StrategicBean t1_j3ostqt wrote
I love this perspective of his. He just wants accurate data and gives no fucks about the elimination of forgeries beyond that. In the best way possible; What an absolute legendary nerd! I love it!
>Langlois told me that he derives no pleasure from such discoveries. “My intention wasn’t to be an expert in forgeries, and I don’t love catching bad guys or something,” he told me. “But with forgeries, if you don’t pay attention, and you think they are authentic, then they become part of the data set you use to reconstruct the history of the Bible. The entire theory is then based on data that is false.” That’s why ferreting out biblical fakes is “paramount,” Langlois said. “Otherwise, everything we are going to do on the history of the Bible is corrupt.”
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vitrucid t1_j3ryay4 wrote
Despite being Christian, I'm always a bit skeptical of any biblical scholar but this man reads like a genuine, curious nerd with education and patience to back it and turn it into something more. I like it. More people like this, please. I don't have the patience or intelligence to do it myself.
Uriah1024 t1_j3t4fm2 wrote
Being a bit of a Biblical scholar myself and a believer in its message, I'm both extremely interested and grateful for this work.
The entire premise of God is built around a truth claim, and posits that truth is both what leads us into being like God, but also understanding God. And regardless, I made a vow to follow the truth wherever it may lay.
My worldview has been shattered enough times now to seek out what's needed to form a better one. My hope is the others, both professional and layman people, follow this work and leverage it to improving where we stand.
The world would be a far better place if the church, religion, and all involved were not plagued by fakes, forgeries, lies, and more.
StrategicBean t1_j3tak9o wrote
I'm not talking about religion. & He isn't either from what I read in the article. But maybe that's just me
These scrolls & monuments & pieces of clay have humongous historical value. It's true as well that they have religious value to many but the religious part is beside the point from what I can tell
Just like we'd love to find a first edition of the first time someone wrote down the poems of Homer - in 2018 they found a clay tablet which reportedly "may be the oldest written record of Homer's epic tale, the Odyssey, ever found in Greece" which is the same kind of cool https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44779492
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BigWuffleton t1_j3pe41h wrote
Like it or not, Christianity has been a large influence on European/Western history and is therefore important to study how/if it changed over time and how different interpretations were used and carried into practice.
theSiegs t1_j3penlp wrote
Also, this is Jewish history.
HoduranB t1_j3pi93s wrote
Jewish history is Christian history. The religions diverged on the basis of who the Jewish Messiah is.
theSiegs t1_j3r9d6n wrote
Well Jewish history is of course much much older than Christian history. Some, but not very much, of Jewish history is commonly held as the foundation of Christianity.
It's also worth pointing out that Jewish history is both the history of a people and of a religion, and while they overlap a lot, the history of the people is bigger.
Christianity as most of us know it developed mostly independently of Judaism after the destruction of the temple. There was a divide that formed fairly quickly between the Jewish and gentile followers of Christ. You can see this happening in the New Testament in places like the book of James, where James is disagreeing with Paul somewhat on works vs faith. In other places you'll find Paul telling the gentile Christian that they should not be circumcised nor follow the Law because they are not Jewish. This was not a popular opinion among many Jewish followers of Jesus. The divide really takes off though when Rome starts persecuting Jews but not yet Christians, and Jewish followers of Jesus get scooped up in that, while Gentile ones likely avoided association for protection from persecution. The loss of their ties to Judaism left a huge gap in the early formation of Christian theology.. access to the texts.
Which brings us back to this article. With a more complete lens to look at the early formation of scripture (and a more generous orthodoxy to leave room for what it can teach us) students of the history of both Judaism and of Christianity will have more opportunity for growing together, as we should have been all along.
fatuous_sobriquet t1_j3r7idv wrote
And . . . some other things
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MikeMaven t1_j3pgysx wrote
Actually, there is a considerable amount of textual criticism that has been done with The Iliad, The Odyssey, and all the existing Ancient Greek literature—-which includes everything from Athenian politics to Zeus and the gods.
Physical_Magazine_33 t1_j3pjaiz wrote
Check out the Wikipedia article for Biblical Archeology. Then compare it to, say, Mormon Archeology.
MagicienDesDoritos t1_j3qwqih wrote
It's harder when the golden tablets are invisible
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hullgreebles t1_j3piaiw wrote
Made up or not, all ancient texts tell us a lot about the people who wrote it and the world they lived in. You can take your edgy teen act to r/Atheism
VarsH6 t1_j3pl8tv wrote
This is going over the Dead Sea scrolls, not the Bible itself.
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