James Lindsay, the mathematician specializing on infinity has written a blog on how to define faith using Bayes Theorem. This is one of the coolest things on Bayes Theorem I have ever seen! The more I study this, the more sense Bayes makes. But this…..THIS is simply outstanding!
http://goddoesnt.blogspot.com/2012/12/defining-faith-via-bayesian-reasoning.html
On Richard Carrier’s blog there is a list of responses he has managed with several reviews of his books on using Bayes Theorem and the Historical Jesus. See here: http://freethoughtblogs.com/carrier/archives/5730
I think this is excellent personally. What we need is dialogue. Talking it all out, bringing all views to the table, figuring out what’s the best way to get out of the mess that is Historical Jesus studies, and moving forward. Is Carrier completely correct? I don’t think so, but he is doing a fantastic thing getting this ball rolling.
Having read Richard Carrier’s two new books “Proving History,” and “On The Historicity of Jesus” I say wow! It appears to me to be the interesting case now that there are many more scholars stepping up to the plate and saying the Gospels are either wholly fabricated or else there is so much in them that is fabricated that it is hard to know if there is anything historical in them. Geze Vermes books deal with this. Robert M. Price deals with this in numerous books, John Dominick Crossan says this. Randall Helms says this. Burton Mack says this. And of course, now that the so-called “New Atheists” have come out boldly, and it appears many other authors are getting savvy to how to test the documents and writing about it, that the ideal of historicity is being severely challenged. It will be interesting to bring this all together. For now, it appears to me to be a new trend that is gaining ground rather speedily. And the fascinating thing is the evidences that are brought out are quite strong. It makes for interesting reading if nothing else. It certainly changes how I read the Gospels now without question. Stay tuned, more scholarly analysis coming up as I have time.
God Is Odd: Exploring Theology(s) Dictums 