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| Jonathan Burke |
To win your free copy of Jonathan's new book, simply write an article of more than 500 words for us on the subject: "Why I am losing my faith." The writers of the best articles will receive free hard copies of the book from us, together with free postage. If they have a tablet computer we will give them an additional E-Book version of the book free of charge.
If you not only write a great article, but also make it amusing to read, we will also give you a bonus of free E-Book copies of all of the other books that Jonathan has written.
This competition is restricted to Christadelphians. Members of other religions are not eligible to enter. Ex-Christadelphians, Former Christadelphians and Christadelphian Unbelievers will not be allowed to enter the competition.
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So good luck to you all and start thinking of all the reasons why your faith is beginning to fail.
Living On the Edge: a book for doubting Christadelphians
Living On the Edge: a book for doubting Christians
Today Christians in the Western world are typically living in a post-Christian society. Christian beliefs are met with skepticism, and people see little reason to believe. Christians are confronted with daily challenges to their faith, and often struggle to understand the relevance of Christianity to modern life. Professional surveys indicate the following reasons why young Christians lose their faith.
About the author
Jonathan Burke has been a baptized Christian for over 20 years. He is the archaeology columnist for a theological journal, and has had three theological books published in Australia. Two of his books are available on Lulu.
A Bachelor of Arts with a Classics major (including a working knowledge of Greek and Latin), provides the background for his interest and knowledge in history related to Christianity, and a Masters of Information Management and Systems has trained him in research methodology and information verification. He is currently studying a PhD in industrial management.
An expatriate Australian, Jonathan has been living in Taiwan since 2004. He is a regular volunteer worker with Taoshan Elementary School (桃山國小), Garden of Hope Foundation(勵馨基金會), Harmony Home (關愛之家), Zhong Yi Foundation (忠義基金會), Brightside (臺灣嚮光協會), Taiwan Sunshine, and Rangi (人跡協會).
What’s in the book?
This is a table of contents, for those wondering what’s in the book. A few additional topics may be added.
Today Christians in the Western world are typically living in a post-Christian society. Christian beliefs are met with skepticism, and people see little reason to believe. Christians are confronted with daily challenges to their faith, and often struggle to understand the relevance of Christianity to modern life. Professional surveys indicate the following reasons why young Christians lose their faith.
- Overprotective churches
- Shallow church experience
- Antagonism towards science
- Simplistic teaching on morality
- Christianity seems exclusive
- Not treating doubters kindly
About the author
Jonathan Burke has been a baptized Christian for over 20 years. He is the archaeology columnist for a theological journal, and has had three theological books published in Australia. Two of his books are available on Lulu.
A Bachelor of Arts with a Classics major (including a working knowledge of Greek and Latin), provides the background for his interest and knowledge in history related to Christianity, and a Masters of Information Management and Systems has trained him in research methodology and information verification. He is currently studying a PhD in industrial management.
An expatriate Australian, Jonathan has been living in Taiwan since 2004. He is a regular volunteer worker with Taoshan Elementary School (桃山國小), Garden of Hope Foundation(勵馨基金會), Harmony Home (關愛之家), Zhong Yi Foundation (忠義基金會), Brightside (臺灣嚮光協會), Taiwan Sunshine, and Rangi (人跡協會).
What’s in the book?
This is a table of contents, for those wondering what’s in the book. A few additional topics may be added.
What this book is for & how to read it
- Is all this academic work really necessary?
- Referencing
- Transliteration
Living on the edge of certainty: how can we be sure about anything?
- Tools for thinking correctly
- The scientific method
- Understanding peer review
- Understanding scholarly consensus
- Errors of argument
- The Dunning-Kruger effect
- The right kind of skepticism
- Why Christians should value skepticism
- Hermeneutics: ‘Isn’t that just your interpretation?’
- Intellectual honesty
- Quote mining
- Confirmation bias
Living on the edge of credibility: the challenge of atheism
- The ‘New Atheism’ and its critics.
- Richard Dawkins: outspoken ‘New Atheist’
- Jacques Berlinerblau: atheist critic of New Atheism
- Atheism is not a guarantee of rational thinking
- Penn Jilette & (Raymond) Teller
- Bill Maher
- Ian Plimer
- Is religious belief rational?
- Is faith irrational?
- Are there any benefits to religion?
- Why would atheists want to copy religion?
- Questions about Christian history
- Did Jesus exist?
- Is Jesus just a copy of pagan saviours?
- Was Christmas a Christian hijack of a pagan festival?
- Were the Gnostics the ‘original’ Christians?
- Christianity & science
- The ‘Two Books’ tradition in historic Christian commentary
- Examining the claims of Draper & White
- Was Christianity responsible for the death of Greek science?
- Hypatia of Alexandria
- Andreas Vesalius
- Giordano Bruno
- Nicholas Copernicus
- Galileo Galilei
- Have atrocities been committed in the name of science?
Living on the edge of doubt: challenges to belief in the Bible
- Questions about the Biblical text
- How accurately has it been transmitted?
- How can we be sure what the original text was?
- How accurate are Bart Ehrman’s claims?
- Questions about the canon of Scripture
- Is the ‘Secret gospel of Mark’ genuine?
- Is the ‘Gospel of Judas’ genuine?
- Is the ‘Gospel of Thomas’ genuine?
- Questions about translations
- The translation history & accuracy of the “King James” Bible
- Can modern translations be trusted?
- Questions about archaeology
- Leading writers in archaeology relating to the Bible
- What is Biblical ‘minimalism’?
- What is the ‘Low Chronology’?
- Were camels domesticated in Abraham’s time?
- What is the ‘Merneptah Stele’?
- What is the ‘Tel Dan Stele’?
- What is the ‘Siloam Inscription’?
- Is Solomon’s wealth a literary fiction?
- Is the Bible’s chronology of the kings of Israel reliable?
- How tall was Goliath?
- Questions about Genesis
- How should Genesis 1 be interpreted?
- Strong literalism with scientific didactism
- Weak literalism with scientific didactism
- Concordism
- Theological didactism
- Theological polemic
- The early Christadelphian approach
- Is Genesis 1-11 a copy of ancient Mesopotamian myths?
- Is there any evidence for the flood?
- Was the Genesis flood local or global?
- Was the Ark a practical size?
- Questions about the New Testament
- How accurate is the book of Acts?
- Does the book of Acts copy from Josephus?
- Is the book of Acts an eyewitness account?
- Questions about the historical accuracy of Acts
- Visions of Christ in Acts 1
- The new apostle in Acts 1
- Pentecost in Acts 2
- Peter’s speech in Acts 2
- Early converts in Acts 3:1-31
- Communal life in Acts 4:32-37
- The daily distribution in Acts 6:1-15
- Persecution in Acts 7
- Paul’s commission in Acts 9
- The ‘Italian band’ in Acts 10
- The Jerusalem Council in Acts 15
Living on the edge of society: religious, social, & ethical issues
- Questions about Jesus
- Questions about baptism
- Questions about hell
- Questions about the atonement
- Questions about satan and demons
- Questions about the problems of evil & suffering
- What is the ‘Epicurean Paradox’?
- What is the ‘free will’ defense against the existence of evil?
- Why does God allow environmental disasters?
- The Euthyphro dilemma: what’s right & wrong?
- Christianity & the European witch hunts
- Did any Christians protest against the witch hunts?
- Were the witch hunts the product of Christian misogyny?
- The Bible & slavery
- Biblical teaching excludes inhumane treatment
- The environment
- Does the Bible encourage care for the environment?
- Does Christianity discourage care for the environment?
- Women & the congregation
- What can lexical-syntactical analysis tell us?
- Was Jesus more egalitarian than his contemporaries?
- Does ‘kephalē’ mean ‘source’?
- What is ‘the law’ in 1 Corinthians 14:34?
- What do secular commentators say?
- Does 1 Corinthians 14:34 contain a quotation from Paul’s opponents?
- Is 1 Timothy 2:11-12 a time limited text?
- How did Paul’s words sound to his audience?
- Who is leaving the church, men or women?
- Do complementarianism views encourage domestic abuse?
- Does complementarianism have any benefits?
- The current state of the issue
- Questions about the Bible’s moral teachings
- What are the effects of modern media?
- What are the effects of divorce and singe parenting?
- What are the effects of sexualized media?
- Homosexuality & Scripture
- Does the Greek word malakos refer to homosexual acts?
- Does the Greek word arsenokoitēs refer to homosexual acts?
- Bibliography (100 pages)
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