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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

1. 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).
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Further details follow:-
   Religion (Total Hours = 14.25)
   • Bibleworks Greek NT: John (Read, 2.75 hours)
   • Bibleworks Hebrew OT: 1 Samuel (Read, 3.75 hours)
     → See "Bibleworks - Bibleworks: OT & NT" (6.5 hours)
   • "Lanier (Gregory R.) & Ros (William A.) - Septuaginta: A Reader's Edition - Volume 1" (Read, 3 hours)
   • "Rampton (Martha) - Miracles not magic" (Read / Write, 2.25 hours)
   • "Rubenstein (Richard E.) - When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity During the Last Days of Rome" (Read, 1 hour)
   • "Various - Patheos" (Read, 1.25 hours)
   • "Williams (Rowan) - Dostoevsky: Language, Faith and Fiction" (Read, 0.25 hours)
   Religion Background (Total Hours = 9)
   1. Religion Background - Admin
      • 23Q2 Status Reports (0.75 hours)
        → See "Admin - Religion - Admin" (0.75 hours)
   2. Religion Background - Discussions (Total Hours = 8.25)
      • Interaction - Discussions at King's (1 hour)
      • Interaction - Discussions with Julie, Mike & Sylvia (4.5 hours)
        → See "Interaction - Discussion with Mike" (5.5 hours)
      • "Interaction - Discussions with Pete" (1 hour)
      • Interaction - Emails to Nat (1.75 hours)
        → See "Interaction - Religion - Discussions" (1.75 hours)
6. 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!
  
  1. Philosophy of Religion:
     1. "Antony (Louise M.) - Philosophers without Gods: Meditations on Atheism and the Secular Life": Continue reading,
     2. "Davis (Stephen T.) - The Mad/Bad/God Trilemma: A Reply to Daniel Howard-Snyder": Annotate,
     3. "Ginn (Roy) - According to the Scriptures": Complete write-up
     4. "Howard-Snyder (Daniel) - Does Faith Entail Belief": Read,
     5. "Howard-Snyder (Daniel) - The Skeptical Christian": Read,
     6. "Howard-Snyder (Daniel) - Was Jesus Mad, Bad, Or God?…Or Merely Mistaken?": Annotate,
     7. "Insole (Christopher J.) - Realism and Anti-Realism": Read,
     8. "Plantinga (Alvin) & Dennett (Daniel) - Science and Religion: Are They Compatible?": Read.
  2. David Instone-Brewer:
     1. "Instone-Brewer (David) - The Jesus Scandals: Why He Shocked His Contemporaries (And Still Shocks Today)",
     2. "Instone-Brewer (David) - Science and the Bible: Modern Insights for an Ancient Text",
     3. Incorporate downloaded papers into my database.
  3. Bible:
     1. "Bibleworks - Bibleworks: OT & NT", and
     2. "Lanier (Gregory R.) & Ros (William A.) - Septuaginta: A Reader's Edition - Volume 1".
  4. Qur'an / Islam:
     1. "Asad ( Muhammad), Qur'an - The Message of the Quran: The Full Account of the Revealed Arabic Text Accompanied by Parallel Transliteration",
     2. "Burton (John), Qur'an - The Collection of the Qur'an".
     3. "Crone (Patricia) & Cook (Michael) - Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World".
     4. "Jones (Alan), Qur'an - Arabic Through the Qur'an", Note₁₁
     5. "Omar (Abdul Mannan), Qur'an - The Dictionary of the Holy Quran: Arabic Words - English Meanings",
     6. "Qur'an - Easy Quran: Arabic Text With Word For Word English Translation",
     7. "Wansbrough (John), Rippin (Andrew), Qur'an - Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation".
  5. Background:
     1. Aeon: Read & annotate papers as they arise
     2. "Finkelstein (Israel) & Silberman (Neil Asher) - The Bible Unearthed": Continue reading
     3. "Stewart (Kenneth) - Sermons": Dip in occasionally
     4. "Taylor (Joan E.) - Jesus and Brian: Exploring the Historical Jesus and His Times Via Monty Python's Life of Brian": Review KCL Conference videos
     5. "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.

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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:

• Time to be booked to my Languages Project.

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Table of the Previous 12 Versions of this Note: (of 88)

Date	Length	Title
06/07/2023 00:43:12	10254	Status: Philosophy of Religion (2023 - June)
30/04/2023 01:06:14	10345	Status: Philosophy of Religion (2023 - March)
10/01/2023 23:35:31	9685	Status: Philosophy of Religion (2022 - December)
10/10/2022 22:32:10	11242	Status: Philosophy of Religion (2022 - September)
03/07/2022 01:29:17	10319	Status: Philosophy of Religion (2022 - June)
11/04/2022 00:01:26	9969	Status: Philosophy of Religion (2022 - March)
03/01/2022 23:58:34	9696	Status: Philosophy of Religion (2021 - December)
02/07/2021 20:32:38	8708	Status: Philosophy of Religion (2021 - June)
03/04/2021 19:58:05	7234	Status: Philosophy of Religion (2021 - March)
04/01/2021 19:40:48	7193	Status: Philosophy of Religion (2020 - December)
04/10/2020 00:27:22	9791	Status: Philosophy of Religion (2020 - September)
03/07/2020 22:09:07	10255	Status: Philosophy of Religion (2020 - June)

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Note last updated	Reference for this Topic	Parent Topic
04/10/2023 21:59:02	519 (Status: Philosophy of Religion (2023 - September))	Status: Summary (2023 - September)

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Heythrop - MA Philosophy and Religion	Heythrop - Personal Statement	Heythrop - Philosophy of Religion	Jack and Sheila	McDade_100729
Ontological Argument	Status: Languages (2023 - September)	Status: Philosophy of Religion (Summary of Progress to Date)	Status: Summary Task List (2023: October - November)	Theo Todman's Christian Page
Transhumanism	Uploading

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

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Summary of Notes Citing This Note

Aeon Papers - Summary Document: 2017-2018	Immortality	Life After Death	Religion	Resurrection
Status: Consciousness Studies (2023 - September)	Status: Languages (2023 - September)	Status: Personal Identity (2023 - September)	Status: Philosophy of Religion (Summary of Progress to Date)	Status: Priority Task List (2023 - November)
Status: Summary (2023 - September), 2	Status: Summary Task List (2023: October - November)	Status: Summary Task List (YTD: 23Q4)	Theo Todman's Christian Page	Website - Progress to Date (2023 - November), 2, 3, 4
Website Generator Documentation - Functors, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

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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

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Text Colour Conventions

1. Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2023

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