(Published in Faith and Philosophy 2011. Volume 28, Issue 2, April 2011. Stephen Law. Pages 129-151) EVIDENCE, MIRACLES AND THE EXISTENCE OF JESUS Stephen Law Abstract The vast majority of Biblical historians believe there is evidence sufficient to place Jesus’ existence beyond reasonable doubt. Many believe the New Testament documents alone suffice firmly to establish Jesus as an actual, historical figure. I question these views. In particular, I argue (i) that the three most popular criteria by which various non-miraculous New Testament claims made about Jesus are supposedly corroborated are not sufficient, either singly or jointly, to place his existence beyond reasonable doubt, and (ii) that a prima facie plausible principle concerning how evidence should be assessed – a principle I call the contamination principle – entails that, given the large proportion of uncorroborated miracle claims made about Jesus in the New Testament documents, we should, in the absence of indepen
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Ophelia Benson just posted a link that methinks is highly relevant to the "religion as intellectual black hole" -reflections.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=following-the-crowd
..And hope you have a nice trip.
I am soon to enter my annual role as predator in the Norwegian woods and mountains myself. (Grouse, black grouse and capercaillie).
Not the same staggering heights as the alps, but during an 8 hr day I cover quite a number of height meters.
Cassanders
In Cod we trust