The Skeptic editorial team is delighted to present an interview with Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou who, on the BBC's Bible's Buried Secrets, managed to illuminate the document by putting it into its historical context. You'll see how the Prof and our editor share a taste for gruesome folklore!
Crispian Jago has been busy, as usual: this issue, he's produced a version of his brilliant Conspiracy Theory Flowchart for us. Glasgow GP Margaret McCartney has charted the changes in medical culture by reference to the inimitable Sir Lancelot Spratt and Tessa Kendall has looked at primatologist Frans de Waal's latest book to consider the degree to which morality is intrinsic to human beings. Alan Duval wonders whether our species' beliefs about god/s are actually impressions of ourselves 'through a glass darkly' and we look at The Sleep Paralysis Project, using art to illuminate that common and widely misunderstood human experience.
Special announcement: we have a new legal column, which will be contributed by Geoff Whelan of GMSS and QEDcon, and Helen Dale of skepticlawyer.com.au. Geoff kicks off this issue with thoughts on the legal practicalities of prosecuting psychics.
This, plus all the usual columns, cartoons and extras.
Features
Prof. Francesca Stavrakopoulou
TV's Biblical Scholar talks Bibles and beliefs
Who won the 'Ockhams'?
Award Night at QED 2013
The Sleep Paralysis Project
The quintessential uncanny experience, rendered into art
Uncertainty
A GP explores certainty and statistics in medicine
Crispian Jago's
Conspiracy Theory Flowchart
Behaving Like Animals?
Frans de Waal on the origins of human ethics
Reflections of the Divine
The human mind and the seeds of spirituality
Plus all the regular features, reviews and columns from Chris French, Wendy Grossman, Michael Heap, Mark Duwe and Mark Williams.