Tim McGrew's Recommended Apologetics Reading - Apologetics 315

 Remember that lecture Dr Timothy McGrew did on educating yourself in Apologetics posted on Apologetics 315 by Brian Auten? Well Brian Auten posted a follow up that contains a Bibliography of the books and resources he discussed in the lecture. Check it out!

Tim McGrew's Recommended Apologetics Reading - Apologetics 315

Practical Apologetics MP3 by Dr. Timothy McGrew - Apologetics 315

Brian Auten has posted a lecture by Dr Timothy McGrew about Apologetics in which he gives really good advice about how to talk to people and how to study to equip oneself. I always enjoy hearing Dr McGrew and this lecture is no exception. There is a lot I gleaned from his advice. 

Practical Apologetics MP3 by Dr. Timothy McGrew - Apologetics 315

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Alleged Contradictions in the Gospels (2) by Tim McGrew - Apologetics 315

Brian Auten has recently posted the second part of Tim McGrew's lecture on alledged contradictions in the Gospels. I've really been enjoying this series. Take a look at the video, listen to the mp3, review the slides and the PDF. Enjoy it. I know I do.


Alleged Contradictions in the Gospels (2) by Tim McGrew - Apologetics 315

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Alleged Historical Errors in the Gospels (Luke & John) by Tim McGrew - Apologetics 315

Brian Auten has posted another set of materials by Dr Tim McGrew from a series of lectures he has done on "Alleged Historical Errors in the Gospels". This lecture deals with Luke and John. I'm really enjoying the material. You can follow the link below to get a video, pdf, and mp3 for the lecture.

Alleged Historical Errors in the Gospels (Luke & John) by Tim McGrew - Apologetics 315

Say Hello to my Little Friend » Blog Archiv » Does Richard Carrier Exist?

So what if someone applied Dr Richard Carrier's arguments against Jesus' existence to disproving Carrier's own existence? With an assist from Dr Tim McGrew, Glenn (from the "Say Hello to my Little Friend" podcast and blog) takes a look at if Carrier's arguments could be shown to disprove the existence of Carrier himself and is falsified because Carrier exists. You can read the article at the following link.

Say Hello to my Little Friend » Blog Archiv » Does Richard Carrier Exist?

Evidence Jesus is Alive by Timothy McGrew - Apologetics 315

Brian Auten posted Dr Frank Turek's interview of Dr Timothy McGrew about what evidence we really have for Jesus' Resurrection. Dr McGrew discussed an acrostic to make five points of evidence easy to remember: A.L.I.V.E.

A - Appearances of Jessus
L -  Low Status of Women
I -   Immediate Proclamation
V - "Voluntary sufferings undergone by the first witnesses"
E - Empty Tomb

Follow the link to hear the interview. 

Evidence Jesus is Alive by Timothy McGrew - Apologetics 315

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Internal Evidence for the Gospels by Timothy McGrew Audio and Video - Apologetics 315

Here is the third part in Dr Timothy McGrew's series of lectures in which he explains some of the evidence we have for accepting the validity of the Gospels. In this lecture, he focuses on "undesigned coincidences". They are times when the one Gospel gives details that another Gospel omits. There are several examples and none of them can be explained by one author copying another. The series just keeps getting better and better. Can't wait for part 4.




Internal Evidence for the Gospels by Timothy McGrew Audio and Video - Apologetics 315

External Evidence for the Gospels by Timothy McGrew Audio and Video - Apologetics 315

Here is a really good lecture that Dr Timothy McGrew gave last month relying on historical evidences from non Christian witnesses and culture and history to show consistently accurate the Biblical Gospels and Acts are. Of course, it does not prove that they are true by themselves but it is good evidence that they are true. If the Bible authors had gotten so many easily checked things wrong, it would be enough to throw them out as true. I'be got to ask why doesn't the fact that they get these things right not evidence that the books are true? It truly is a sad, double-minded, and inconsistent methodology for determining if something is true.



External Evidence for the Gospels by Timothy McGrew Audio and Video - Apologetics 315

Who Wrote the Gospels? Audio and Video by Tim McGrew - Apologetics 315

Brian Auten posted everything you need to reach a lecture by Dr Tim McGrew on what we can know about the authors of the canonical Gospels and why we can trust them. Follow the link at the end of the post to get the audio.





Who Wrote the Gospels? Audio and Video by Tim McGrew - Apologetics 315

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Gospels and Acts as History by Timothy McGrew - Apologetics 315

Brian Auten just posted a lecture by Dr Timothy McGrew on the reliability of the New Testament. He explains why we should take the Gospels and Acts as Historical and not fiction. Brian posted Dr McGrew's lecture in Video format, MP3, and even the powerpoints! Follow the link to Apologetics 315 to get your hands on this information!

Gospels and Acts as History by Timothy McGrew - Apologetics 315

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Sir Robert Anderson on Reason and Truth - Apologetics 315

Here is a great quote about spirituality from Sir Robert Anderson. Brian Auten posted it at the link at the end.

"[W]hile Divine truth is spiritual, and can only be spiritually discerned, human error is natural, and can be met on its own ground. We cannot “reason” men into the kingdom of God, but by reasoning we can expose errors which prejudice them against it."

- Sir Robert Anderson, The Bible and Modern Criticism, 5th ed. (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1905), p. 27

[HT: Tim McGrew]

Sir Robert Anderson on Reason and Truth - Apologetics 315

Audio Resources by Tim McGrew - Apologetics 315

Brian Auten has posted some great audios featuring Dr Tim McGrew. Follow the link to hear them!

Audio Resources by Tim McGrew - Apologetics 315

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Apologist Interview: Tim McGrew - Apologetics 315

One of the best things about Apologetics 315's interview  series is that Brian Auten asks questions that I really wanna know. This week, he interviewed Dr. Tim McGrew. Dr McGrew has been busy the past several weeks and has been speaking and his work being pointed to in many of the sources I've been following. The more I see of his work and his wife's, Dr Lydia McGrew, the more impressed I've become. I've enjoyed the other two other interviews Brian has posted but this one is worth hearing even if you heard the other two. I'm hoping that Dr Tim McGrew will write a book calling attention to undesigned coincidences in the Biblical text. He is the first person who I have heard discuss this.and I am amazed that I have not seen it before. Truth is given that he has pointed out and helped to make available past scholars who discussed it maybe he doesn't need to write one. I hope next week or in the near future Brian interviews Lydia McGrew.

Apologist Interview: Tim McGrew - Apologetics 315

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dangerous idea: Straw Men Burning: Tim McGrew on Misinterpretations of the McGrews' article on the Resurrection

I've been following the discussion on using Baye's Theorem for calculating a probability for Jesus' Resurrection. The paper was originally written by Doctors Tim and Lydia McGrew. Dr William Lane Craig also made a similar argument in his debate on the Resurrection against Dr Bart Ehrman much to Ehrman's consternation. Tim McGrew wrote a response to the criticism posted on Dr. Victor Reppert's blog. Follow the link to read it.

dangerous idea: Straw Men Burning: Tim McGrew on Misinterpretations of the McGrews' article on the Resurrection

In addition Dr. Reppert wrote a short post explaining how he sees the role of probability theory philosophy of religion.

dangerous idea: On the use of probability theory in the philosophy of religion

Debunking Christianity: Did You Know? Odds on the Resurrection of Jesus Are 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 to 1

I'm not really one to argue statistics  but it's amazing to me that John Loftus posts the following 

Debunking Christianity: Did You Know? Odds on the Resurrection of Jesus Are 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 to 1

which in turn is linked to the following:

Odds on the Resurrection of Jesus: 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 to 1

I tend to not argue from statistics because you can make it say whatever you want. Given the way you spin it you can make something seem likely or not so likely.  Deane Galbraith tries to debunk Dr Tim McGrew and Dr Lydia McGrew on a paper they did in which they argued that from a statistics point of view Jesus' Resurrection was very probable. He tries but in my opinion fails. For me the Resurrection isn't about probabilities. Either it happened or it did not. I believe it did. End of story. There is enough historical evidence and personal experience with the resurrected Jesus to insure that it makes sense to base your life around the fact of Jesus. I did also find an interview Dr. Lydia McGrew did regarding Philosophy, Apologetics, and this paper. The link to it follow.

Lydia on The Probability of Christianity

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Hidden Gems in Old Apologetics Literature by Tim McGrew - Apologetics 315

Dr Tim McGrew was recently interviewed by Dr Mike Licona on his work on studying the history of Apologetics. I loved the interview. Not only did we learn more about Dr. McGrew's amazing family but how important it is not to forget the work of previous apologists and scholars. It reminds me of how valuable the older works of scientist and engineers in their own work and not just what modern writers say what they discovered. For example, reading Einstien's papers on relativity or Enrico Fermi's book on thermodynamics is way cooler than just reading about them in a current textbook.

McGrew shows that some of the most famous and useful literature from previous centuries have been forgotten and makes me wonder if today's great works might be forgotten in 100 years.

Be sure to visit the Library of Historical Apologetics for more classical apologetic works.

Hidden Gems in Old Apologetics Literature by Tim McGrew - Apologetics 315

Undesigned Coincidences in the Gospels by Tim McGrew - Apologetics 315

Today Brian Auten posted an a really great audio! It's an interview of Dr. Tim J. McGrew. The interview focuses on "Undesigned Coincidences in the Gospels". I never heard of this line of reasoning before this discussion. Dr. McGrew said that it was once popular in the 19th century and he is now helping to popularize it. The idea is basically that missing information or unanswered questions are filled in by information, sometimes indirectly, given in other Gospel or historical documents. Often times the questions we have are not questions that the original readers would have had because they shared so much in common with the writer. McGrew makes a cumulative case that this is evidence that the Gospel writers did not copy from one another or copy from a common source as many folks allege. McGrew explains his reasoning very well and I hope everyone will listen to this.

McGrew suggested three books one can read to get further information. You can get two of them from Amazon.com and I added links to them below. The third book, Dr. McGrew mentioned can be found at this link: The Four Gospels from a Lawyer’s Standpoint (1893). You can get the link to the audio from Apologetics 315 given at the end of the post.

Another point of note is that McGrew has been criticized and attempted and failed rebuttal was made by Edward T. Babinski. Given that Babinki has contributed to John Loftus' blog Debunking Christianity often and is mentioned there highly, I find it shady interesting that no mention of the exchange. Dr. McGrew's wife, Lydia, started the ball rolling back in January when she posted his talk about Undesigned Coincidences in the Gospels which he gave January 9, 2011 in New Orleans. This was followed by a rebuttal by Edward Babinski called Tim McGrew and the Ring of Truth -- The Undesigned Coincidences in Scripture? Or Redactions with Marcan Priority? . Dr. McGrew answered Babinski in article called Tim McGrew replies to Ed Babinski's Critique of his Discussion of Undesigned Coincidences on Dr. Victor Reppert's blog.

Undesigned Coincidences in the Gospels by Tim McGrew - Apologetics 315

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