For about two decades John W. Loftus was a devout evangelical Christian, an ordained minister of the Church of Christ, and an ardent apologist for Christianity. With three degrees--in philosophy, theology, and philosophy of religion--he was adept at using rational argumentation to defend the faith. But over the years, doubts about the credibility of key Christian tenets began to creep into his thinking. By the late 1990s he experienced a full-blown crisis of faith. In this honest appraisal of his journey from believer to atheist, the author carefully explains the experiences and the reasoning process that led him to reject religious belief. The original edition of this book was published in 2006 and reissued in 2008. Since that time, Loftus has received a good deal of critical feedback from Christians and skeptics alike. In this revised and expanded edition, the author addresses criticisms of the original, adds new argumentation and references, and refines his presentation. For every issue he succinctly summarizes the various points of view and provides references for further reading. In conclusion, he describes the implications of life without belief in God, some liberating, some sobering. This frank critique of Christian belief from a former insider will interest freethinkers as well as anyone with doubts about the claims of religion.
A former preacher tell why he abandoned the guidance of the Bible to follow the dictates of own conscience.
After losing nearly everything, including his job and his wife, due to his crumbling faith, the author shares his transformative journey from a pastor with a deep Christian faith to a leader and well-known speaker in America's fast-growing ...
Caught between the beauty of his grandchildren and grief over a friend's death, Frank Schaeffer finds himself simultaneously believing and not believing in God--an atheist who prays.
Of course, Robinson Crusoe's racial and religious attitudes likely were not shared by author Defoe, whose principal occupation was that of satirist and pamphleteer. Robinson Crusoe may have been a veiled satire.
This book moves from statistical and broad cultural analysis to use frank, humorous and sometimes harrowing personal testimony.
The first full-length study exploring the possibility of salvation for athiests in Catholic dogmatic theology since Vatican II. It discusses crucial foundational issues in the decades preceding the Council, looks at the conciliar teaching ...
A thorough and conscientious commentary on the first three chapters from the Book of Genesis, completed in 415.
A former African American minister reveals his unusual journey from faith to atheism. Anthony Pinn preached his first sermon at age twelve. At eighteen he became one of the youngest ordained ministers in his denomination.
"With contributions from 36 Minnesotans, and a foreword by Greta Christina, this unique book allows a cross section of ordinary atheists to tell their personal stories about how their lives and atheism connect.
The essential guide to coming out as a non-believer David G. McAfee was raised in a conservative American Christian household.