The Bible is probably the only ancient text that any Mike, Mary or Marcia waxes warm about despite stark ignorance of the book’s actual texts and historical contexts (plural). The lay critic may be very educated but (s)he and even most Christians need to understand how to read an ancient text from a different linguistic…
Tag: Old Testament
Sabbath & The ‘Two Law’ Theory
Sabbatarian Claim: 1. At Sinai God gave 2 laws. The primary was the Decalogue, moral in essence, written on stone tablets and placed inside the golden ark. The secondary, the ‘book of the law’, ceremonial in essence, written by Moses and placed beside the ark (Deut. 31.26) is what is referred to in the New…
Reading Ancient Texts Responsibly
Though many (learned and unlearned folk) seem not be aware of it there is an academic version of the biblical “believe not every spirit…” It is “double-check all sources.” I ‘push up’ myself in the company of reputed scholars and join Egyptologist William Dever in asking “How is it that the biblical texts are always…
Quibbling With Tafari
My friend Dr. Ikeal Tafari has written two pieces in your newspaper raising questions on the historical roots of Israel. Unfortunately the main source he seems to be drawing on is Gary Greenberg’s book The Bible Myth: African Origins of the Jewish People. I say unfortunately because Greenberg (whose work I have scrutinised carefully) makes…