The Cure-for-Christianity Library

“What do you think about the upheaval in Jesus studies?”

THIS IS THE QUESTION I WOULD so much like to pose to my Christian friends—to be met, I am sure, in most instances–with blank stares. “What upheaval?” Because they are not paying attention. In fact, the Jesus question has been removed from the exclusive domain of Bible scholars and ecclesiastical functionaries. Most New Testament scholars have been, and remain, committed to the Jesus faith. These are the folks who, in the words of one observer, “...still write books manufacturing and manicuring Jesus to look like they do.” Secular observers decided that this biased community could no longer be trusted to provide honest answers on who and what Jesus was. So you will find plenty of titles on this list by secular analysts who have opened up Jesus studies as never before—and exposed its faulty methodologies and conclusions, e.g., Richard Carrier, Robert Price, David Fitzgerald.

Of course, it’s not just Jesus; theism in general and Christianity in particular have been subjected to penetrating, withering critique. As I point out in the Introduction of my book, we are experiencing—and have been for some twenty years—an unprecedented atheist publishing surge. This has never happened before. Ever. There are about 250 titles on this list (click below). Some of the titles predate 2000; I have included them because they are classics in the deconstruction of Christianity, e.g. H. L. Mencken’s Treatise on the Gods (1932) and Charles Guignebert’s Jesus (1935). Not all of the authors cited here are atheists, but one thing that they do have in common is their conviction that the Christian brand of theism—no matter how successful it has been—has been falsified.

My purpose in this Cure-for-Christianity Library is to document many of the resources now available to inquiring minds, and I do hope that Christians can take the hint: use this list to get a grasp of what all the fuss is about—why we have been smacking Christianity down so emphatically—and get a move on! Tackle the homework.

These are the resources that have come to my attention, in book form. Admittedly, this approach may have an archaic aroma. Books? What percentage of the populace—spread across multiple demographics—still reads books? But even for people who no longer pick up hard copies, the titles listed here can be considered portals; many of the authors on this list have their own websites, Facebook pages, blogs, Twitter accounts. “The Internet,” it has been said, “is where religion goes to die.”

In my book I have presented ten tough problems in Christian thought and belief, to whet the appetite. Please pursue research, read, probe: find out how Jesus, Christianity and theism have all been so convincingly slam dunked.

The Cure-for-Christianity Library can be found here.

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--David Madison is the author of 10 Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief: a Minister-Turned-Atheist Shows Why You Should Ditch the Faith (Tellectual Press, 2016).

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