Why I've Been Somewhat Quiet Lately

It's because I was finishing up editing a new book to be published by Prometheus Books. I sent the manuscript off to them this week. See below for the table of contents:

The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails

Foreword by Dan Barker
Introduction

Part One: How to Think About and Test Faith.

1 The Cultures of Christianities. Dr. David Eller
2 Christian Belief Through the Lens of Cognitive Science. Dr. Valerie Tarico
3 The Malleability of the Human Mind. Dr. Jason Long
4 The Outsider Test for Faith Revisited. John W. Loftus

Part Two: Why the Bible is Not God’s Word.

5 The Cosmology of the Bible. Edward T. Babinski
6 The Bible and Modern Scholarship. Paul Tobin
7 What We’ve Got Here is a Failure to Communicate. John W. Loftus

Part Three: Why the Christian God is Not Perfectly Good.

8 Yahweh is a Moral Monster. Dr. Hector Avalos
9 The Darwinian Problem of Evil. John W. Loftus

Part Four: Why Jesus is not the Risen Son of God.

10 Jesus: Myth and Method. Dr. Robert M. Price
11 Why the Resurrection is Unbelievable. Dr. Richard Carrier
12 At Best Jesus Was a Failed Apocalyptic Doomsday Prophet. John W. Loftus

Part Five: Why Modern Society Does Not Depend on Christian Faith.

13 Does Christianity Provide the Basis for Morality? Dr. David Eller
14 Was Atheism the Reason Hitler Killed So Many People? Dr. Hector Avalos
15 Was Christianity Responsible for Modern Science? Dr. Richard Carrier

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I have been sending Dr. Michael Martin the material along the way. He is professor of philosophy emeritus and author of the books The Case Against Christianity, and Atheism: A Philosophical Justification. Of this book he wrote:
John Loftus and his distinguished colleagues have certainly produced one of the best and arguably the best critique of the Christian faith the world has ever known. Using sociological, biblical, scientific, historical, philosophical, theological and ethical criticisms, this book completely destroys Christianity. All but the most fanatical believers who read it should be moved to have profound doubts.
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As the editor of this new work I designed it to be an extension of my book Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity, and so it further argues for the things I did there. To read recommendations of that work, click here.

25 comments:

AIGBusted said...

This looks awesome!! I can't wait to read it!!

urbster1 said...

Wow! With an all-star lineup like that I will be sure to pick this up when it comes out :)

Unknown said...

Already, I am interested as well.

DJ Wilkins said...

Looks great! Keep up the great work John! ;)

Shirley said...

Looks great--- can't wait to read it.

Ignerant Phool said...

What'u you guys tryin'a do, debunk Christianity!?

Anonymous said...

Is this the same book you were talking about like 2 months ago and that you tentatively titled "Critics confront Christianity"?

Anonymous said...

Alexis, yes it is.

Gandolf said...

Awesome !!

Ken Daniels said...

Congratulations on pulling these players together to turn out a book I most eagerly anticipate!

Anonymous said...

John, when possible,I'll get your two books. You are now a leading atheologian.
With Jakos Miklo,, deist, in "Confronting Believers," I denounce Yeshua as a fanatic cult leader. Richard Robertson in " An Atheist's Valure's" and Arthue George Wells in ' The Jesuas Legend' fault his morality.
Let's excoriate him as that leader as the Testaament reveals him!
We ignostics find God as a square circle [ Michael Martin and Nicholas Everitt].
Thanks,
your Facebook friend,
griggs1947

Jeff Carter said...

I, too, am waiting.

Anonymous said...

any clue when it will be for sale?

Anonymous said...

John, if you're only doing some light postings for now, I'd like to put in a request. I think it would be fascinating to read about your time studying under William Lane Craig: what your relationship was like, what you thought of him as a teacher, what the most important things you learned from him were, what some of your most memorable interactions with him were, etc.

Anonymous said...

Eric, when I went to TEDS Bill Craig wasn't that well known. In fact I didn't go there to study with him at all. I just wanted to further my education at an evangelical school. I was intending on majoring under Stuart C. Hackett, who was well known, until I had a disagreement with him over his neo-Kantian epistemological dualism. Being disappointed with him I started taking classes with his former student Bill. Bill's classes were all modelled after the Euorpean method of group discussion, and i liked it. He didn't lecture much. He handed out questions for us to answer as we read selections from books and we discussed them in class. Then we each wrote term papers, and in some classses we presented them, and that was it. I don't have a lot of notes because, as I said, he didn't lecture and there were no tests and few handouts.

I like Bill. And he liked me. At one point after having discussed a debate he had and offering some suggestions how he should've responded, he actually caught up with me down the hall and said, "Hey, John, good suggestions. I don't want to lose you."

I consider him a friend. I am amazed at what he has become. When I studied with him I had no idea. None of us did.

Anonymous said...

Oh, Eric, one more thing for now. Having been a student of James D. Strauss I was not thrilled with Bill's apologetics. It was in an era where natural theology was thought to have been dismissed and Bill was a Thomist, along with another of his former professors, Norm Geisler. While I liked his Kalam argument and his argument on behalf of the resurrection, I did not think they were effective as an apologetic. I was a Straussite. The evidences for the resurrection could not serve to bring people to faith, for evidentialism with regard to historical knowledge was dead. You either start with God or you'll never get to God. We must focus on the big picture, I thought. Only God can make sense of reality. And all truth was God's truth so every discipline of intellectual learning would need a grounding in God. And I did not think Plantiga's reformed epistemology worked. It was a non-sequitur to move from the belief in other minds to the belief in God, I thought. And I even took a class with Bill called "Plantinga's Thought." Later I adopted reformed epistemology. Of course, now I deny it.

Anonymous said...

John, thank you very much for that.

The Blogger Formerly Known As Lvka said...

arguably the best critique of the Christian faith the world has ever known.

NEVER quote such things as if You truly believe in them... You're a fool, or nuts, if You *DO*. [And You know I've never insulted anyone on this blog, so please don't take my words to mean as such: they don't...] :-|

It's more than meekness or modesty at stake here: it's sanity. (Even if the guy who said these things were to have all the credentials in the world: instinctively disbelieve him, anything else notwithstanding...)

Anonymous said...

Lvka, thanks for the advice but I never said I believe what people are saying about my previous book and this forthcoming one. I'm merely quoting what they say, okay?

The Blogger Formerly Known As Lvka said...

I would avoid referencing such quotes about myself if I were You - just a friendly word of caution, that's all... :-|

Anonymous said...

Lvka, let me repeat myself using different words, okay? I think I do people a service by doing so. If I were a potential reader of a book I want to know what others who have read it say about it, don't you? All I'm doing is passing this information on to potential readers so they are informed.

Anonymous said...

John, what is the current status of this book?

I had a bit of a search and couldn't find it, but then again the title may have changed.

I ma interested in reviewing it so would like to find out when it's likely to be available.

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

openparachute, it's supposed to be published in April. No doub't you can pre-order it in a few months at Amazon. I am personally amazed at the quality of the chapters and am grateful for each contributor. They each did a yeoman's job. I would not be surprised if a few of these chapters are chosen for some future anthologies on the topics written about.

Ignerant Phool said...

Don't do it John! Do not release this book! I sense strong forces of truth, knowledge, wisdom, rationality, and irrefutable arguments coming from it's pages!

Christians, I beg you, please pray to your God that this book never gets out! You probably should also pray that he answers this one, or else....your faith will be destroyed!!

Lvka, I hope you remember when someone gives a review of a book defending your side, you "NEVER quote such things as if You truly believe in them." :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks, John. I'll keep a lookout.

Presumably you will post something when Amazon starts featuring it.