by whereami 16 Replies latest jw friends
For those whow believe God authored the bible , this info will make you question your faith. Very well done.
I would love to see how the WTS would respond to this, especially after the new publication on the bible was just released at the convention.
Maybe one of our inhouse scholars (Narkissos/Leolia) can back up this info.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2061773048178434620&hl=en
Yes, this video has been discussed before along with the Documentary Hypothesis (aka Higher Criticism). Publications of the Watchtower Society have often condemned Higher Criticism in an intellectually dishonest way. They will never make a point by point rebuttal of the scholarship behind the Documentary Hypothesis. Instead they try to represent it as being something that is not worth anyone's time to look into. They insinuate that "worldly" Biblical Scholarship comes from Satan through Babylon the Great and Christendom and has the effect of destroying one's faith in the the Word of God.
Dave
I am reading a book right now called "Jesus,Interrupted" by Bart D. Ehrman. And so far it hasn't told who wrote the bible but who didn't.I am finding this book very interesting. So many contradictions in the Bible I just never saw.
O.N.
BUT....the bible says it is written by GOD!! Pagans!!
It's pretty well-traveled ground among those who actually care to think about. A great question for JW's is
"Why do you accept the protestant cannon?"
This is Robert Beckford isn't it? I love the way he presents stuff about the historical Jesus as if no on else has ever noticed before.
Like Ohio Nana I enjoy reading Bart Ehrman.
Ohio Nana
Yea
I read the book awhile back
Strange what we never noticed before.................
Ehrman is good. I like his textbooks more than his pop books. Check out Hector Avalos as well. The Skeptic society has two good really accessible books about the bible. One is The Secret Origins of the Bible (silly title as admitted by the author...for sales purposes only. the content is good). The other is something specifically about prophetic claims. The latter one is really good in that it walks you step by step through all the common prophetic claims of fundies. It also gives a good general guideline for "what would a prophetic claim look like?"
It, while still a JW, helped me realize such obvious facts as:
It is relatively meaningless to prophecy that a nation will end at some point in the future since, for all we know, every nation has "ended" in some natural way or else is modern, and probably will end, in some natural way.
If you like Bart Ehrman, try Elaine Pagels too; she has a number of great books. She is not pro anything, she is "drawn to Christianity" as she puts it, but her scholarship is respected by all. The Origin of Satan is great as it paints a picture of how beliefs evolve over time.
There is a great free lecture series from Stanford also, The Historical Jesus by Thomas Sheehan; Introduction to the Old Testament by Christine Hayes, Yale.
Both free, and fantastic; they were helpful for me to figure out why the Abrahamic religions have such a grip today.
The book Who Wrote the Bible is a great read, Friedman.
My take is that the Documentary Hypothesis has not been seriously challenged in the last 50 years.
I am in the process of discovering John Dominic Crossan's books; right now I am reading Excavating Jesus, and also The Bible Unearthed by Israel Finkelstein.
There are a number of DVD courses by Bart Ehrman available here: http://www.teach12.com/storex/courses.aspx?t=&sl=&s=909&fMode=s&sbj=Religion . I know the prices seem steep, but you may wish to actually call the places about pricing or keep an eye on the web site, as they frequently have sales for their courses at a fraction of the list price. I've got a number of courses from them and I've liked them.
