Mediancat

I got an Amazon.com gift certificate for Christmas, and ordered Dennis McKinsey's Encyclopedia of Biblical Errancy. I was told it would get here around now.

It did not, in fact, get here; instead, I got an email saying, in essence, whoops, we're sorry, we really couldn't find it, here's your gift certificate back.

You'd think they could have figured that out two fucking weeks ago, but that's not important right now. What is important is that this gives me $25 to spend.

I wanted to get something atheist-related, or biblically critical; a book of that sort. Biblical Errancy was easily my first choice, but now with that unavailable, does anyone have any other suggestions? I've scanned the booklist here, and nothing jumped out at me that I didn't already own. (I have George Smith's works, The Atheist Debater's Handbook, The Transcendental temptation, Ken's and Asimov's Guide to the Bible, Rob Boston's two major works; I've read Ruth Hurmence Green, Judith Hayes, and I've tried reading Michael Martin and found him far too technical.)

And McKinsey's other work is unfortunately out of my price range; with the certificate, the $40 Encyclopedia was within it, but not by much.

Any other suggestions?

Rob aka Mediancat

4 Strings

I would recommend Human, All Too Human by Friedrich Nietzsche if you don't already have it. It's a collection of aphorisms on various subjects, including religion ( usually Christianity ). There are some really biting criticisms of Christianity, although maybe not on the level you're looking for. Of what Nietzsche I've read, this book is my favorite.

Another book I would recommend is The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes. The book deals mostly with psychology, but there is a good bit about Christianity in the book. It contains some information that really weakens the authority of the Bible ( even though the Bible does that enough to itself ), and the book also explains the origins of religions very well.

Shake

How about Atheism: The Case Against God? It's next in line on my to read list.

Carlos

Biblical criticism isn't really one of my areas of interest, so I can't really recommend any books on that. I did find Atheism: The Case Against God and What Is Atheism? A Short Introduction to be good books about atheism in general, but their approaches are very different. Smith (first book) favors a broader, more inclusive definition of god and leans more towards logic, reason and philosophy. Krueger's book (the second one) is substantially shorter since he focuses on the Christian God and his philosophical arguments are easier to follow (logic and language are simpler). That's not meant as a slight on Smith's work.

I suggest you check out the Infidels Bookstore, there's a lot of short reviews there. A few that might interest you:

Is It God's Word?
Ken's Guide to the Bible
The Born Again Skeptic's Guide To The Bible (URL in II Bookstore is wrong)
The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You to Read