic, Legend, Mystic, or Lord?

Today's post:

Jesus: Liar, Lunatic, Legend, Mystic, or Lord?

Estranged Notions: Can an Atheist Scientist Believe in Miracles?

Today's post:

Can an Atheist Scientist Believe in Miracles?

Estranged Notions: How Do we Know the Gospels are Historical?

Historicity day today:

How Do we Know the Gospels are Historical?