Posted on 07/22/2008 8:35:47 AM PDT by Between the Lines
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Abraham didn't exist? The Exodus didn't happen?
The Bible's Buried Secrets, a new PBS documentary, is likely to cause a furor.
"It challenges the Bible's stories if you want to read them literally, and that will disturb many people," says archaeologist William Dever, who specializes in Israel's history. "But it explains how and why these stories ever came to be told in the first place, and how and why they were written down."
The Nova program will premiere Nov. 18. PBS presented a clip and a panel discussion at the summer tour of the Television Critics Association.
The program says the Bible was written in the sixth century BC and that hundreds of authors contributed.
"At least the first five books of the Bible come together during the Babylonian exile," says producer Gary Glassman.
The program challenges long-held beliefs. Abraham, Sarah and their offspring probably didn't exist, says Carol Meyers, a religion professor at Duke University.
"These stories are unlikely to represent real historical events, but rather there's some kernel of ancient experience in there which has survived and which helps give identity to the people at the time the Bible finally took shape centuries and centuries later," Meyers says.
There's no archaeological evidence of the Exodus, either, she says, but "it doesn't mean that there's no kernel of truth to it."
Nova series producer Paula Apsell says she found it "extremely shocking" to learn that monotheism was a process that took hundreds of years.
"I was always brought up to believe that the minute Abraham and the patriarchs came on the scene, the Israelites accepted one God and there was just always one God and that was it," Apsell says. "I think people are going to really be stunned by that."
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
Heresy, plain and simple. These people will burn for eternity.
I guess she never actually read the Bible before. Just like real life, the Bible people are real human beings and could be swayed by the popular religions of their day. Witness the story of Jacob and his father-in-law's household idols or the Hebrews at Mt. Sinai creating an image of the Egyptian Apis bull to worship. Another attack on the Bible- how original.
And can we safely assume that PBS will never see fit to produce “The Koran’s Buried Secrets.”
They string together this possibility, and that conjecture, and they think that maybe it happened this way and note that this could have been caused by that ...
And why do they jump through such hoops? Because they have an overwhelming need to attack any worldview which is based on Faith.
Irony, anyone?
I’m glad archeologists don’t let a little thing like heresy get in the way of genuine research.
This is true, if one ignores the evidence. Josephus was closer to the Exodus than we are to Julius Caesar. Maybe Caesar didn't exist either? There is also the Papyrus Ipuwer discussed by Velikovsky in his Ages in Chaos.
The table below summarizes the correspondence between this Egyptian document and the Book of Exodus. (Conventional Wisdom, suggests that these two were describing events several hundred years apart. Velikovsky suggests otherwise.)
ML/NJ
IPUWER PAPYRUS - LEIDEN 344 TORAH - EXODUS 2:5-6 Plague is throughout the land. Blood is everywhere. 2:10 The river is blood.
2:10 Men shrink from tasting - human beings, and thirst after water
3:10-13 That is our water! That is our happiness! What shall we do in respect thereof? All is ruin.
7:20 …all the waters of the river were turned to blood. 7:21 ...there was blood thoughout all the land of Egypt …and the river stank.
7:24 And all the Egyptians dug around the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.
2:10 Forsooth, gates, columns and walls are consumed by fire. 10:3-6 Lower Egypt weeps... The entire palace is without its revenues. To it belong [by right] wheat and barley, geese and fish
6:3 Forsooth, grain has perished on every side.
5:12 Forsooth, that has perished which was yesterday seen. The land is left over to its weariness like the cutting of flax.
9:23-24 ...and the fire ran along the ground... there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous. 9:25 ...and the hail smote every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field.
9:31-32 ...and the flax and the barley was smitten; for the barley was in season, and flax was ripe.
But the wheat and the rye were not smitten; for they were not grown up.
10:15 ...there remained no green things in the trees, or in the herbs of the fields, through all the land of Egypt.
5:5 All animals, their hearts weep. Cattle moan... 9:2-3 Behold, cattle are left to stray, and there is none to gather them together.
9:3 ...the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle which is in the field... and there shall be a very grievous sickness. 9:19 ...gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field...
9:21 And he that did not fear the word of the Lord left his servants and cattle in the field.
9:11 The land is without light 10:22 And there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt. 4:3 (5:6) Forsooth, the children of princes are dashed against the walls. 6:12 Forsooth, the children of princes are cast out in the streets.
6:3 The prison is ruined.
2:13 He who places his brother in the ground is everywhere.
3:14 It is groaning throughout the land, mingled with lamentations
12:29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive that was in the prison. 12:30 ...there was not a house where there was not one dead.
12:30 ...there was a great cry in Egypt.
7:1 Behold, the fire has mounted up on high. Its burning goes forth against the enemies of the land. 13:21 ... by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night. 3:2 Gold and lapis lazuli, silver and malachite, carnelian and bronze... are fastened on the neck of female slaves. 12:35-36 ...and they requested from the Egyptians, silver and gold articles and clothing. And God made the Egyptians favour them and they granted their request. [The Israelites] thus drained Egypt of its wealth.
In the mean time don’t forget to send PBS a check during their next pledge drive...
Archeology for the most part has supported the Biblical record where proof has been found. Being a book of faith, I don’t get worked up over every detail being precise, but as one noted, I would like to see some of this same academic exercise aimed at Islam.
Where have they looked ?
Probably don’t figure there,s much of a demographic for something like that.
Very interesting. Thanks for the info!
You aren’t really serious are you? Do you really believe this will happen?
A statement born of ignorance and arrogance.
Great. Your tax dollars at work.
LOL...what a poster! :)
I agree. I was para-phrasing a lot of what I’ve seen here on FR over the years.
“There’s no archaeological evidence of the Exodus, either, she says, but “it doesn’t mean that there’s no kernel of truth to it.”
Yes there is. I think I’ll stick with Simca the Naked Archaeologist.
“There’s no archaeological evidence of the Exodus, either, she says, but “it doesn’t mean that there’s no kernel of truth to it.”
Yes there is. I think I’ll stick with Simca the Naked Archaeologist.
And why are we surprised by this? Under an Obama reguime, the Bible will be banned, any Christians placed in concentration reeducation camps, the Koran made the official religious word of the Soviet States of Amerika.
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Good that you are able to maintain your perspective on this.
Anyone else remember the dire warnings of what would happen if the Clintons got not one but two terms in the 90’s? Sorry, your hysteria is no different from what we heard 16 years ago.
Nova series producer Paula Apsell says she found it "extremely shocking" to learn that monotheism was a process that took hundreds of years.
Not nearly as shocking as finding out that the process of being burnt up in an unquencheable fire may take eternity.
Yeah, I remember it, same ole stuff, it was the end of the world, commies taking over, blah, blah...oops, we’re still here and not a single concentration camp.
Hmmm...believe PBS, the tax-payer-subsidized Leftist mouthpiece, or the Bible, which has been around for thousands of years and defended to the death by millions of martyrs. The answer is a no-brainer.
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The headlines should be: ‘PBS fiction suggests Exodus not real!’ PBS is a SOCIALIST ORGANIZATION who hate religion!! I’ll be sure to NOT watch that CRAP!!
I remember a History Channel show that showed how Exodus did / could happen using historical evidence —It was absolutely riveting and I am an agnostic ( show did not state that the causes were caused by god but said the viewers could decide that )
Me thinks PBS sucks
A mainstream media outlet is trying to discredit and deny the contents of the bible. Color me shocked... or not.
How do you tell the difference between a Canaanite and an Israelite?
William Dever in his work has confessed that it isn’t easy.
Obama is the 12th Imam.
You did not have a Marxist’s congress 16 years ago as you put it. We have it now. You have your opinion and I have mine. I’ll stay with mine, you can keep yours.
Of course the fact that there is very serious Biblical scholarship that challenges these views will not be mentioned or given an equal voice. All in all I say
HO HUM.
You did not have a Marxist’s congress 16 years ago as you put it. We have it now. You have your opinion and I have mine. I’ll stay with mine, you can keep yours.
_________
Let’s do the math, shall we? 2008-16=1992 = pretty sizeable DEMOCRATIC lead in both the Senate and the House.
You would do well to look at the 103rd Congress, sir. The makeup was OVERWHELMINGLY Democratic.
Opinions are much better when they are based on factual information.
Book Description
Is the Bible true? For the last hundred and fifty years a war has been waged over the historical reliability of the Hebrew scriptures. Recent dramatic discoveries of biblical archaeology have cast serious doubt on the familiar account of ancient Israel and the origins of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Though the Bible credits Abraham as the first human to realize there is only one God, we now know that there is no evidence for monotheism for many centuries after the reported time of Abraham. Nor is there any archaeological evidence for the Exodus, for Joshua's conquest of Canaan, or for the vast "united monarchy" of David and Solomon.
In The Bible Unearthed two leading scholars, an archaeologist and a historian, combine an exhilarating tour of the field of biblical archaeology with a fascinating explanation of how and why the Bible's historical saga differs so dramatically from the archaeological finds. They explain what the Bible says about ancient Israel and show how it diverges sharply from archaeological reality. They then offer a dramatic new version of the history of ancient Israel, bringing archaeological evidence to bear on the question of when, where, and why the Bible was first written.
What do we know about the time of the ancient patriarchs? When did monotheism first arise? When and where did the first Israelites appear? How did the people of Israel first come to occupy the Promised Land? How extensive was David and Solomon's kingdom? When and why did Jerusalem become the capital of ancient Israel? All of these questions have new answers.
As to why the answers are so new, Finkelstein and Silberman draw on evidence from decades of archaeological work and dozens of digs in Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria, to explain that the key early books of the Bible were first codified in the seventh century BCE, hundreds of years after the core events of the lives of the patriarchs, the Exodus from Egypt, and the conquest of Canaan were said to have taken place.
Yet the ultimate message of The Bible Unearthed is not just a correction of the record. Instead, it is a unique and fascinating explanation of the origins of the Bible. The Bible's newly identified authors, threatened with political crisis and the intimidation of nearby empires, crafted a brilliant document, a set of stories and teachings that would eventually appeal to the faithful beyond the boundaries of any particular kingdom.
The Bible Unearthed will forever change how you think about the world's greatest book. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Israel Finkelstein is director of the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University.
And yours is right and others wrong. Nope. Sorry liberal, not gonna fall for it.
It’s a safe guess that the producers will trot out the usual suspects from to “make” their case.
Haven't they heard? You can dis the Jews and the Christians, but never dis Islam.
So, Jesus bought into the myth as well, huh? /s
No doubt from the same people that brought us “Jesus’ Tomb,” “The Gospel of Judas,” and the “Da Vinci Code.”
Muslims are taught that the Bible has been corrupted and man has changed it over time. Most are unaware of the archeological evidence that exists because the Quran simply can not stand up to the same type of scrutiny. Don't go looking for truth anywhere in Islam.
LOL. The best you got when someone disagrees with you is to call them a liberal?
The Great Stainmaker took over a United States that seemed to face no significant enemies, and his attitude toward defending this country was so significantly casual so that not only did enemies arise, but he ignored them and maybe even used them for his own political aggrandizement. The first World Trade Center attack was certainly not Clinton's fault, but he ignored it essentially treating it as if it were a Peoria bank robbery. He used the Oklahoma City Bombing to resurrect his popularity instead of finding out what really happened there. His administration blocked communication between the FBI and the CIA that prevented them from properly understanding the threats this country faced. His own military aide has written that he was more interested in playing golf than defending America. George W. Bush inherited this mess and now there is no more World Trade Center. Anyone who thinks that Clinton wasn't responsible for this hasn't a clue.
ML/NJ
Okay fritz. We all know you da man with all the answers, kinda like Obama.
Okay fritz. We all know you da man with all the answers, kinda like Obama.
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Yawn. I’ll not make the mistake of thinking you have anything to offer a discussion in the future.
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