Tekton Apologetics

Index: M

MacArthur, John

Popular pastor. Comments here. Review of Slave here.

Macchio, Joseph

Author of a site titled "The Orthodox Suppression of Original Christianity". Comments here.

MacDonald, Dennis

Advocate of reading the Bible as fiction based on Homer's works.

• Articles
  • Review of Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark
  • Review by "Justin Martyr" a classical scholar. Scroll halfway down. [Off Site]

Mack, Burton

Advocate of the Q and Cynic-sage theses. Related to, but not a member of, the Jesus Seminar.

• Articles
  • Review of Who Wrote the New Testament?

Maher, Bill

Religuguff -- a review

Manseau, Peter

Review of Killing the Buddha

Mara bar-Serapion

Pagan author of a letter mentioning Jesus.

• Articles
  • The Reference to Jesus in the Letter of Mara bar-Serapion

Marriage

Is Interracial Marriage Biblical? -- by my friends at CMI [Off Site]

Martin, Michael

Author of The Case Against Christianity. Rebuttal here

Martin, Sid

Author of The Secret of the Savior. Review

Massey, Gerald

Early 20th century writer, favorite of the "pagan copycat" theorists.

• Articles
  • Was Paul a Gnostic?
  • Peter vs Paul -- supplement to our item on Peter vs. Paul
  • On The Historical Jesus and Mythical Christ. Includes challenges for Massey and Harpur readers.

Masons

See here [Off Site]

Mather, Cotton

Profile

McAfee, David

Review of Disproving Christianity here by me, and here by Nick Peters.

McElvaine, Robert

Review of Grand Theft Jesus in this entry.

McKinsey, C. Dennis

Author of the Encyclopedia of Biblical Errancy. Full rebuttal here.

McLaren, Brian

Leading emergent figure.

• Comments on some of his books here.
• Multi-part review of A New Kind of Christianity here.
• Review of The Secret Message of Jesus, here

McPherson, J. B.

Author of Holey Bible: Old Testament. See my comments here.

Medearis, Carl

Emergent church guy.

• Articles
  • On Renting (Not Owning) Jesus
  • Review of The Art of Non-Evangelism

Meherally, Akbarally

Muslim apologist. See responses here. [Off Site]

Mercy

Biblical virtue -- that is not quite what we think it is. See here.

Meritt, Jim

Author of a list of Bible contradictions on the Secular Web, which we provide answers for here.

Meyer, Joyce

Popular teacher. Profile of Meyer here.

Meyer, Marvin

Fan of the Gospel of Thomas.

• Articles
  • Thomas Gospel analysis

Midrash

Jewish commentary genre; sometimes critics say the Gospels fit this mold. See here for response. [Off Site]

Miles, Austin

Ex-associate of Jim Bakker turned apostate and re-turned Christian, apparently. Comments here on Don't Call Me Brother

Miller, Robert

Jesus Seminar participant.

• Articles
  • Review of The Jesus Seminar and Its Critics

Miracles

• Articles
  • Were Jesus' healings a matter of reversing "conversion disorders"?
  • If we accept miracles from the Bible, why not also those reported by Josephus and others? -- see also this excellent article [Off Site]
  • "The laws of nature are immutable!!" -- a brief "hold on a second" commentary on this Skeptical objection that I'd like Skeptics to reply to.
  • "If there were all these miracles, there should have been more records of them!" [Off Site] -- part of a larger article
  • The miracles of Star Trek

Mirsch, David

Analysis of The Open Tomb.

Mithra

Persian and Roman god, source of pagan copycat charges.

• Articles
  • Did the figure of Mithras influence Christianity?

Modesty

Thoughts here.

Moore, Beth

Popular Bible teacher. Comments.

Morgan, Donald

Prominent Secular Web denizen. More into offering lists than offering hard argumentation.

• Articles
  • Review of "Was Jesus a Hypocrite?"
  • Bible Absurdities: Reviewed
  • Bible Inconsistencies: Reviewed

Mormonism

A variant on orthodox Christianity that I consider very much "on the edge" -- would be nice to see an internal reformation among these folks leading to orthodoxy.

• Articles
  • The Mormon Doctrine of Salvation -- short article dealing with verses and ideas particularly used by Mormons; more general cites and other ideas used by Mormons and other groups are found in this article, a more general treatment of the faith-works question with specific focus on baptism.
  • The Mormon Doctrine of Christ -- article dealing with verses and ideas particularly used by Mormon; should be read in light of our general treatment of the issue of the relationship between Father and Son
  • The Mormon Rejection of Creation Ex Nihilo
  • The Mormon Doctrine of Postmortem Evangelization
  • The Mormon Doctrine of the Aaronic and Melcizedek Priesthoods
  • Tampering with the Tree of Life: Izapa Stela 5 and Popular Mormon Apologetics
  • Joseph in the Batter's Box -- a look at the prophecies of Joseph Smith. Does he pass the Crest Test?
  • Plainer and More Precious Things -- did Joseph Smith truly restore the Gospel? Then why did he miss some of the most precious points of all?
  • Inside Connection -- a critical look at the LDS concept of internal witness
  • On contradictions in Joseph Smith's First Vision account and harmonization of Biblical contradictions
  • On Schisms in Mormonism -- a response to a popular Mormon argument that division in Christendom is a sign of apostasy
  • Didn't Joseph Smith violate this Rev. 22:18-19?
  • For an examination of the issues of divine embodiment (God as a glorified man) and pre-existence of souls, see Chapters 1 and 3 of my book, The Mormon Defenders.
  • The Reformed LDS -- Watchman Fellowship overview
• Books to Read
  • Pro-Mormon
    • Latter Days by Coke Newell [Review]
    • Restoring the Ancient Church by Barry Bickmore [Review]
    • Offenders for a Word by Stephen Ricks and Daniel Peterson [Review]
    • Mormonism: Faith of the Twenty-First Century by Edward Watson [Review]
    • Biblical Mormonism by Richard Hopkins [Review]
    • A Different Jesus by Robert Millet [Review]
    • My response to the review of The Mormon Defenders in the FARMS Review of Books
  • Counter-Mormon
    • Our recommended books

Moses

For items on the Pentaeuch and the Exodus, see those topical and Scriptural headings. See here for the issue of the origin of Moses' name and comparison of his story to that of Sargon.

Moss, Candida

Review of The Myth of Persecution.

Mulholland, Kevin

Some comments on Judas the Galilean.

Murdock, D. M.

Christ-myther who uses badly outdated sources. Formerly wrote as Acharya S.

• Articles
  • General Comments
  • Pagan Copycat series
  • Acharya S on the Gospels
  • Did the Christians destroy all the classical literature? [Off Site] -- very relevant for some of the claims made by writers of this persuasion
  • Did the Christians just outlive all of their opposition? [Off Site] -- ditto
  • Christianity and Pagan Literature [Off Site]
  • Summary review of Who Was Jesus?: This is a kinder, gentler Acharya but she's still using the same poor arguments found in her other books. Much is made over (usually single) quotes of people like Witherington, but she tenaciously avoids their arguments and scholarship. Adds nothing new and not already refuted on this site.

Music

Some comments on contemporary Christian music.