John W. Loftus

John W. Loftus
Occupation Author
Alma mater Great Lakes Christian College
Genre Philosophy of religion
Subject Atheism
Website
freethoughtblogs.com/loftus/

John W. Loftus (born 1954) is an American author who writes about his conversion from Christianity to atheism.

Education and career as a Christian

Loftus earned a bachelor's degree (B.R.E.), from Great Lakes Christian College in 1977. He later earned two master's degrees, M.A. and M.DiV., from Lincoln Christian University under the teaching of James D. Strauss and a Masters of Theology degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.[1] He became ordained as a minister in the Church of Christ and taught apologetics for Great Lakes Christian College and Lincoln Christian University, as well as teaching philosophy and ethics for College of Lake County, Kellogg Community College and Trine University.[2]

Career as an atheist

During his almost twenty years as an evangelical Christian and Christian apologist, he experienced growing doubt about the tenets of the Christian faith. In the late 1990s he experienced a crisis of faith that led him to reject Christianity altogether.[3] He eventually wrote a book laying out his case against Christianity, which was published in 2008 as Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity.[4] Later in that same year he self-published a companion book entitled, Why I Became an Atheist: Personal Reflections and Additional Arguments.

His book The Outsider Test for Faith proposes a method for evaluating religious belief from an outsider's perspective.[5]

He also edited the anthology The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails, (Amherst, NY Prometheus Books 2010) ISBN 978-1-61614-168-4 and The End of Christianity (Amherst, NY Prometheus Books 2011) ISBN 1-61614-414-2. In 2012 he collaborated with Randal Rauser on a book entitled God or Godless.[6]

He founded the website Debunking Christianity.

References

  1. ↑ "John Loftus". Secular Web. Internet Infidels Inc. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity". prometheusbooks.com. Prometheus Books. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  3. ↑ Scot McKnight; Hauna Ondrey (July 14, 2008). Finding faith, losing faith: stories of conversion and apostasy. Baylor University Press. pp. 13–14. ISBN 978-1-60258-162-3.
  4. ↑ John W. Loftus, Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity, Prometheus Books, Amherst, New York, 2008, ISBN 978-1-59102-592-4
  5. ↑ Talbott, Thomas. "The Outsider Test for Faith: How Serious a Challenge Is It?" (PDF). Willamette University. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  6. ↑ Rauser, Randal. "God or Godless? The Loftus/Rauser Calgary Debate". Randal Rauser.com. Retrieved June 10, 2014.