(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
Stephen Law is a philosopher and author. Currently Director of Philosophy and Cert HE at Oxford University Department of Continuing Education. Stephen has also published many popular books including The Philosophy Gym, The Complete Philosophy Files, and Believing Bullshit. For school talks/ media: stephenlaw4schools.blogspot.co.uk Email: think-AT-royalinstitutephilosophy.org
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Download audio here: January – Interview With Stephen Law
Stephen Law (BA, BPhil, DPhil) is a philosopher and senior lecturer at Heythrop College in the University of London. He also edits the philosophical journal Think, which is published by the Royal Institute of Philosophy and aimed at the general public.
Professor Law is the author of a number of books, including The Philosophy Files, The Outer Limits, A Very Short Introduction To Humanism, The War For Children’s Minds and Believing Bullshit. He is also the Provost for the Centre for Inquiry, UK. He blogs at Stephen Law and Believing Bullshit, and uses Twitter at https://twitter.com/stephenlaw60.
For this interview, I opened with a question that my students always had about his career – how and why did he get into philosophy in the first place (particularly as an adult student at the age of 24)? We discuss humanism, atheism, debates about the existence of god, philosophy for all ages - and, of course (as it is Week Two), arguments… and how do you know when is it worth arguing in the first place?