Well, everybody I know online is doing it…!

I recently recommended a book to a friend. We were online chatting in Gmail and a few moments after I endorsed the book, he replied that the book had earned “only mediocre reviews on Amazon.” I was a bit stymied. After all, I myself, his close friend of several years, had just endorsed the book [...]

Development of Doctrine IV

Both here and at Sacramentum Vitae, I’ve been involved in a long-running debate about the development of doctrine with conservative scholars from each of the three major Christian traditions.  (By ‘conservative’ I mean those who believe that the “faith once given to the saints” is definitive, fully and publicly identifiable in Tradition and Scripture, [...]

Believing facts, seeing facts, or wanting facts?

Perhaps you have heard it said, as I have, that, in order for an argument to be logical, the arguer needs facts and proof, not just beliefs. And perhaps this seemingly obvious claim struck you as funny, as somehow off, as it strikes me. The claim is itself an attempt at a logical argument about [...]

The evidence for evidence?

Consider the following axiom and two corollaries:
“A wise man [A] proportions his belief [Pa] to the evidence [Gc].”
“Corollary #1: A belief which leaves no place for doubt is not a belief; it is a superstition.”
“Corollary #2: It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.” [This is the (in)famous principle [...]