I have been considering the hypothesis that the star referred to in Matthew’s Gospel was a comet recorded by Han-dynasty astronomers in 5 BC. In a previous post, I examined an objection to this view that rested on two claims: First, that in the late first century BC comets were universally interpreted as negative omens. […]
Entries Tagged as 'Christian History'
Star of Wonder: Matthew’s Nativity Narrative and it’s Critics, Part three
February 5th, 2026 No Comments
Tags: Christian History · Star of Bethlehem
Star of Wonder: Matthew’s Nativity Narrative and its Critics, part two
January 2nd, 2026 Comments Off on Star of Wonder: Matthew’s Nativity Narrative and its Critics, part two
In a previous post, I addressed the claim that no star could exist that moves or behaves in the way described in Matthew’s Gospel. I argued that Matthew’s Gospel uses language found in Greco-Roman writings to describe comets, and that a comet could act in the way Matthew described. I also argued that we have good […]
Tags: Christian History · Christmas · Matthew's Gospel · Nativity · Star of Bethlehem
Star of Wonder: Matthew’s Nativity Narrative and its Critics, part one.
December 17th, 2025 Comments Off on Star of Wonder: Matthew’s Nativity Narrative and its Critics, part one.
Recently, I have been thinking about Matthew’s birth narrative. In particular, I want to discuss three claims that are sometimes made by critics of the narrative’s historicity. First, it is claimed that no star could exist that moves or behaves in the way described in Matthew’s Gospel. According to this objection, Matthew depicts a star […]
Tags: Apologetics · Bible · Matthew's Gospel · Star of Bethlehem
Some subversive thoughts about immigration part two: replies to objections
October 8th, 2025 Comments Off on Some subversive thoughts about immigration part two: replies to objections
Recently, I shared some reflections on the issue of immigration. Drawing on Deuteronomy 23:15–16 and the way this passage was interpreted and applied by 18th-century abolitionists, I argued that our present situation is analogous to that of illegal overstayers fleeing certain forms of degradation in their home countries. Below are some of the responses I […]
Tags: immigration
Does the Incommensurability of Prudential and Impartial rationality avoid the dualism of Practical Reason?
August 14th, 2021 Comments Off on Does the Incommensurability of Prudential and Impartial rationality avoid the dualism of Practical Reason?
I have been discussing the dualism of practical reason. As I understand it, this is an inference from three premises: [1] We always have most reason to do what is morally required [2] An act is morally required if and only if it is impartially demanded: demanded by rules justified from a perspective of impartial […]
Tags: Derek Parfit · Dualism of Practical Reason · God and Morality · Henry Sidgwick · Peter Bryne · Stephen Layman
What is the Question?: John Gay’s “Dissertation Concerning the Fundamental Principle of Virtue or Morality”
April 3rd, 2021 Comments Off on What is the Question?: John Gay’s “Dissertation Concerning the Fundamental Principle of Virtue or Morality”
In recent posts I have been looking at the rhetorical question: “if there is no God, why be good?” In my last post, I suggested one way to understand this question was in terms of Henry Sidgwick’s famous argument regarding the “dualism of practical reason. As I interpreted Sidgwick, his argument had three steps. First, […]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · Henry Sidgwick · John Gay · Utilitarianism · Why be Moral?
A common objection to belief in the God of the Bible is that a good, kind, and loving deity would never command the wholesale slaughter of nations. In the tradition of his popular Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages.
IS A FETUS A HUMAN BEING? Part one: Viability
June 7th, 2019 1 Comment
This is one of a series of posts based on a class I teach for level 3 NCEA Religious Studies. In the last few posts we saw that most of the Christian religious tradition sketched the following argument against feticide; Premise [1] Killing a human being without justification violates the law of God. Premise [2] […]
Tags: Abortion · David Oderberg · Feticide · Michael Tooley · Peter Singer · Susan Sherwin · Viability