The Last Supper by Giampietrino after Da Vinci (circa 1520)

Liverpool Humanist Group are pleased to announce the next in our 2013 season of monthly lectures and discussions with an invited speaker.

Thursday, 11th April 2013 at 7:45pm in The Crown Hotel, 43 Lime Street, Liverpool.

As usual, we will meet in the upstairs room.

Quests for the “historical” Jesus – not the Jesus of faith but a Jesus who actually lived and gave rise to the stories told in the Christian “gospels” – end with a wide range of Jesuses and often with the Jesus that the quester sought from the outset. Most assume that a historical person, clearly identifiable as the gospel Jesus, must have existed, and believers and non-believers alike often fiercely defend their own personal Jesus against Jesus-sceptics and “mythicists”.

Peter McKenna will examine the scant textual evidence available – encompassing the Septuagint, the epistles of Paul, the gospels, other early Christian writings, and Josephus’s histories – in the context of religious belief and the Graeco-Roman world, and will question whether there is sufficient evidence to confidently assert that Jesus existed.

The talk will present original research in an interesting, entertaining and accessible way, and will also discuss what a “historical Jesus” would mean and question whether it matters.

Peter McKenna is well known to many of us as a longstanding member of Liverpool Humanist Group. He is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at Manchester Metropolitan University. Originally from Larne in County Antrim, his first degree at  Liverpool University was in Classics and Ancient Greek.

In December 2010, Peter’s paper “Jesus Nazōraios: hidden truths revealed?” received “Honorable Mention” at the awarding of the 2011 “Mythycist Prize”, which was sponsored by The Mythicists’ Forum, a consortium of prominent New Testament scholars, together with American Atheists, Inc.

His short essay reviewed the linguistic issues surrounding the cognates Nazareth/Nazoraios/Nazarene. It attempted to show how the title “Nazoraion” led to the name of Jesus’ New Testament hometown.

Peter is, however, anxious not to over emphasise the importance of his academic or scholarly credentials. He makes the case that argument from authority is itself a fallacy and the question of Jesus’ historicity is accessible to all.

Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus) by Dali (1954)

It will be good to see new and old friends at what promises to be a very interesting, stimulating and thought provoking evening.

El Azhar University, Cairo by Ludwig Deutsch 1890

Liverpool Humanist Group are pleased to be able to announce the first in our new 2013 season of monthly lectures and discussions with an invited speaker.

Thursday, 14th March 2013 at 7:45pm in The Crown Hotel, 43 Lime Street, Liverpool L1 1JQ

As usual, we will meet in the upstairs room.

Whereas research into the historical origins of Christianity began in Germany in the nineteenth century, and revealed the Roman political origins of much of Christianity and the Bible, serious historical research into the origins of Islam is of much more recent date.

Guy Otten will present a talk outlining what recent scientific and scholarly research has to say about how Islam came about, and what reliable evidence there is for what was happening in the Middle east around the time of Islam’s foundations. He will summarise the evidence from the fields of history, linguistics, archaeology, textual analysis, numismatics, etc.

Whilst rejecting Islamophobia, the irrational fear of and prejudice against Islam and Muslims, he will explore the rational basis for criticism of Islam.

Guy Otten is Chair of Greater Manchester Humanists; he is a Member of the Board of Trustee of the British Humanist Association; he is a BHA accredited Humanist Celebrant; he is currently writing a book on the origins of Islam.

Guy Otten, Chair of Greater Manchester Humanists

It will be good to see new and old friends at what promises to be an interesting evening.

“We all remember how many religious wars were fought for a religion of love and gentleness; how many bodies were burned alive with the genuinely kind intention of saving souls from the eternal fire of hell. Only if we give up our authoritarian attitude in the realm of opinion, only if we establish the attitude of give and take, of readiness to learn from other people, can we hope to control acts of violence inspired by piety and duty.”

- Karl Popper in “Utopia and Violence” (1947)

What we should do, I suggest, is to give up the idea of ultimate sources of knowledge, and admit that all knowledge is human; that it is mixed with our errors, our prejudices, our dreams, and our hopes; that all we can do is to grope for truth even though it be beyond our reach. We may admit that our groping is often inspired, but we must be on our guard against the belief, however deeply felt, that our inspiration carries any authority, divine or otherwise. If we thus admit that there is no authority beyond the reach of criticism to be found within the whole province of our knowledge, however far it may have penetrated into the unknown, then we can retain, without danger, the idea that truth is beyond human authority. And we must retain it. For without this idea there can be no objective standards of inquiry; no criticism of our conjectures; no groping for the unknown; no quest for knowledge.”

- Karl Popper in “Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge” (1963)

Boys and girls at the Isaac Newton Humanist School in Masaka, Uganda, returning from the football pitch.

Liverpool Humanist Group are pleased to be able to announce the first in our new season of monthly lectures and discussions with an invited speaker.

Thursday, 13th September 2012 at 7:45pm in The Crown Hotel, 43 Lime Street, Liverpool L1 1JQ

As usual, we will meet in the upstairs room.

Bob Churchill will talk to us about the work of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), and about Humanism around the world. Having worked professionally for two national Humanist organisations, the British Humanist Association, and the Uganda Humanist Association, and lately at the IHEU itself, Bob has a unique perspective on “global Humanism”. How is Humanism expressed in other parts of the world? What are the issues being addressed – or faced – by humanists in differing regions? With particular emphasis on the work of IHEU’s staff, delegations and national member organisations, Bob will attempt to answer these and any other questions you may have.

Hopefully, he will also tell us more about his experiences working in Uganda, and of the efforts of Ugandan Humanists, Skeptics and Freethinkers to establish a Humanist movement, and set up Humanist Schools. As many of you will know, Liverpool Humanist Group has been active for some years in raising funds for the Uganda Humanist Schools Trust.

It will be good to see new and old friends at what promises to be an interesting evening.

Bob Churchill was Head of Membership and Promotion at the British Humanist Association from January 2008 until May 2011. During this time he was actively involved in the Census Campaign, played a major role in setting up HumanistLife and the Resolution Revolution, and supported the Atheist Bus Campaign.

He subsequently spent a year as a Development Executive Volunteer with the Uganda Humanist Association.

He is currently employed as Communications Officer by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU).