History for Atheists

My guests today are David Hutchings and James C. Ungureanu, co-authors of Of Popes and Unicorns: Science, Christianity and How the Conflict Thesis Fooled the World. David is a physicist, science teacher and writer and James is a historian of science and religion. In this interview we discuss their book and the origin and impact of the Conflict Thesis - the pervasive but erroneous idea that religion and science have always been in conflict down the ages.To buy the book: Of Popes and Unicorns: Science, Christianity and How the Conflict Thesis Fooled the World .And for debunkings of many of the myths the Conflict Thesis is founded on, see History for Atheists: The Great Myths.  

Every year fundamentalist Christians, New Agers, neo-pagans and many atheists loudly agree that Easter was not originally a Christian feast and was a pagan fertility festival stolen by Christianity. Unfortunately, despite what endless memes and pop history articles claim, this idea is complete nonsense. So is the claim that Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny are also originally pagan. Easter, Ishtar, Eostre and Eggs

My guest today is Derek Lambert, the presenter of the excellent Mythvision video channel. Derek has been kind enough to have me on his channel several times over the last two years to discuss atheist bad history in general and Jesus Mythicism in particular. But today we are going to hear from Derek about his very interesting personal journey regarding his thoughts and conclusions about the historical Jesus. As he'll detail for us, Derek began as a fundamentalist Christian, lost his belief, became an atheist and also became a Jesus Mythicist, coming to believe that there was no historical Jesus at all. But Derek displays an interesting combination of rigorous examination of the evidence, intellectual honesty and a remarkable open-mindedness. So he is always open to other people's views, generous in consideration of alternatives and unstinting in following where the evidence seems to lead.As a result of listening to and engaging with a wide range of scholars, Derek has come to reject Mythicism and now concludes that a historical Jesus most likely existed. And I was surprised and rather flattered to discover during our conversation that my articles on History for Atheists had something to do with this transition. We also discuss why he found Mythicism appealing and why he feels this fringe idea has a hold on many atheists despite being rejected by almost all scholars.So please enjoy my fascinating conversation with the always enthusiastic, upbeat and very interesting Derek Lambert.https://mythvisionpodcast.com/https://historyforatheists.com/jesus-mythicism/

The historical myths surrounding the emperor Constantine, his conversion to Christianity and the claim he created the Bible at the Council of Nicaea are persistent and continue to be propagated in popular culture, despite being total nonsense. Unfortunately, leading atheists also perpetuate these silly ideas, with everyone from Richard Dawkins to Joe Rogan insisting that Constantine was not really a Christian, that he pretended to convert for political reasons and that it was he who set the canon of the New Testament. It is a sad testament to the poverty of these atheists' historical knowledge that their understanding is stunted at the level of the airport thriller, The Da Vinci Code.In this latest podcast episode, I look at the actual historical evidence and show how the caricature of history presented by these public anti-theists is hopelessly wrong.Further readingDavid L. Dungan, Constantine's Bible: Politics and the Making of the New Testament (Fortress: 2007)Bart D. Ehrman, The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World, (Simon & Schuster: 2018)Robin Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians, (Penguin: 1986)Peter J. Leithart, Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom (IVP Academic: 2010)Paul Stephenson, Constantine (Quercus: 2009)The Great Myths 4: Constantine, Nicaea and the Bible

My guest today is Associate Professor Ted McCormick. Ted is a specialist in intellectual history and the history of science at Concordia University in Canada. He examines the intersections between science, technology, economy and empire in the early modern era.Recently, he has taken an interest in how the concept of “the Enlightenment” has been taken up as something of an ideological cause by some popular writers. In particular he has critiqued the way the Enlightenment has been portrayed by Steven Pinker in his books The Better Angels of Our Nature and, particularly, his more recent work Enlightenment Now which Pinker has subtitled “The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress”. As a historian of the Enlightenment, Ted has serious problems with the way Pinker – a non-historian – characterises the Enlightenment and the rhetorical purposes to which he puts his version of history. Ted has also provided a list of selected reading on aspects of the Enlightenment.

My guest today is the historian of science, Thony Christie. Thony is an independent scholar based in Germany who also the author of the superb Renaissance Mathematicus blog.  His knowledge of the history of Early Modern science is vast and so he is the perfect person to give us a detailed overview of what happened and, more importantly, what did not happen in the dispute between Galileo and the Catholic Church. Thony and I spoke for almost two and a half hours on this subject, so I've edited our conversation into three parts of about 50 minutes each.In this the third and final part of our conversation we get to the climax of the story of Galileo: the 1632 publication of his book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems and his resulting trial before the Roman Inquisition. Thony's detailed, 52 part series of articles on the beginnings of modern astronomy is also a great resource: “The Emergence of Modern Astronomy – A Complex Mosaic”. And Thony has also provided an extensive recommended reading list. Finally, here is the translation of Cardinal Bellarmino's "Letter to Foscarini" which we discuss in our conversation and which is crucial for an understanding of the critical issues of the Church's approach to science and to the interpretation of the Bible. Finally, here is the translation of Cardinal Bellarmino's "Letter to Foscarini" which we discuss in our conversation and which is crucial for an understanding of the critical issues of the Church's approach to science and to the interpretation of the Bible.

My guest today is the historian of science, Thony Christie. Thony is an independent scholar based in Germany who also the author of the superb Renaissance Mathematicus blog.  His knowledge of the history of Early Modern science is vast and so he is the perfect person to give us a detailed overview of what happened and, more importantly, what did not happen in the dispute between Galileo and the Catholic Church. Thony and I spoke for almost two and a half hours on this subject, so I've edited our conversation into three parts of about 50 minutes each.In this, the first part, we discuss the common myths that seem to be accepted by many people, and certainly by many atheists, about what happened in the Galileo Affair. Thony gives a detailed background to Galileo's early career and the social and scientific context in which he worked. Thony's detailed, 52 part series of articles on the beginnings of modern astronomy is also a great resource: “The Emergence of Modern Astronomy – A Complex Mosaic”. And Thony has also provided an extensive recommended reading list. Finally, here is the translation of Cardinal Bellarmino's "Letter to Foscarini" which we discuss in our conversation and which is crucial for an understanding of the critical issues of the Church's approach to science and to the interpretation of the Bible.

My guest today is the historian of science, Thony Christie. Thony is an independent scholar based in Germany who also the author of the superb Renaissance Mathematicus blog. His knowledge of the history of Early Modern science is vast and so he is the perfect person to give us a detailed overview of what happened and, more importantly, what did not happen in the dispute between Galileo and the Catholic Church. Thony and I spoke for almost two and a half hours on this subject, so I've edited our conversation into three parts of about 50 minutes each.In this second instalment Thony talks about the career of Galileo, his sudden rise to fame and the beginnings of the controversy that would eventually lead to his trial before the Inquisition. Thony gives a lot of context to help us understand what actually happened and has a lot of fun debunking myths along the way. Thony's detailed, 52 part series of articles on the beginnings of modern astronomy is also a great resource: “The Emergence of Modern Astronomy – A Complex Mosaic”. And Thony has also provided an extensive recommended reading list.

What was the Great Library of Alexandria and why does it feature in some anti-religious rhetoric? In this second part of a two-part episode, we will look at how the Great Library came to an end. And then examine how the myth that it was "burned down from Christians" arose and why this story is nonsense.

What was the Great Library of Alexandria and why does it feature in some anti-religious rhetoric? In this first part of a two-part episode, we will examine some of the misconceptions about the Great Library, look at what it was and - more importantly - what it was not. And in the upcoming second part, we will explore how the Great Library came to an end and the enduring myth that it was burned down by a Christian mob.

A conversation with bestselling history author Tom Holland about his book "Dominion - The Making of the Western Mind".You can buy a copy of "Dominion" here: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/tom-holland/dominion/9781408706978/​For a transcript of key parts of Tom's debate with A.C. Grayling on the themes of the book, with my critique of Grayling's claims about history, see https://historyforatheists.com/2020/03/the-great-myths-8-the-loss-of-ancient-learning/​And to find your favourite platform for Tom and Dominic Sandbrook's podcast "The Rest is History" go to https://twitter.com/theresthistory​

Why do almost all scholars accept that a historical Jesus most likely existed? An overview of the reasons behind the consensus that there probably was a historical, human preacher behind the later stories of Jesus.For more on Jesus Mythicism and its problems, see:https://historyforatheists.com/jesus-mythicism/

Cambridge University historian Dr Seb Falk joins History for Atheists to discuss his book "The Light Ages" and misconceptions about science in the Middle Ages.His book is available from various vendors and comes highly recommended:https://www.sebfalk.com/the-light-ages​

Despite it having been repeatedly debunked by historians, some atheist activists continue to peddle the myth that the Medieval Church taught the earth was flat. But how did this myth arise and what did medieval people really know about the shape of the earth?See also:https://historyforatheists.com/2016/06/the-great-myths-1-the-medieval-flat-earth/​https://historyforatheists.com/the-great-myths/​And my detailed critique of the claims of "Aron Ra":https://historyforatheists.com/2019/08/aron-ra-gets-everything-wrong/

Atheist activism has a serious history problem. Tim O'Neill, author of the History for Atheists blog, explains why he began tackling the errors about the history of religion made by many of his fellow atheists and why he created his video channel and this podcast to supplement the blog.