Gingernuts by the Dead Sea

Many people primarily associate the Dead Sea with a dodgy line of cosmetics hawked in shopping malls up and down the country. Apparently they're not as 'kosher' as they appear, as this report suggests.

But for those with an interest in all things biblical, the Dead Sea means the DSS. Greg Doudna, an Ambassador College graduate who subsequently moved on to more credible academic studies (he is currently on the faculty of Columbia College, Everett, WA), is among those now seeking to shake the established paradigm. Jim West points to one of two essays by Greg appearing at Bible & Interpretation. With the forbidding title "The Sect of the Qumran Texts and its Leading Role in the Temple in Jerusalem During Much of the First Century BCE: Toward a New Framework for Understanding" (surely enough in itself to make your eyes water), part one is found here and part two here.

You'd have to say this is no light and diverting read on the sofa with a cup of green tea and a gingernut, indeed I'd estimate a whole packet of gingernuts and a tea urn would be required, but it is guaranteed to push most of us up the learning curve.

And yes, this is the author of Showdown at Big Sandy, which I reviewed a few years back.

(Access to further papers by Greg Doudna available here. An earlier Otagosh article featuring his work can be found here.)

How the Bible Became Holy

This is just a brief 'heads-up' about a new book - released earlier this month - from Yale University Press, and available in both hardback and Kindle editions.

Michael Satlow is Professor of Religious Studies and Judaic Studies at Brown University, with a PhD in Ancient Judaism from Jewish Theological Seminary. In "How the Bible Became Holy" he systematically sweeps aside much of the pious nonsense about the origins of the Bible. "Drawing on cutting-edge historical and archaeological research, he traces the story of how, when, and why Jews and Christians gradually granted authority to texts that had long lay dormant in a dusty temple archive. The Bible, Satlow maintains, was not the consecrated book it is now until quite late in its history."

A few quotes from the Introduction and first chapter.

I will argue here that Jews and Christians gave to the texts that constitute our Bible only very limited and specific kinds of authority until well into the third century CE and beyond. The "peoples of the book" did not know their book very well. (p.3, emphasis in original).

[F]or most Jews and Christians in antiquity the Bible had very little normative authority. Until the first century CE, most Jews, particularly in the land of Israel, had only a very fuzzy knowledge of scripture and certainly would not have turned to it for practical guidance. (p.4)

Jesus himself, growing up in Galilee, had very limited knowledge of scripture. (p.6)

The problem with using the Bible as a historical source is that it isn't one. (p.6)

[T]he picture of Israel that continues to emerge is very different than the one found in the Bible. (p.15)

There'll probably be more to say as I progress through the book, but this is one volume that deserves wide exposure. While many bloggers are focussed on Bart Ehrman's newest book, it would be a shame to see this one slip under the radar.

Here's the Amazon link:
How the Bible Became Holy

New Zealand Lutherans

The second part of the 'Lutheran Tradition' programme aired tonight on RNZ National. The bishop, Mark Whitfield, talked (at times it sounded like a bit like a lecture) on the history of the denomination in New Zealand and its German roots. It's not exactly a success story; Whitfield's total flock numbers around only 800 souls today.

Pastor & Mrs Te Punga, 1941

The historical information included some details I was unaware of, but it was surely a major oversight not to mention the church's only Māori pastor, Hamuera Te Punga, who left these shores circa 1912 to study in St. Louis, Missouri, married a German-American woman, and then returned to serve the sturdy Teutonic farmers of the Rangitikei and raise a family of remarkable high achievers, including the late Roi.

When asked about the effect of anti-German sentiment in World War I, Whitfield confirmed the stories I've heard and read myself.

The audio can be accessed here.

From Kindergarten to Stalag

I don't always agree with PZ Myers - does anybody? - but in this case I have to echo an amen. It seems a New York Elementary school has cancelled it's annual Kindergarten art show because Performance-Led-Outcomes Nazis have determined otherwise. The school writes:

Dear Kindergarten parents and guardians:

We hope this letter serves to help you better understand how the demands of the 21st century are changing schools and, more specifically, to clarify misconceptions about the Kindergarten show. It is most important to keep in mind that this issue is not unique to Elwood. Although the movement toward more rigorous learning standards has been in the national news for more than a decade, the changing face of education is beginning to feel unsettling for some people. What and how we teach is changing to meet the demands of a changing world.

The reason for eliminating the Kindergarten show is simple. We are responsible for preparing children for college and career with valuable lifelong skills and know that we can best do that by having them become strong readers, writers, coworkers, and problem solvers. Please do not fault us for making professional decisions that we know will never be able to please everyone. But know that we are making these decisions with the interests of all children in mind.

What a steaming pile of bulldust! Myers' comments say it all.

Protestant - a disappearing category

The word "Protestant" is in decline, and it's probably a good thing. I mean, what did it actually mean anyway? Inevitably it became a catch-all for anyone not Roman Catholic, apparently even confusing poor old Mr. Webster. Methodists and Presbyterians fit the original description without much challenge, but what about Anglicans, many of which - at the chinless, bells and smells high church end - sniff at the very thought.

How about Adventists? And what do we do with those pesky folk who defy the categorical duopoly completely? Orthodox, Copts, Mormons and, dare one even suggest it, the various sects of Armstrongism? And at the other end of the spectrum are those who opine that, with their traditional liturgy, Lutherans (who you'd think would be the 'gold standard') aren't Protestant enough.

You can now, unless perhaps if you live in the North of Ireland, get through months on end, even when regularly dealing with Christian literature, without tripping over the "P" word. The world is no longer split along a myopic Reformation divide, something that follows from the increasing diversity in Western societies.

So is the word, or even the concept of Protestantism, useful any longer?

The Suspicious Sixteen

It seemed a terrible oversight that the editors of Tomorrow's World should provide us with a rogues gallery of untruth tellers on the cover of their latest issue, and yet not bother to identify by name those unlucky enough to be nominated.

But of course, they did. In very small print at the bottom of page 4.

So here is the full list...

Top row: John Lennon, Alfred Kinsey, Che Guevara, Alfred North Whitehead. 

Second row: Marx, Nietzsche, Mao and Darwin. 

Third row: Stalin, Ingersoll, Ghandi and Richard Dawkins.

Bottom row: Bill Nye, Kurt Gödel, Lenin and Freud.

Bill Nye must be flattered to be up there with Charles Darwin and Ghandi. I dare say he's already framed the cover to hang in his study.

Thanks to Corky who, with more patience and skill than I'm capable of, captured those hiding on the top row underneath the magazine logo. I guess you could say he uncorked them!

And special thanks to the lads at TW. Great entertainment value. Mad magazine couldn't have done better.

Untruth Tellers

The current issue of Tomorrow's World has an interesting line-up on its cover. Mug shots of men (no women made the cut) the editors regard as very naughty indeed. People who provide false trails in the search for truth. (The editors, of course, have the inside track here, tightly clinging as they do to the coat-tails of Spanky Meredith).

There are the usual suspects of course: Mao, Stalin, Lenin, Nietzsche, Freud, Darwin... Hitler is missing, but poor old Dawkins gets the nod.

Then there are a few more subtle choices: Ghandi anyone?

But, egad, what did Bill Nye the Science Guy do to get elevated to this status? Oh yeah, that debate with Ken Ham. Still...

Then there are a few I can't place. Che Guevara is the only fellow in the top row I recognise. Anyone able to identify the others - partly obscured by the masthead?

All of which leads me to wonder whose ugly mugs you'd have put on the cover? (My nominations might include Ayn Rand, Ken Ham, Rush Limbaugh, Herb Armstrong, Milton Friedman, and John Calvin. Karl Barth is an outside possibility. I'd keep Stalin, and maybe Nietzsche.)