Not the Impossible Faith

By: Richard Carrier

Narrated by: Richard Carrier

Not the Impossible Faith is a tour de force in that genre, dissecting and refuting the oft-repeated claim that Christianity could not have succeeded in the ancient world unless it was true. Though framed as a detailed rebuttal to Christian apologist J.P. Holding (author of The Impossible Faith), Carrier takes a general approach that educates the listener on the history and sociology of the ancient world, answering many questions like: How did Christians approach evidence? Was there a widespread prejudice against the testimony of women? Was resurrection such a radical idea? Who would worship a crucified criminal? And much more.

Written with occasional humor and an easy style, and thoroughly referenced, with many entertaining "gotcha!" moments, Not the Impossible Faith is a must-listen for anyone interested in the origins of Christianity. Richard Carrier, PhD, is an expert in the history of the ancient world and a critic of Christian attempts to distort history in defense of their faith.

©2009 Richard Carrier (P)2013 Pitchstone Publishing

Excellent critique

Any additional comments?

The only thing I didn't like was the fact that he did a lot of arguing from authority; however, I realize that a good deal of it was him just citing ideas that others had before him (so he wouldn't seem like he was stealing other people's ideas). I realize that this is pretty necessary in a book about history, and the book would've been twice as long without saying "this guy said this, and I'm not going to go into why." Still, if he spent more time explaining his strongest arguments (after citing the source) than beating the dead horse that is "The Impossible Faith" by citing argument after argument and example after example, it would've been much more enjoyable I think.

Still, it was an excellent book, and an excellent critique, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. 100% worth the cost, and then some.

Fair, exhaustive, and thoroughly researched.

In decades to come this will be regarded as one of the most important books of our time.

Origins of Christianity

Excellent, evidence based, overview of the origins of Christianity.

Aside from this being a rebuttal to a feeble claim, it also presents the reader with background and context for each piece of evidence.

Much better book

Worth listening to twice! I enjoyed this book much more so than Proving History or On the Historicity of Jesus. They're all terrific of course and help us all to think more clearly about all these sorts of things. Carrier is doing the "Lord's work" in helping people like me.

Great Info to rebut Xian propaganda.

Nice addition to the historical facts needed to cut through nonsense. Glad I added it to my library of Xian analysis.

well thought out critique

masterfully crafted arguments wonderfully buttressed by solid evidence which all in all make rubble of the house of cards called "The Impossible Faith"

Well studied and very approachable

Dr. Carrier is well aware of the differences in perspective and quality of truthfulness between the first few centuries CE and now. He maps out the differences between our post enlightenment understandings of evidence and proof and the effective arguments early Christian evangelists used, and explains why these are no ground for modern belief. He takes the reader through Holding’s argument for Christ and thoroughly refutes and debunks his claims. Very good work, would highly recommend to anyone interested in Christianity and the ancient romans as subjects

Evidence wins again over apologetics

Richard Carrier makes an overwhelmingly thorough and convincing argument that Christianity had the right message, audience, and good fortunes to become a successful world religion without any supernatural aid or even historical truth.

Fish, meet barrel.

In the course of listening to this audiobook I was reminded of Noam Chomsky's systematic, morbidly-fascinating - and somewhat disturbing; 'should I be watching this?' - demolition of B.F. Skinner's behaviourism.

You don't have to have read J.P. Holding's original to enjoy this book. There is a wealth of fascinating material in here, and the context is set up effectively enough to follow the refutation.

Or demolition.

As a happy agnostic - I don't call myself an atheist simply because I really couldn't be bothered feeling obliged to argue over such self-evidently irrational beliefs - Carrier's book was a (slightly guilty) pleasure, with much of historical interest. A Christian would be less likely to enjoy it, obviously, depending on the extent of their ahistoric fervour. But it's notable that reading Carrier and Bart Ehrman has made me MORE inclined to pick up a bible, not less...

It's debatable whether Carrier really should read his own books - mellifluous he ain't - but it's a perfect union of tone and content.

I leaned a lot

I didn't expect as effective an education into the world of 1st century Rome. Although Holding's hypothesis is so absurd today it required no debunk, this book does explain why Christianity was appealing in the early days of the Christian movement, before it was mandated or even sanctioned.