scholarly lectures on bible history or evolution

cobweb

I recently enjoyed this series of Yale lectures on Youtube about the Hebrew Bible.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfbxB0kKayCQ2Hf6JlCCDN6z47ySYxsCW

I really liked the woman doing them and she had a lot of knowledge. It does seem quite rare to have such University lectures available. There is a series of Yale lectures about the Christian Bible but I wasn't that keen on the lecturer's style.

Does anyone have suggestions for other scholarly video series or one offs like this one on the subject of Bible or Evolution. It is nice to be able to watch this information sometimes rather than read it. I've watched the odd debate between religious person and evolutionists which have been interesting though it is hard to stomach the pomposity of the staunch religious literalist.

I am an atheist myself but I have recently found it quite interesting to look at what is known about the origins of the bible, the archaeological evidence etc, the cultures out of which it arose, how it came to be etc, as it offers a very different perspective to one we were taught.

baker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7vEB6FXtbs

found this debate interesting

ihunt

MIT offers most of their undergrad courses online, and I'm sure there are other schools with similar open course programs.
http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

Heaven

Thank you for sharing this cobweb... I will add it to my list for viewing.

I think it's fascinating to compare what we have been told about the Bible versus actual origins and history. Many Christians haven't even read the Bible. Most of us have been maneuvered through this book by the religions we were/are a part of.

One big truth for me was discovering that this book is really a compilation of different writings by different authors, written over a period of 1000+ years and that NOT ONE author ever met Jesus.

Another one is Bart Ehrman's work on the comparative analysis of the 4 gospels. These 4 books form a large part of the Christian belief system. They were not written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They were not written at the time the events occurred, but much later. And they contradict one another, so much so, that you come away with the conclusion that much of the foundation for the Christian religion is false.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNn7b_kz9dM

Vidiot

I think a lot of people don't realize is that virtually all the arguments for the Bible's literal historicity are ideology-based...

x

...whereas the arguments for its non-historicity are predominantly evidence-based.