Michael B. Paulkovich
{{Short description|American columnist (born 1955)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Michael B. Paulkovich|
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1955|2|21|mf=y}}|
| birth_place = Washington, D.C., U.S.
| nationality = American
| education = University of Maryland (BS)
| occupation = Author, editor, systems engineer
| website = {{URL|http://beyond.to/mbp/mbp.htm}}
}}
Michael B. Paulkovich (born February 21, 1955) is a columnist for American Atheist Magazine,{{cite web|url=http://perfect11.com/aa/ce/index.htm|title=American Atheist magazine, 1st Qtr 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://perfect11.com/aa/bunk.htm|title=American Atheist magazine, 1st Qtr 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://perfect11.com/aa/jblog1/jblog1.htm|title=American Atheist magazine, 2nd Qtr 2016}} a print and online resource for atheism, religion and politics. He is also
a frequent contributor to Free Inquiry and contributing editor for The American Rationalist. Paulkovich is an inventor, editor, and space systems engineer for NASA.
Early life
Paulkovich was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Montgomery County, Maryland. He completed his Bachelor of Science in Engineering at the [[University_of_Maryland,_College_Park|University
of Maryland]].{{Cite web|title=Michael Paulkovich Biography|url=http://beyond.to/mbp/mbp.htm|website=beyond.to|access-date=2020-05-07}} While in college, Paulkovich developed his first invention, the melodic telephone ringer and published it in Popular Electronics.{{cite web|url=http://beyond.to/popular-electronics.com/ringer.htm|title=Popular Electronics, Nov 1981 (Page 57)}}
Career
While at NASA he contributed to the Cassini–Huygens mission, the CONTOUR spacecraft, and development of the James Webb Space Telescope. In 2011 he was asked to be columnist for American Atheist Magazine, and then contributing editor for The American Rationalist.{{cite web|url=http://perfect11.com/ar/salt/salt.htm|title=American Rationalist, July/Aug 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://perfect11.com/ar/baggotts/baggotts.htm|title=American Rationalist, July/Aug 2017}} He has written for Humanist Perspectives magazine,{{cite journal| journal = Humanist Perspectives | volume = Autumn | issue =194 | year = 2015| pages = 15–21| title = Founts, Frauds and Forgeries of Religion| last = Young| first = Richard| url =https://www.humanistperspectives.org/ex/issue194/index.html}} Popular Electronics
,{{cite web|url=http://beyond.to/popular-electronics.com/ringer.htm|title= Popular Electronics, Nov 1981 (Page 57)}} Journal of Applied Fire Science, and Science.{{cite journal| journal = Nature| volume = 438| issue = 7069| year = 2005| pages = 779–784| title =The abundances of constituents of Titan's atmosphere from the GCMS instrument on the Huygens probe| last = Niemann|display-authors=etal| doi = 10.1038/nature04122| pmid = 16319830| bibcode = 2005Natur.438..779N| hdl = 2027.42/62703| s2cid = 4344046| url = https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/62703/1/nature04122.pdf| hdl-access = free}}
Books
- God and Horrendous Suffering (co-author) (Denver: GCRR Press, 2021){{cite book| title = God and Horrendous Suffering| edition = | last = Loftus| first =John| year = 2021| publisher = GCRR Press| pages = | isbn = 978-1-7378469-1-8}}{{cite web|url= https://www.debunking-christianity.com/2020/12/my-last-anthology-incompatibility-of.html|title=Anthology: God and Horrendous Suffering, chapter 21}}
- Mostly Harmful: 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Religion (Annapolis: Spillix, 2020){{cite web|url=http://online.to/mostly-harmful/mh-reviews.htm|title=Reviews}}{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08JJ2MSNV/|title=Amazon|website=Amazon }}{{cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55547279-mostly-harmful|title=Goodreads}}{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCogdh3EQWs|title=Press Release|website=YouTube }}
- Beyond the Crusades: Christianity's Lies, Laws and Legacy with foreword by Robert M. Price (Cranford: American Atheist Press, 2016) {{cite web|url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28137870-beyond-the-crusades|title=Goodreads}}{{cite web|url=https://www.prweb.com/releases/american_atheist_press_announces_release_of_beyond_the_crusades_by_michael_paulkovich_with_foreword_by_robert_m_price/prweb14063741.htm|title=Press Release}}
- Filling the Void: A Selection of Humanist and Atheist Poetry (co-author) (Onus Books, 2016){{cite book| title =Filling the Void: A Selection of Humanist and Atheist Poetry | edition = | last = Pearce| first = Jonathan MS| year = 2016| publisher = Onus Books| pages = | isbn = 978-0992600082}}
- No Meek Messiah (Annapolis: Spillix, 2012){{cite book|title=Amazon|isbn=978-0988216112|last1=Paulkovich|first1=Michael|date=28 March 2013|publisher=Spillix, LLC }}{{cite web|url=http://nomeekmessiah.com|title=Home page}}{{cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18080069-no-meek-messiah|title=Goodreads}}
Controversies
Candida Moss joined with Joel Baden to write an article in the Daily Beast about Paulkovich's No Meek Messiah book,{{cite journal| journal = The Daily Beast| year =2013| title = So-Called 'Biblical Scholar' Says Jesus A Made-Up Myth| url = https://www.thedailybeast.com/so-called-biblical-scholar-says-jesus-a-made-up-myth | last = Moss | first = Candida}} but other writers have pointed out that their article has many errors: the claim that Paulkovich had no web presence, and no Twitter account, that he claimed to be a “Bible Scholar” and that there is no biographical information on him.{{cite web|url= https://vridar.org/2014/10/20/bible-scholars-inability-to-handle-mythicism-no-meek-messiah-by-michael-paulkovich/|title= Bible Scholars' Inability to Handle Mythicism: No Meek Messiah by Michael Paulkovich Vridar, Neil Godfrey |date= 20 October 2014 }}
It has been suggested that Moss and Baden never had Paulkovich’s book in their possession; one writer asked, "Did anyone who wrote about No Meek Messiah ever read it? I don’t think so. Or if they did they hid their guilt well from the public."
In their Daily Beast article, Moss and Baden suggested that consuls, generals, kings and emperors do not write, yet Moss and Baden seem unaware of Paulkovich’s appendix citing many who were prolific authors (e.g. Moss and Baden mention Vardanes and Tiberius; Paulkovich cited the publications of those men in his appendix on pages 347 and 348 of No Meek Messiah.) Moss and Baden also claimed that one of the 126 sources Paulkovich cited who should have written about Jesus (Asclepiades) actually lived 100 years before Jesus, but they referenced the wrong Asclepiades (even linking to the wrong man at Wikipedia from their Daily Beast article), seemingly unaware of Paulkovich’s references and appendix – there were over 40 men of that name in ancient Prusa, Bithynia{{cite book| title = The Life of Asclepiades | last = Cocchi | first = Antonio | year = 1762| publisher = T. Davies | pages = 2}}{{cite web|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=qwJcAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA2 |title= The Life of Asclepiades, p. 2|last1= Cocchi|first1= Antonio|year= 1762}} and Paulkovich referred to the Asclepiades who lived during Hadrian, late first century. {{cite book| title = No Meek Messiah| last = Paulkovich| first = Michael| year = 2013| publisher = Spillix| pages = 201, 331 | isbn = 978-0988216112}}
Other writers who read the Moss/Baden article but apparently had never read No Meek Messiah, yet published their own reviews are:
- Billy Hallowell in The Blaze{{cite web|url=http://www.beyondcrusades.com/links/hallowellb.htm|title=Billy Hallowell's Dishonest Review}}
- Erick Erickson in The Resurgent{{cite web|url=http://beyondcrusades.com/links/erick-erickson-fool.htm|title=Erick Erickson's Foolish Mistake}}
- James McGrath in Patheos
- Carey Lodge in Christian Today
- Ken Gilmore in BEREA
- Amanda Casanova in Religion Today
- Brian Mattson in a YouTube video
Michael Sherlock, now executive director of Atheist Alliance International{{cite web|url=https://www.atheistalliance.org/announcements/michael-sherlock-appointed-executive-director/|title=Michael Sherlock Appointed Executive Director|date=April 2020 }} also critiqued Paulkovich's work, writing that Paulkovich "made a fundamental mistake with regards to the alleged reference to Jesus in one of Josephus’ works" but later admitted his error, and that he had never read Paulkovich's work; he published an apology stating "the error rests with the sloppy journalism of Jonathan Vankin and not with the precise research of Michael Paulkovich."{{cite web|url= https://michaelsherlockauthor.wordpress.com/2018/04/28/not-michael-paulkovichs-historical-jesus-mistake-the-sloppy-journalism-of-johnathan-vankin/|title=Not Michael Paulkovich's Historical Jesus Mistake: The Sloppy Journalism of Jonathan Vankin|date=28 April 2018 }}
Paulkovich's subsequent book, Beyond the Crusades: Christianity's Lies, Laws and Legacy is a complete re-write of No Meek Messiah with a new publisher, and foreword by New Testament scholar Robert M. Price. The author has suggested that readers consider this version as it supersedes the earlier work.{{Cite web |title=Amazon.com: No Meek Messiah: Christianity's Lies, Laws and Legacy: 9780988216112: Paulkovich, Michael: Books |url=https://www.amazon.com/No-Meek-Messiah-Christianitys-Legacy/dp/0988216116 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250109070542/https://www.amazon.com/No-Meek-Messiah-Christianitys-Legacy/dp/0988216116 |archive-date=2025-01-09 |access-date=2025-01-16 |website=www.amazon.com |language=en-us}}
See also
References
External links
- [http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=fi&page=index Council for Secular Humanism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051028125732/http://secularhumanism.org/index.php?page=index§ion=fi |date=2005-10-28 }}
- [http://www.scimagojr.com/journalsearch.php?q=28867&tip=sid Journal of Applied Fire Science]
- [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31566091-beyond-the-crusades Beyond the Crusades]
- [http://beyondcrusades.com/reviews.htm Beyond the Crusades reviews]
- [http://nomeekmessiah.com No Meek Messiah]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paulkovich, Michael B.}}
Category:Irreligion in the United States
Category:Writers from Maryland
Category:University of Maryland, College Park alumni
Category:American non-fiction writers
Category:20th-century American writers
Category:21st-century American writers