The Case Against Christianity

Front Cover
Temple University Press, 1991 - Philosophy - 273 pages
1 Review

In this systematic philosophical critique of the major tenets of Christianity, Michael Martin examines the semantic and epistemological bases of religious claims and beliefs. Beginning with a comparison and evaluation of the Apostles' Creed, the Niceno-Chalcedonian Creed, and the Athanasian Creed, Martin discusses the principal theological, historical, and eschatological assumptions of Christianity. These include the historicity of Jesus, the Incarnation, the Second Coming, the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, Salvation through faith in Jesus, and Jesus as a model of ethical behavior.

Until now, an adequately convincing criticism of Christianity did not exist. Martin's use of historical evidence, textual analysis, and interpretations by philosophers and theologians provides the strongest case made to date against the rational justification of Christian doctrines.

 

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Review: The Case Against Christianity

User Review  - Jack - Goodreads

While trying to fill a rarely explored niche in philosophy, there is too much pedantic, overly subtle, and somewhat boring technical analysis in this book to make it a very readable text, even for ... Read full review

Contents

The Basis of Christian Belief
18
Christian Doctrines as Basic Beliefs
27
The Historicity of Jesus
36
Criticisms of the Wellsian Thesis
59
Conclusion
67
The Resurrection
73
Habermass Defense of the Resurrection
87
Conclusion
96
Christian Ethics
162
Evaluation of Jesus Ethics
169
Conclusion
191
Salvation by Faith
197
Evaluation of the Doctrine
203
Conclusion
211
Other Possible Responses
223
The Divine Command Theory
229

The Virgin Birth and the Second Coming
105
The Second Coming
115
Conclusion
121
The Conceptual Problems of the Incarnation
127
A Modified Divine Command Theory
241
Conclusion
249
Conclusion
262
Copyright

Common terms and phrases

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References to this book

About the author (1991)

\Michael Martin, Professor of Philosophy at Boston University, is the author of The Legal Philosophy of H.L.A. Hart and Atheism: A Philosophical Justification (both from Temple).

Bibliographic information

QR code for The Case Against Christianity
TitleThe Case Against Christianity
AuthorMichael Martin
PublisherTemple University Press, 1991
ISBN1566390818, 9781566390811
Length273 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Philosophy / General
Religion / Christian Theology / General
Religion / Christianity / General
  
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