Patheos Nonreligious Channel provides a great platform for philosophy, particularly the philosophy of religion. A Tippling Philosopher is a blog dedicated to such, with a popular, easy to digest approach. The name comes from the casual philosophy and theology group that author and blogger Jonathan MS Pearce frequents in Hampshire, UK. This blog is an extension of that, with guest posts by other thinkers with the same questioning vein from around the world. What started with Socrates, in challenging the legitimacy of religious beliefs of his time, will hopefully be continued several thousand years later with this lively community of critical thinkers.
As an author, Pearce writes about the subjects that fascinate him hugely. His first book Free Will? is a work dedicated to investigating free will and determinism, presenting a wealth of evidence to support a deterministic worldview. His second book The Little Book of Unholy Questions is a cumulative case against the existence of God written in the form of a set of questions asked directly to God. His book The Nativity: A Critical Examination is a synthesis of the work detailing the analysis of the infancy narratives in the New Testament, showing that the two Gospel accounts are clearly a-historical. Since then, he has continued to produce books and chapters at an impressive rate, with, most recently, an edited anthology of Patheos Nonreligious writers titled Not Seeing God: Atheism in the 21st Century.
He has also reached out into the world of fiction with his apocalyptic and philosophical series Survival of the Fittest.
Pearce has also guest blogged for John Loftus’ Debunking Christianity and has given some public talks in the UK on a number of different topics. He is an agnostic atheist who finds the subject of the existence of God an all-consuming and obsessive one.
But enough of that. What he really wants to do is engage religious thinkers in debate in order to show them the error of their ways, to sharpen his own mind and to improve his own epistemological approach to life, the universe and everything. May this be an oasis in a wilderness of nonsense (not Patheos, that is, but the internet as a whole!).
Other Contributors
Thanks to the often irregular contributors of these good people:
Andreas Schüler:
Andy was born and raised in Germany. He became fascinated with Biology at an early age and, after doing an apprenticeship as a lab assistant and serving in the German army, he studied Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics. His research has been published in four peer-reviewed papers on protein and genome evolution and one book chapter on the evolution of protein interaction networks. Currently, he is finishing a PhD in Molecular Evolution. Andy was nominally a member of the German lutheran church for 27 years, but was never a “true believer”. His interest in challenging Christian ideas stems mainly from observing the ongoing conflict between science, especially Evolutionary Biology, and religion.
Cody Rudisill:
Bryant Cody Rudisill is a career student working on his undergrad in philosophy. After retiring his Christian faith, he became far more interested in the philosophy of math and logic than in theology and biblical studies. This change of mind occurred while enrolled in a program of study at a Reformed ministry-turned-seminary, Ligonier Academy, from which he subsequently dropped out. Outside of his conceptual life, Cody runs a business—Crafty Bastard Repairs—repairing phones and other electronics. He also paints. Houses. He’s not an artist; he never will be.
Aaron Adair:
Aaron Adair (PhD, Ohio State) is an assistant professor of physics at Merrimack College, where he teaches and does research in physics education. Previously he has done work at SETI and CERN, helping to search for civilizations and bosons. He also studies the history of science and religion, in particular having published on the theories of the Star of Bethlehem. He usually blogs at gilgamesh42.wordpress.com.
Dan Yowell:
Dan Yowell is a graphic designer based out of the Philadelphia area. When he’s not working, he enjoys doodling, fine beers and whiskeys, writing, and contemplating the nature of humanity’s plight (usually all at the same time).
To learn more about Dan and his work, visit his website at www.Danyowell.com.
Bert Bigelow:
Bert Bigelow graduated from the University of Michigan engineering school, and then pursued a career in software design. He has always enjoyed writing, and since retirement, has produced short essays on many subjects. His main interests are in the areas of politics and religion, and the intersection of the two. Many of his writings are posted on his website, bigelowbert.com. You can contact him at [email protected].
Gilbert Fulmer:
Gilbert Fulmer‘s B.A. and Ph.D. are in philosophy. Indeed, he retired in 2015 after 43 years of university teaching philosophy. He graduated from high school in Kansas City, Missouri; attended Rice University, in Houston, Texas for both undergrad and graduate work; and taught at what is now Texas State University for his whole career, retiring in 2015. He was married to Christina Lynne (Wilkins) Fulmer, also a philosophy professor, until her death in 2010. They had no children, by choice and he continues to live in San Marcos, Texas.
Alan Duval:
Alan Duval was born in New Zealand to English parents. His early career was in systems and database administration, though with a nearly 20-year sideline in DJing (mostly pop and retro). He maintains a broad taste in music, from acid jazz to death metal… and is distraught at the passing of Prince O)+->
In his mid-30s, having recently been divorced from the mother of his two children, Alan moved to London (from Wiltshire), and took on a degree in psychology at Birkbeck College, University of London. The decision to take psychology was due, in no small part, to his son’s mild (and relatively high-functioning) autism.
Having secured a first class honours, and a distinction for his dissertation on moral psychology, Alan is currently looking for an appropriate PhD in moral psychology, though moral philosophy or philosophy of mind are possibilities given his interest in these fields. In the meantime Alan works for a Big Data consultancy, and ponders the ethics of Big Data.
Jeremiah Traeger:
Jeremiah is an engineering graduate student, musician, introvert, skeptic, and a keyboard warrior, whereas he should be spending his time outside in the beautiful state of Colorado. He hopes to be a chief dinosaur wrangler when the robot uprising is upon us.