Friday, April 22, 2011

Happy Easter

Sorry for the lack of posting, I've been swamped. Given that it's almost Easter, the day when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Christ,* I thought I'd just link to my main posts on Jesus. For more check out the Historical Jesus tag.

William F. Buckley Jr. on Jesus' Resurrection
The Jesus Myth
Your Own Personal Jesus
Re: visions of the Historical Jesus
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
Was Jesus' Resurrection an Urban Legend?
Some Issues in NT Historiography, part 1; part 2; part 3; part 4; part 5
He Is
Craig vs. Spong
The Christ Myth Myth

* Of course, the early church moved the celebration of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday in recognition of Jesus' resurrection. So Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus every week.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Four Myths about the Crusades

Fascinating article over at First Principles. The one that surprised me was myth number 4, that Muslims held a grudge against Christians and Christianity because of the Crusades. The author points out that, prior to World War I, the Muslim world wasn't that bothered by the Crusades because they had the impression that they won those wars. And really, they pretty much did: they still have Asia Minor (Turkey), they still have northern Africa, they still have Iran, they still had Jerusalem until fairly recently (and they didn't lose it to Christians). What they lost is Al-Andalus (Spain). But all of those places were heavily Christian before the Muslims came, saw, and conquered, so the Christian Crusades were essentially a counter-attack against Muslim aggression. Which, incidentally, is addressed in refuting myth number 1, that the Crusades were an unprovoked attack.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Interview

Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) interviews Jerry Pournelle, one of the great science-fiction authors, here.