Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?: The Resurrection Debate

Rating:
Summary: The Old Five-Against-One
Review: In this book a gang of conservative Bible scholars debate Antony Flew; an English atheist philosopher with strong logical positivist leanings. The debate was about the historical reality of the ressurection of Jesus of Nazareth (in the sense that if you had been there with a camera you could have taken Jesus' picture coming out of the tomb.)

The organizers of the debate felt that a careful treatment of this topic meant ensuring that no door to philosophical discourse be left open. Flew was not, therefore, permitted to indulge in the topic for which he is trained, well-known and respected. His presence is a device for selling books by having his name, but not his expertise, represented in its pages.

Flew, the last great 20th c. English atheist Gentleman in a recent line directly descended from Russell through Ayer, tried to get the Bible scholars to talk a little about the difference between offering a theory that fails to fit the facts and saying that there aren't enough facts to offer a theory. But the discussion was consistently steered to documents, historians, translations of scripture etc. Flew displayed a remarkable cross-disciplinary knowledge of Biblical matters but ultimately found himself as lost on the Bible scholars' turf as they would have been debating on Flew's philosophical turf.

As of the writing of this essay Antony Flew, age 81, has "converted" to a belief in God, or in his words:

"I'm thinking of a God very different from the God of the Christian and far and away from the God of Islam, because both are depicted as omnipotent Oriental despots, cosmic Saddam Husseins," he said. "It could be a person in the sense of a being that has intelligence and a purpose, I suppose." ((ABC News: One of World's Leading Atheists Now Believes in God, More or Less, Based on Scientific Evidence - The Associated Press NEW YORK Dec 9, 2004))

Who knows how well this conversion will hold up with time. If I were an atheist I would probably already be busy debunking it. Philosophically, atheists typically aren't interested in anything but attacks on atheism.






Rating:
Summary: Flew was Killed
Review: That says enough. Read it for yourself and tell me who you thought the winner was. I almost felt sorry for Flew.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: This book is one of the most entertaining and thought-provoking I've ever read! It is the published form of a 1985 debate between Christian evidentialist apologist Gary Habermas and atheistic philosopher Antony G.N. Flew concerning the question, "Did Jesus rise from the dead?" The question was limited to historicity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ - other topics, such as the existence of God and the verifiability of miracles, were off limits. After each debater gave an opening statement, a rebuttal, and the two went "head-to-head", the judges voted 7-2 (one draw) in favor of Habermas as winner of the debate.

This book is incredibly interesting. Part One is the formal debate, as described above. Part Two is a transcript of the discussion between Flew, Habermas, Terry L. Miethe, and W. David Beck that took place the night after the debate. Part Three consists of responses to the debate by Wolfhart Pannenberg, Charles Hartshorne, and J.I. Packer. Part Four is a final response by Habermas to the issue of the resurrection.

No matter what your religious or philosophical background, if you are interested at all in whether or not it is reasonable to believe in the miraculous, particularly in the Christian claim that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, this book will fascinate you. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: This book is one of the most entertaining and thought-provoking I've ever read! It is the published form of a 1985 debate between Christian evidentialist apologist Gary Habermas and atheistic philosopher Antony G.N. Flew concerning the question, "Did Jesus rise from the dead?" The question was limited to historicity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ - other topics, such as the existence of God and the verifiability of miracles, were off limits. After each debater gave an opening statement, a rebuttal, and the two went "head-to-head", the judges voted 7-2 (one draw) in favor of Habermas as winner of the debate.

This book is incredibly interesting. Part One is the formal debate, as described above. Part Two is a transcript of the discussion between Flew, Habermas, Terry L. Miethe, and W. David Beck that took place the night after the debate. Part Three consists of responses to the debate by Wolfhart Pannenberg, Charles Hartshorne, and J.I. Packer. Part Four is a final response by Habermas to the issue of the resurrection.

No matter what your religious or philosophical background, if you are interested at all in whether or not it is reasonable to believe in the miraculous, particularly in the Christian claim that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, this book will fascinate you. Enjoy!