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  1.  94
    Panentheism: What It Is and Is Not.Raphael Lataster & Purushottama Bilimoria - 2018 - Journal of World Philosophies 3 (2):49-64.
    There has been much written of late on the topic of panentheism. Dissatisfied with many contemporary descriptions of “panentheism” and the related “pantheism,” which we feel arise out of theistic presuppositions, we produce our own definition of sorts, rooted in and paying respect to the term’s etymology and the concept’s roots in Indian religion and western philosophy. Furthermore, we consider and comment on the arguments and comments concerning panentheism’s definition and plausibility put forth by Göcke, Mullins, and Nickel.
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  2.  59
    The Attractiveness of Panentheism—a Reply to Benedikt Paul Göcke.Raphael Lataster - 2014 - Sophia 53 (3):389-395.
    In his recent article in Sophia, Benedikt Paul Göcke concluded that ‘as long as we do not have a sound argument entailing the necessity of the world, panentheism is not an attractive alternative to classical theism’ : 75). As the article progresses, Göcke clarifies his view of what panentheism is, essentially identical to Göcke’s view of classical theism in every way, except in the world’s modal relation to God. This concept is vastly different to many of the panentheistic notions that (...)
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  3.  30
    The Case Against Theism: Why the Evidence Disproves God’s Existence.Raphael Lataster - 2018 - Cham: Springer Verlag.
    This monograph offers a critique of arguments for the existence of a specifically Christian God advanced by prominent scholar William Lane Craig. The discussion incorporates philosophical, mathematical, scientific, historical, and sociological approaches. The author does not seek to criticize religion in general, or Christianity specifically. Rather, he examines the modern and relatively sophisticated evidential case for Christian theism. Scholars have been arguing for theism or naturalism for centuries, and there seems little to add to the discussion, especially from the theistic (...)
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  4. The problem of polytheisms: a serious challenge to theism.Raphael Lataster & Herman Philipse - 2017 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 81 (3):233-246.
    Theistic and analytic philosophers of religion typically privilege classical theism and monotheism by ignoring or underestimating the great threat of polytheism. We develop an argument from infinitely many alternatives, which decisively demonstrates that if a monotheistic or polytheistic god-model obtains, it will almost certainly be polytheistic. Probabilistic calculations are performed in order to illustrate the difficulties faced by the monotheistic proponent. After considering possible objections, such as whether there should be limits placed on how many possible god-models could obtain, we (...)
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  5.  30
    Theists Misrepresenting Panentheism—Another Reply to Benedikt Paul Göcke.Raphael Lataster - 2015 - Sophia 54 (1):93-98.
    Theologian Benedikt Paul Göcke claimed that ‘as long as we do not have a sound argument entailing the necessity of the world, panentheism is not an attractive alternative to classical theism’ :75). As much of my research considers the alternatives to classical theism, I published a damning reply essay : 389–395). I comprehensively noted the many problems with his notion of ‘panentheism’, finding that it differed greatly from mainstream and earlier Eastern and Western interpretations, had little to do with the (...)
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  6. The Problem of Alternative Monotheisms: Another Serious Challenge to Theism.Raphael Lataster - 2018 - European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 10 (1):31-51.
    Theistic and analytic philosophers of religion typically privilege classical theism by ignoring or underestimating the great threat of alternative monotheisms. [1] In this article we discuss numerous god-models, such as those involving weak, stupid, evil, morally indifferent, and non-revelatory gods. We find that theistic philosophers have not successfully eliminated these and other possibilities, or argued for their relative improbability. In fact, based on current evidence – especially concerning the hiddenness of God and the gratuitous evils in the world – many (...)
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  7. It's official: We can now doubt Jesus' historical existence.Raphael Lataster - 2016 - Think 15 (43):65-79.
    With the assistance of historian Richard Carrier, I have just published Jesus Did Not Exist: A Debate Among Atheists, as a spiritual sequel to my earlier There Was No Jesus, There Is No God. Unsurprisingly, I argue that it is very reasonable to doubt Jesus' historical existence. The basic premise of the book is to examine the arguments of four scholars who have recently published significant works about this controversial issue. What follows is a brief summary of these analyses.
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  8.  45
    A Refutation of Several Muslim Apologetic Arguments and a Powerful Argument Against God’s Authorship of the Quran.Raphael Lataster - 2021 - Perichoresis 19 (3):29-37.
    Having spent many years researching the best apologetics Christian philosophers could offer, I recently started examining Muslim apologetics. Focussing on the arguments for the Islamic God’s existence by popular Muslim apologist Hamza Andreas Tzortzis, I conclude that they are terrible, and are not of the same quality as the best arguments for the truth of Christianity. Furthermore, I converted one of these into a powerful argument against mainstream Islamic/quranic theism, which can be utilised by atheists and Christians alike; and just (...)
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  9.  40
    God Actually Does Exist: a Critical Discussion of Nagasawa’s Perfect Being Theism.Raphael Lataster - 2022 - Sophia 61 (4):811-824.
    Yujin Nagasawa has recently, in a sense, demonstrated that God, the central subject of his perfect being theism (PBT), exists, via his maximal God approach. In this article, I shall explain that Nagasawa’s journey towards this conclusion is fraught and that the conclusion, while plausibly correct, is of limited significance given that Nagasawa’s perfect being theism is not a single hypothesis but a very broad catch-all hypothesis that includes concepts of God that most would deny are worthy of the term.
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  10. A philosophical and historical analysis of William Lane Craig's resurrection of Jesus argument.Raphael Lataster - 2015 - Think 14 (39):59-71.
    William Lane Craig is a prolific Christian apologist who has written many articles and popular books on the mainly philosophical arguments for God's existence, and is famed for his debating, and his engaging with the public. His work with philosophical arguments is significant, as there is no confirmed empirical evidence for the existence of God, nor can there be any good historical evidence; sound historical methodology necessarily being dismissive of supernatural claims. Craig has formulated a number of arguments that he (...)
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  11.  33
    Doubting the Quran, the Hadith, and Muhammad’s Splitting of the Moon: A Probabilistic Refutation of One of Islam’s Most Striking Miraculous Claims.Raphael Lataster - 2021 - Perichoresis 19 (3):39-47.
    Having spent many years engaging with Christian claims about miracles, especially the purported resurrection of Jesus, I now shift attention to Islamic miracle claims, the most striking of which seems to me to be Muhammad’s alleged splitting of the moon. I explain, in a Bayesian fashion, why this almost certainly did not happen.
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  12.  74
    (1 other version)The Improbability of Classical Theism.Raphael Lataster - 2017 - Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism, Issue Vol 25 No. 1 25 (1):53-70.
    In the analytic Philosophy of Religion, much ink has been spilt on the existence of some sort of supernatural reality. Such work is usually done by theists; those that find classical theism to be probably true. It is my contention that theism is unjustly privileged by many in the field, even when supernaturalism has been – competently or incompetently – argued for. As such, I present a series of challenges for the theist, finding them to be insuperable at present. The (...)
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  13.  49
    Defending Jesus agnosticism.Raphael Lataster - 2019 - Think 18 (51):77-91.
    Few critical scholars have responded to my recent work on the controversial topic of Jesus’ probable ahistoricity. Disregarding my advice that this should be a debate among atheists, Brenda Watson has become the first to respond in an academic journal. Stephen Law also received some criticism for his own article on scepticism about Jesus. I respond to them all here.Export citation.
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  14.  30
    Philosophy and the Study of Religions: A Manifesto by Kevin Schilbrack.Raphael Lataster - 2013 - Philo 16 (2):216-218.
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  15.  17
    Reason and Faith: Themes from Richard Swinburne.Raphael Lataster - 2019 - Philosophical Quarterly 69 (276):647-650.
    Reason and Faith: Themes from Richard Swinburne. Edited by Bergmann Michael and Brower Jeffrey E.
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  16.  29
    The Problem of Polytheisms Remains.Raphael Lataster - 2019 - Journal of Indian Philosophy and Religion 24:56-72.
    Since publishing my argument for polytheisms over monotheism with Herman Philipse, I have encountered many monotheists who were perturbed, but who had not formulated a proper rebuttal. It is also hard not to notice that there is generally a dearth of publications arguing for monotheism's being more probable than polytheism, perhaps because it is generally taken for granted. As such, I am delighted that Mark Saward has taken up the challenge to address at least some of the original article's claims. (...)
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  17.  15
    Blood: A Critique of Christianity. By Gil Anidjar. [REVIEW]Raphael Lataster - 2017 - Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review 8 (2):314-315.
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  18.  14
    Cognitive Science and the New Testament: A New Approach to Early Christian Research. By István Czachesz. [REVIEW]Raphael Lataster - 2018 - Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review 9 (1):124-126.
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  19.  22
    Pascal Bruckner, An Imaginary Racism: Islamophobia and Guilt. [REVIEW]Raphael Lataster - 2019 - Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review 10 (2):281-285.
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  20.  23
    Review of Scott F. Aikin, Evidentialism and the Will to Believe: Bloomsbury, 2014, ISBN: 978-1-6235-6017-1, hb, x + 214pp. [REVIEW]Raphael Lataster - 2014 - Sophia 53 (4):587-588.
    Scott Aikin offers a much-needed comprehensive treatment of the Clifford-James debate on the ethics of belief. He aims to present the core arguments of William Clifford’s The Ethics of Belief and William James’ The Will to Believe and to provide commentary . Aikin begins by discussing Clifford’s ship owner case . Knowing that his ship is old, poorly built, and often needs repairs, the ship owner chooses to ignore the evidence and instead focuses on the character of the ship-builders and (...)
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