Meet the Editor and Contributing Authors
John W. Loftus is a former Christian minister who earned graduate theological degrees from Lincoln Christian Seminary and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and started, but never completed, a Ph.D. program in theology and ethics at Marquette University. He is the founder of the Debunking Christianity blog and the author of Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity (2008). He is the editor of The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails (2010) and The End of Christianity (2011).
Eleven authors contribute as follows:
- Hector Avalos, PhD – “Why Biblical Studies Must End”
- Richard Carrier, PhD – “Christianity’s Success Was Not Incredible” and “Neither Life nor the Universe Appear Intelligently Designed” and “Moral Facts Naturally Exist (and Science Could Find Them)”
- David Eller, PhD – “Christianity Evolving: On the Origin of Christian Species” and “Is Religion Compatible with Science?”
- Jaco Gericke, PhD – “Can God Exist if Yahweh Doesn’t?”
- John W. Loftus, MA, MDiv, ThM – “Introduction” and “Christianity is Wildly Improbable”
- Matt McCormick, PhD – “The Salem Witch Trials and the Evidence for the Resurrection”
- Keith Parsons, PhD – “Hell: Christianity’s Most Damnable Doctrine”
- Robert Price, PhD – “Explaining the Resurrection without Recourse to Miracle” and “Changing Morals and the Fate of Evangelicalism”
- Ken Pulliman, PhD – “The Absurdity of the Atonement”
- Victor Stenger, PhD – “Life After Death: Examining the Evidence”
- Valerie Tarico, PhD – “God’s Emotions: Why the Biblical God is Hopelessly Human”
Book Basics
This is Loftus’ second anthology in as many years. The Christian Delusion was titled after Richard Dawkins’ best-seller: The God Delusion. The End of Christianity was titled after Sam Harris’ best-seller: The End of Faith. The latest text is supplemented by a companion website.
As editor, Loftus relies heavily on the Outsider Test for Faith, which “asks believers to test their own inherited religious faith from the perspective of an outsider with the same level of skepticism they use to evaluate other religions” (p.10). The essays approach various matters that the contributing authors view as being among Christianity’s greatest weaknesses, typically focusing on the beliefs and practices of the faith’s most conservative adherents. Critiquing this group and its more rigid perspective and doctrine is a far easier task, even if Loftus suggests that it is primary for another reason: conservative Christians do a great job of finding fault with progressive Christians.
Overall, this volume offers thoughtful philosophical and scientific critiques of Christianity including rebuttals of some of the more popular Evangelical Christian authors. I was disappointed that Loftus opted to include three chapters by Carrier and two by Price rather than allocating that space to others, since variety of perspectives is a relative strength.
So What?
In “Christianity Evolving,” Eller argues that the Christian faith is evolving and will continue to evolve, and I would agree. Global population growth (more than 2 billion people worldwide are Christians), the continued proliferation of new Protestant denominations (now numbered in the tens of thousands), and the transition from modernity to postmodernity all will fuel the continued evolution of this incredibly diverse religion for many decades to come. Whether or not adherents are aware of the breadth of beliefs and practices that fall within the Christian “species,” and whether or not they are willing to apply the Outsider Test for Faith, I hope they will devote considerable energy to better understanding their own faith and other faiths.
- What is your initial impression of the Outsider Test for Faith? Do you think it is fair to ask Christians to evaluate their own faith in this manner? Why or why not?
- Do you read apologetic literature that supports your faith? If so, have you given any attention to reading how those outside the faith counter these arguments? How might an awareness of the latter type of material be helpful in strengthening your faith?
John W. Loftus, ed. The End of Christianity (Prometheus Books, 2011). ISBN: 9781616144135.