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I do not truly believe that even a fundamentalist like Ken Ham actually believes that God talked to a small physical reptile. Just because one sense of a text is allegorical does not mean that it should not be revered, which seems to be the implication of skeptics before they lump the Genensis...

The Smoley quote is still a reductio ad absurdum. IMHO if you are going to cite authority then perhaps you could consider chosing more representative Christian scholars such as Thomas of Aquinas who said: "I answer that, The author of Holy Writ is God, in whose power it is to signify His...

Perhaps consider the OT violence from the point of view of Rene Girard. For every percieved social ill, people are naturally inclined to find some villian who can be blamed and who, if purged from society, will restore order. That is just how we think. So in biblical history, we see this...

Read the whole thread but the above post continues to annoy me. Delano was not able to support his accusation because Alex did not make a straw man; but rather presented a different but similar logical fallacy: reductio ad absurdum. In my assessment, Delano fumbled the ball (incorrectly calling...

I read his Jesus Mysteries and was underwhelmed, but it was well written and a decent summary of the skeptical arguments I hear from atheists all the time, arguments that do not hold up to serious scrutiny. Nevertheless I will agree that he seems intelligent as are pretty much all the guests. So...

As someone else said, if someone wants to talk about metaphysics then he or she really should give you a basic idea of where they are coming from. Philosophical nomenclature contains many terms of art. No one really agrees over the exact definitions of realism/idealism/materialism but coming out...

Aren't we forgetting about the Pauline Epistles? These can be reliably dated to before destruction of the 2nd Temple.

Not a snowball's chance in hell...reconciling science and spirituality isn't going to happen by reducing metaphysical realities to physical processes via emergence...and that is indeed what Freke is suggesting when he said: "now we need to go, “Oh yeah, and there’s another phase of evolution...

That's a good question; I don't have a good answer. I'll go with the argument from desire. During times of intense intellectual activity I can sense something evocative that pulls me to it.

When I was about 12, my friend and I went to a mentalist/hypnotist show at the Iowa State fair. I had $10 that I could spend on anything – corn dogs, mid-way rides, freak shows, and candy – all the stuff 12 year old boys love. After the show, this performer was selling record albums about how to...

Hmmm...that's pretty close but not entirely the case. Most of the heresy accusations concerning Swedenborg are either overblown or simple misinterpretations. As a student of Swedenborg for close to twenty years, I can say that, as I read him, it is about relying on what is Good and True, rather...

Pythagoras comes to mind.

Not quite. The term objective applies when there is some independent object from which various subject can derive knowledge. Various knowing subjects may have different perceptions but that does not negate the presence of actual knowable facts about an object.

Christ where to begin? ;-) It's your show and it's not my place to tell you where to go with it. IMHO as a listener taking up theology would be a huge tangent for Skeptiko. I can find hundreds of podcasts on theology from the heresies of “Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio” to the orthodoxies of “Stand...

False equivalence. Trump has personal flaws. Hillary also has flaws but she is supported by a network of similarly flawed people.

While I do not feel it is appropriate to discuss finer theological points, I believe the ideas you presented about Ashreh and Satan are minority viewpoints. Even allowing for your enthusiasm of the things you have learned, calling it "Game Over" for Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian...

I agree. It can be a bit off-putting for Christians like myself since, except for David Bentley Hart, I don't recall any other highly respected theologians being interviewed. Even then, it wasn't like he was called upon to defend basic doctrines. It just sounds like a one-sided debate.

I could listen to Gordon White and Miguel Conner all day - what a great pair of voices. (Don't worry, Alex, you're up there too!)

Neither to I. Part of the problem is that the most popular theories of mind are based on the assumptions of modern analytic philosophy. In Thomism, because it starts with different assumptions, the mind-body problem simply doesn't exist.

As I recall, the question Alex "teed-up" was whether or not there was a paradigm shift away from materialism/physicalism to something that could incorporate the findings of consciousness research into ESP, mediumship, NDE's, etc.Personally, I do not think so judging from the popular science...