Doubts Aloud Podcast

Show NotesAndrew leads us through the development in the Hebrew scriptures regarding how other Gods/gods alongside Yahweh were understood.  Initially Yahweh was seen as Israel’s God within a Henotheist context, where Henotheism is the belief in or worship of one god while acknowledging the existence of other gods. A key idea was a Heavenly Council as seen in the opening of Job. Over time Yahweh became seen as more and more powerful than the other gods and eventually monotheism became dominant by the time of the New Testament. There is of course debate on this in the scholarship, which we discuss. Bible Study:Psalm 82:1Exodus 12:122 Chron 18:18-22Job 1:6 & 2:1Deuteronomy 32:8, 39 and 43Isaiah 47:8-9   Bible Scholars to look up: Mark Smith, Michael Heiser (the evangelical one), Dan McClellan, Thom Stark and Francesca Stavrakopoulou Doubts Aloud Links:Please give feedback and ask questions using:  doubtsaloud@gmail.com 

Show NotesLast episode we discussed apparently poor design within the Intelligent Design argument.  It led into assessing whether the Fall is a good explanation for poor design and hence natural suffering.  Here we discuss other explanations for a good and loving God making a world with natural suffering. In particular, we assess Sceptical Theism which we covered in episode 3. The idea is that the explanation is beyond our understanding, which seems good but has problematic implications.  One implication is the issue of whether God is lying in His revelation is something else we’d expect to be beyond our understanding.  Finally, we cycle back to the Fall narrative in Genesis to see whether God is lying in his warning to Adam.Doubts Aloud Links:Please give feedback, meet Ed’s challenge on suffering in the Old Testament and ask questions using: doubtsaloud@gmail.com

Show NotesIn recent episodes we have discussed Design Arguments and Intelligent Design. Here we cover another chapter from the 50 Arguments for Faith book which explains the apparent suboptimal Design. It is interesting to see what reasons Intelligent Design proponents give.   One suggestion is: "We must also remember that the world we are observing is not the original creation. It is a corrupted version of The Creation." This leads us into discussing the Fall as an explanation for Natural Suffering, a widely held view in Christianity. The journey of discussion will be continued next episode. Links:The 50 Arguments for Faith book: “Evidence for God: 50 Arguments for Faith from the Bible, History, Philosophy and Science” by Mike Licona and William Dembski.  (It can be found on Amazon.) The famous video clip with Stephen Fry talking about worms burrowing out of children’s eyes:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-suvkwNYSQo Justin Brierley’s response video.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klPr708VWDk Doubts Aloud Li

Show NotesWe looked at Design Arguments in our Episodes 82 & 85 but avoided diving deep into Fine Tuning, waiting for our discussion with Phil. It was worth it! We covered questions such as what are the actual physical observations which we call Fine Tuning? What are the main explanations for the observations that cosmologists/physicists generally think most likely and how popular are they among the scientist? Phil’s survey results on that are fascinating.Apologies for some technical difficulties with the podcast, Andrew was ill at the last minute, (he’s now recovering). Links:Don’t miss Phil’s book:Battle of the Big Bang: The New Tales of Our Cosmic Origins Hardcover, by Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper. May 2025https://www.amazon.co.uk/Battle-Big-Bang-Cosmic-Origins/dp/0226830470 Doubts Aloud Links:Please give feedback and ask questions using:  doubtsaloud@gmail.com

Show NotesWe welcome again our great friend John Nelson as our guest. John has started an excellent academic blog, “Behind the Gospels”, which we discuss at length. We cover individual issues that John has covered, especially whether Matthew the disciple was the author of Matthews Gospel. We couldn’t hold back from asking about some hot topics, such as whether ‘John’ knew the synoptic gospels or ‘Luke’ had read Josephus. The discussion also extended to wider issues like the cultural influences behind the Gospels, what we can say on the degree of factual material in them and the authority that traditions about Jesus’s words and deeds may have held in the period before the gospels were written. Links:www.BehindtheGospels.com Doubts Aloud Links:Please give feedback and ask questions using:  doubtsaloud@gmail.com

Show NotesWe welcome a new guest Jim Paul, a Christian thinker from the UK L’Abri community. He introduces us to a view of Heaven which is in contrast to the familiar ethereal heaven in our culture.  The familiar view is centuries old with its fluffy clouds and plump babies with wings, but it is a corruption of the Bible’s view, which is more earthy and on reflection more attractive.  Jim has written a book on this, “What on Earth is Heaven?”, which we discuss at length. Links:Jim’s book “What on Earth is Heaven?”:https://www.amazon.com/What-Earth-Heaven-James-Paul/dp/1789742218 Doubts Aloud Links:Please give feedback and ask questions using:  doubtsaloud@gmail.com

Design Arguments Part 2 Show NotesIn episode 82 we started our discussion on Design Arguments and got up to the start of the 19thC.  Later in that century the argument was turned on its head by Darwin and his Origin of Species. We discuss this and move on to modern creationism (a little) and Intelligent Design (a lot), selecting by our design – not at random - two more chapters from the 50 Arguments for Faith book which is heavy on Intelligent Design. Links: The 50 Arguments for Faith book: “Evidence for God: 50 Arguments for Faith from the Bible, History, Philosophy and Science” by Mike Licona and William Dembski.  (It can be found on Amazon.) Frances mentioned this by a practising Jew who rejects the Intelligent Design concept of irreducible complexity:https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3721655/ Doubts Aloud Links:Please give feedback and ask questions using:  doubtsaloud@gmail.com

Show NotesWe start from an informative update on the Flat Earth movement. Their model for the earth usually includes a wall of ice round the rim – Anarctica, that implies the 24 hour sunshine in the Anarctica summer is impossible and their claims often include that it does not occur.  So what happens when a group of prominent Flat Earth advocates are paid to visit Anarctica during its summer? That happened this month. For the rest of the show we discuss another story doing the rounds. It is prompted by the Museum of the Bible putting on display a mosaic from Israel which was uncovered in 2005 and was discussed back then. It dates to around 230AD and includes the phrase “God Jesus Christ” in one of its inscriptions. We deal with the context both in terms of the developing doctrine of the Trinity and in terms of apologists jumping on the latest ‘thing’.  Links: A full video on the update on a Flat Earthhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEc86p1vgLM Short one:https://youtube.com/shorts/HTSvI--ZVYg?si=jsEoFYmlLpHIzd

Show NotesWe start with the recent UK Parliament decision in favour of assisted dying and the religion and secular division that it brought out. Then we enjoy discussing Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at length.  There’s a debate among academics on whether it is a fully secular story, or if it is a Christian allegory.  We wade in.  The question on what Dickens’ own beliefs were has relevance and it seems that he had a “works not faith” view of Christianity, especially with reference to A Christmas Carol (or in Ed’s words “a wishy washy Anglican”). We see a message similar to Jesus’ in Luke’s gospel in particular as well as the synoptics in general, which is in conflict with material in the rest of the NT. Links:The BBC documentary on assisted dying “Better Off Dead?” with actress Liz Carrhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001z8wc A short academic resource on Dickens and Christianityhttps://dickens.ucsc.edu/resources/faq/religion.html We recommend the wikipedia page on the novellahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wi

Show NotesWe start with the next chapter selected by the randomiser in our 50 Arguments for God book.  “Can We Be Certain That Jesus Died on a Cross? A Look at the Ancient Practice of Crucifixion” We agree that the answer is Yes, and enjoy ourselves on the way.  Then we move on to another random chapter which is on how our planet is ideal for doing astronomy – “Designed for Discovery”.  This leads to a wider discussion on Design Arguments. We look at their history and cover Aquinas, Hume and Paley, but run out of time at the start of the 19thC. Links: The 50 Arguments for Faith book: “Evidence for God: 50 Arguments for Faith from the Bible, History, Philosophy and Science” by Mike Licona and William Dembski.  (It can be found on Amazon.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Hume and The Argument from Design:https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume-religion/#ArgDesAnd on Design Arguments generally:https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/teleological-arguments/#Int Doubts Aloud Links:Please give feedback

Show NotesEd continues relating the history of the remote isolated Scottish island of St Kilda and its amazing community.  We had finished Part 1 at about 1700 AD with a kind of Utopia and a gentle folksy religion.  Here we discuss its decline (our take) into a harsh, puritan, rule-bound and Calvinist kind of religion. And we ask how it could have happened and whether it’s a case of Hitchen’s “Religion poisons everything”. Links: That key book:Tom Steel, The life and death of St Kilda, 1975, Fontana.  French website on St Kilda translated –www.kildaprojet.com That Napier Commission on the Outer Hebrides – interviews:https://napier-outerhebrides.blogspot.com/2010/05/st-kilda-2-june-1883-i.html Doubts Aloud Links:Please give feedback and ask questions using:  doubtsaloud@gmail.com 

Show NotesEd shares from his longstanding interest in the remote isolated Scottish island of St Kilda and its amazing community that survived for 1000s of years up to 1930.  In part 1 we cover its geography, community structure and social conditions, and then its religious history finishing around 1700 which was when outsiders began worrying about their souls.  How did a small isolated community work in beliefs, morals and even economic arrangements? Links: Do a google-images on “St Kilda Scotland” That key book:Tom Steel, The life and death of St Kilda, 1975, Fontana.  Doubts Aloud Links:Please give feedback and ask questions using:  doubtsaloud@gmail.com 

Show NotesWe covered the book of Daniel in episode 44 explaining it’s likely ‘forgery’ status and we briefly discussed his 70 Weeks prophecy in that episode.  Here Andrew leads us into a deep dive, plunging the murky waters.  Indeed, studying the prophecy has been called a ‘dismal swamp’. We discuss how all approaches, apologetic or scholarly, lead to difficulties making “Daniel’s” weird maths fit with historical dates. Needless to say, apologetic claims that the fulfilled prophecy of the 70 Weeks are amazing, arresting and should convert an open minded sceptic don’t convince us. At the start of the episode we discuss the prophecy made in April 2024 of the near-miss shooting of Donald Trump. In some respects, this is a good match to the church’s treatment of the 70 weeks prophecy. Links: Richard Carrier on Daniel (he includes a section on the 70 Weeks): https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/18242 Key verses: Daniel 9.24-27. (It’s worth reading more for context.) The clip Andrew gave claiming the 70 weeks v

Show NotesIn Part 1, friends of the show John Nelson and Josh Parikh returned as guests and discussed “McGrewvianism”, which is the apologetic approach of partners Tim & Lydia McGrew.  Their critiques of McGrewvianism centred largely in lack of engagement in the last 150 years of scholarship into the New Testament documents and they related this extensively to the McGrew’s use of ‘Undesigned Coincidences’ to establish the historical reliability of the NT narratives.Jonathan McLatchie, who we also consider a friend of the show, is in the McGrew camp and wrote a helpful response blog, which also concentrated on Undesigned Coincidences.  In this episode we discuss his responses and we take a wider look at contradictions between texts as a potentially symmetrical opposite concept to Undesigned Coincidences. Links:We discussed ‘undesigned coincidences’ with Jonathan McLatchie in our episode 29. Jonathan’s blog, which we are responding to, is:https://jonathanmclatchie.com/have-john-nelson-and-josh-parikh-refute

Show NotesWe return to our “Doubts Aloud Book Club” with a second episode on Tom Holland’s book ‘Dominion’ which has caused quite a stir in Christian apologetics circles over the last few years. We cover some of the critical responses, including ours. But most importantly we sought out responses from historians.   Tom makes a bold and interesting set of claims that we list, and then we assess them with a wider philosophical view to go with the historical story that Dominion presents. Links:The book Dominion:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dominion-Making-Western-Tom-Holland/dp/0349141207 Book reviews we found:Jenkins - in Christianity Todayhttps://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/january-web-only/tom-holland-dominion-christian-revolution.html De Groot – in The Timeshttps://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/dominion-by-tom-holland-review-7pc255qs7 Jonathan Sumption – in The Spectatorhttps://www.spectator.co.uk/article/did-christianity-make-the-western-mind-or-was-it-the-other-way-round/ The Unbelievable episodes

Show NotesFriends of the show John Nelson and Josh Parikh return as guests together. They introduce Josh’s new term to the world: McGrewvianism, which is the apologetic approach of partners Tim & Lydia McGrew.  They are scholars in their own fields but do not use the methods of modern NT scholarship when arguing for the historical reliability of the gospels. Potentially this can be seen as fresh air, but Josh & John dig deeper. This will be the first episode of a 2 part set. Josh & John cover such topics as McGrewvianism treatment of modern NT scholarship and their key ‘undesigned coincidences’ argument. Links:We discussed ‘undesigned coincidences’ with Jonathan McLatchie in our episode 29. John’s blog, which has a post on undesigned coincidences, is:https://www.behindthegospels.com/ The McGrewshttps://lydiamcgrew.com/Tim doesn’t seem to have a home page for his work, search for him on Amazon, or here:https://wmich.edu/philosophy/directory/mcgrew  Doubts Aloud Links:Please give feedback and ask qu

Show NotesTom Holland’s book ‘Dominion’ has caused quite a stir in Christian apologetics circles over the last few years and we’ve been reading it. We also attended a church leader’s evening where he was the speaker.  So we thought we would start a “Doubts Aloud Book Club” with Dominion the first book covered.We introduce Tom, his current faith position and the book, we discuss his style and how much we enjoyed the read.  We present the key messages that Tom seeks to make and talk about whether it’s a book useful for apologetics.  Finally, we read some extracts that had struck us and discussed them.A later episode on the book will cover more on the critical responses, including ours.  He makes a bold and interesting set of claims that we can both learn from and see where we, and historians, may disagree. Links:That bookhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Dominion-Making-Western-Tom-Holland/dp/0349141207 The Justin Brierley Spectator article:https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-christian-revival-is-under-way-in-britain/

Show NotesWe are excited to have guest Rev Michael Roberts with us, he’s an Oxford geologist who subsequently became an Anglican vicar. He is extremely knowledgeable on the history of geology and the age of the earth in science, Christian academic thought, theology and the modern Young Earth movement. Did you know that Darwin was a geologist at the start of his career? Neither did we. Links:Michael’s blog is:https://michaelroberts4004.wordpress.com/Michael’s paper “Just before the Beagle”:https://drive.google.com/file/d/17qo3zEeYKZlwL_Y8DpoX3F-35BO4rPPz/view?usp=sharing His 5 day trip exploring Darwin in Waleshttps://www.newscientist.com/tours/retracing-charles-darwins-travels-across-north-wales/?fbclid=IwAR372bjMkHAcr0UU4p6B9KqztYkaOk5bxLH4PUgXRT06Nfo75iuhank-gac That Ovid bookhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamorphoses That Genesis Flood 1961 book:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Genesis_Flood(The link also mentions the Bernard Ramm book “The Christian View of Science and Scripture” we mentioned.) That irr

Show NotesThis month we return to that different form of Apologetics - Presuppositional Apologetics. Please see Part 1 - Episode 70 - where we gave a more social and historical background to it. Here we look at the basic argument made: the Transcendental Argument for God, “TAG”. We set it out and discuss implications and objections to it. Links:The Debunking Christianity material on Presup:https://www.debunking-christianity.com/2022/08/the-failure-of-van-tillian.html The short clip of someone doing a ‘reverse Presup’ on Presuppositional Apologists, invoking a “non-conscious power”:https://youtu.be/BPF8lcYWQ1Y?si=_B8mO9jUKdA6z8Q7 Blog expanding on our point that our desire for there to be reliable rationality does not show there ishttps://useofreason.wordpress.com/2019/05/10/the-limitations-of-transcendental-arguments/ Julian Baggini’s book “How the World Thinks”https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-World-Thinks-History-Philosophy/dp/1783782285 The Dan Linford paper given to us by Josh on skeptical theism and how it de

Show NotesWe deal with the current conflict in Israel and Gaza by looking at the influence of religion, in the minds of the Israeli leaders & the settlers taking land in the West Bank and also in the minds of the Evangelical Zionist backers in the UK and US. The UK evangelical influence is more of historical interest but the US is very current and is influencing events now. Links etc:The video by Al Jazeera used for extracts at the start of the show – “How Evangelicals Betray Christians In The Holy Land”https://youtu.be/nHT-SjIM0tA?si=yok7IZPkxAMyasQf Sky News – the Benjamin Netanyahu speech with translation, Amalek bit from 1min50shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5LmB6uup3o Guardian article with quotes from a settler and an administrator of settlementshttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/18/these-are-biblical-lands-promised-to-us-jewish-settlers-in-west-bank-hope-gaza-conflict-will-help-their-cause Pew Research on Jews in Israelhttps://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/03/08/in-israel-jews-are-u