Theo Todman's Web Page - Notes Pages
Status Reports
Status: Philosophy of Religion (2023 - September)
(Text as at 04/10/2023 21:59:02)
Rationale for this Project
- See my Christian page1 and onward links from there for an explanation of how I got in to and out of evangelical Christianity. This is still a live issue for me, and the reason I originally undertook formal philosophical training.
- The connection to my current philosophical researches arises from the standard religious hope that resurrection – or some other form of post-mortem survival – is possible. This is a cornerstone of religious claims and expectations, at least in the Abrahamic religions, from those of suicide bombers to those of more pacific persons. I wish to go back to the considerations that originally motivated Locke and research the metaphysical possibility of resurrection, or other post-mortem survival, for beings such as us. My current opinion is that resurrection for human beings is metaphysically impossible2, given that substance dualism is false.
- In late September 2010 I took the Philosophy of Religion3 Module of a 2-year part time MA in Philosophy and Religion at Heythrop College London (Defunct), University of London. Follow the links for my Personal Statement4, Interview Write-up5, and Course Outline6. I decided not to proceed with the MA but do intend to follow up on7 the many issues raised.
- During 2016 I assisted with the Appendices of my friend’s PhD Thesis on the Narrative Structure of the Acts of the Apostles, building a website. See "Mansell (Peter) - Bottom Up Reading of Acts".
- In August 2017 I was asked by Michael J. Alter to review pre-publication his book on the theology of the Resurrection. Unfortunately, it turned out to be too much work, and I only commented on the first section.
- A surprise in 22Q1 was contact made by Jack Hampshire, a Christian friend I’d not heard from since 20078 (and before that not since 1990). Amongst other things, he put me on to "Stewart (Kenneth) - Sermons", though I’ve not followed this up much.
- As of mid-23Q3 I have decided to focus as much as I can on my Thesis, so have – temporarily at least – axed all ‘distractions’, including this project which is now mostly in abeyance.
Summary of Progress during July - September 2023
- I spent 23.25 hours in 23Q3 on this Project, or related work (251 hours YTD, where for "YTD" - Year to Date - I mean the (academic) year that commenced in October 2022). That's 25.5% of the planned effort (74.1% YTD). Overall, 3.6% of my Project effort in the Quarter was directed towards this project (making 9.7% YTD) - as against 13.7% planned (12.5% YTD).
- As noted above, there was a radical change of direction this quarter. As a result, I only spent a quarter of my time budget on this project because I put all my ‘original language’ Bible-reading on hold at the end of July 2023.
- So, …, only in the first month did I put a lot of effort into maintaining my reading of the OT in Hebrew and the LXX in Greek and a second reading through the Greek NT using Bibleworks. Naturally, the completion dates will have slipped 2 months, and will continue to slip9 until I take up reading again.
- I still intend to read through the Qur’an in Arabic but need to improve my Arabic first. I have the materials to hand but have not progressed matters recently. I’ve been reading "Crone (Patricia) & Cook (Michael) - Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World" for background, but it’s a tough read aimed at experts. I should probably focus on "Burton (John), Qur'an - The Collection of the Qur'an", which is in any case more relevant.
- Further details follow:-
Religion (Total Hours = 14.25)Religion Background (Total Hours = 9)
- Religion Background - Admin
- Religion Background - Discussions (Total Hours = 8.25)
- Progress (if any) in the current quarter can be obtained from the relevant section of my Summary Task List10, and YTD in the current & future “automatic” editions of this report.
Plans for the Near Future
- For the reasons given above, I’ve decided effectively to mothball this project temporarily and have allocated a nominal 1 hour / week to keep it ticking over.
- The items in the list below are those I’d like to address if time allows, which it most likely won’t!
- Philosophy of Religion:
- "Antony (Louise M.) - Philosophers without Gods: Meditations on Atheism and the Secular Life": Continue reading,
- "Davis (Stephen T.) - The Mad/Bad/God Trilemma: A Reply to Daniel Howard-Snyder": Annotate,
- "Ginn (Roy) - According to the Scriptures": Complete write-up
- "Howard-Snyder (Daniel) - Does Faith Entail Belief": Read,
- "Howard-Snyder (Daniel) - The Skeptical Christian": Read,
- "Howard-Snyder (Daniel) - Was Jesus Mad, Bad, Or God?…Or Merely Mistaken?": Annotate,
- "Insole (Christopher J.) - Realism and Anti-Realism": Read,
- "Plantinga (Alvin) & Dennett (Daniel) - Science and Religion: Are They Compatible?": Read.
- David Instone-Brewer:
- "Instone-Brewer (David) - The Jesus Scandals: Why He Shocked His Contemporaries (And Still Shocks Today)",
- "Instone-Brewer (David) - Science and the Bible: Modern Insights for an Ancient Text",
- Incorporate downloaded papers into my database.
- Bible:
- "Bibleworks - Bibleworks: OT & NT", and
- "Lanier (Gregory R.) & Ros (William A.) - Septuaginta: A Reader's Edition - Volume 1".
- Qur'an / Islam:
- "Asad ( Muhammad), Qur'an - The Message of the Quran: The Full Account of the Revealed Arabic Text Accompanied by Parallel Transliteration",
- "Burton (John), Qur'an - The Collection of the Qur'an".
- "Crone (Patricia) & Cook (Michael) - Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World".
- "Jones (Alan), Qur'an - Arabic Through the Qur'an", Note11
- "Omar (Abdul Mannan), Qur'an - The Dictionary of the Holy Quran: Arabic Words - English Meanings",
- "Qur'an - Easy Quran: Arabic Text With Word For Word English Translation",
- "Wansbrough (John), Rippin (Andrew), Qur'an - Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation".
- Background:
- Aeon: Read & annotate papers as they arise
- "Finkelstein (Israel) & Silberman (Neil Asher) - The Bible Unearthed": Continue reading
- "Stewart (Kenneth) - Sermons": Dip in occasionally
- "Taylor (Joan E.) - Jesus and Brian: Exploring the Historical Jesus and His Times Via Monty Python's Life of Brian": Review KCL Conference videos
- "Watts (Edward) - The Final Pagan Generation: Rome's Unexpected Path to Christianity": Continue reading
Summary of Progress to Date
I’ve hived off the history to a separate document12, which still requires a major update.
In-Page Footnotes:
Footnote 2:
- Or if not strictly impossible – rather unlikely, as the candidates for enabling some sort of physical continuity – from luz bones to “corpse swapping” – have multiple problems.
- However, there are some interesting ideas by Dean Zimmerman, most recently in "Zimmerman (Dean) - Bodily Resurrection: The Falling Elevator Model Revisited", that argue the contrary.
- Also, transhumanists – who are almost following a religion – are often hopeful of post-mortem survival. I have no metaphysical worries about “cryonic suspension”, and subsequent resuscitation, but think that uploading is incoherent.
Footnote 7:
- This pious hope has been sitting unactioned for over 12 years now!
- The proximate cause of my failure was missing a deadline for my essay on the Ontological Argument, but a more serious reason was that it was all a waste of time (for me, given my research interests). Peter Vardy had warned me about anno domini, with the claim that original work after the age of 65 is unlikely. I hope this is false, as I’ve ignored the warning, and am about to reach that milestone.
Footnote 9:
- I’ve suppressed the table that shows plans and progress since I need to update the Functor that does the calculations.
- It can be viewed in previous versions of this report.
Footnote 11:
Table of the Previous 12 Versions of this Note: (of 88)
Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note
To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.
Summary of Notes Citing This Note
To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.
Authors, Books & Papers Citing this Note
Author |
Title |
Medium |
Extra Links |
Read? |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Immortality |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Life After Death |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Religion |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Resurrection |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Text Colour Conventions
- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2023