In this handbook, Joshua Bowen not only provides the background to the Old Testament and the ancient Near East, but engages with hotly contested topics like slavery, failed prophecy, and the authorship of debated Old Testament books.This book provides:-clear and straightforward explanations to complex topics-direct engagement with hot-button Old Testament issues-specific arguments to help you in a debate or discussion.Whether you are looking to debate problematic Old Testament issues on social media or have a relaxed, meaningful discussion with a family member over coffee, The Atheist Handbook to the Old Testament is an indispensable resource for you.

    

    The three great monotheisms are picked apart, exposing their shortfalls via their own texts, world history, philosophy, and thought-provoking hypotheticals. If your brilliant logical brain is ready to be freed, you have come to the right place. This book will help you quell the doubt and fear associated with leaving the credulous herd. If you would like a free Audible audiobook please contact the author at: howiopened@gmail.com(while supplies last)

    

    Regarded as being most invulnerable to any type of counterattack, Ibn Sīnā’s Burhān argument postulates that a reality with only contingent existences is inconceivable, as a contingent existence cannot cause itself. Ibn Sīnā argues that the only way to explain the existence of anything is to postulate the existence of an uncaused necessary being, or a wājib al-wujūd (‘necessary existence’). However, despite its impact, the Burhān has not been packaged for apologetic use for a modern audience.Hijab’s novel contribution to the discourse surrounding God’s existence is found in his re-articulation of Ibn Sīnā’s argument, making it accessible for theists to make the case for God. Using the Burhān as his guide, Hijab provides his own proofs for the necessary existence of God and answers some of the most prominent objections. Hijab applies the arguments for a necessary being to potential pastoral and apologetic settings using two fictitious characters, Richard and Betty.

    But could there be another explanation for how things came to be?In his new book, Tony Sunderland contends that because our universe is ultimately understandable, and the constants of physics so finely tuned, it is reasonable to conclude that the universe was created by intelligent beings, similar to us but far more advanced. Sunderland takes the misused term intelligent design away from religious apologists and expresses it in its proper form and context, to refer to the deliberate intervention of intelligent beings in the natural order of things. For Sunderland, the term intelligent design signifies that certain features in our universe are best explained by an intelligent cause.Could it be that the evolution of superior forms of intelligence is part of a greater narrative, written before the birth of our universe? Sunderland tells the story in two parts: first is the story of the relentless struggle of our genes across time, and the cultural attempts to transcend our predetermined genetic nature - both personal and societal. In the second part, he discusses the constant spiritual yearning that resides within each of us, and urges us to envision life as more than mere survival. But this unique trait has also been abused and manipulated by other (usually religiously inspired) forces. Sunderland traces an unbroken testament that reveals, across time and space, a possible method in the madness we have endured along the way, one that starts with the most powerful organising force in the universe: evolution by natural selection.

    Is belief in God really like belief in Russell's teapot? Kenneth L. Pearce argues that God is no teapot. God is a real answer to the deepest question of all: why is there something rather than nothing? Graham Oppy argues that we should believe that there are none but natural causal entities with none but natural causal properties-and hence should believe that there are no gods. Beginning from this basic disagreement, the authors proceed to discuss and debate a wide range of philosophical questions, including questions about explanation, necessity, rationality, religious experience, mathematical objects, the foundations of ethics, and the methodology of philosophy. Each author first presents his own side, and then they interact through two rounds of objections and replies.Pedagogical features include standard form arguments, section summaries, bolded key terms and principles, a glossary, and annotated reading lists. In the volume foreword, Helen De Cruz calls the debate "both edifying and a joy," and sums up what's at stake: "Here you have two carefully formulated positive proposals for worldviews that explain all that is: classical theism, or naturalistic atheism. You can follow along with the authors and deliberate: which one do you find more plausible?"Though written with beginning students in mind, this debate will be of interest to philosophers at all levels and to anyone who values careful, rational thought about the nature of reality and our place in it.