This will wendel.

July 16, 2007 7:58 PM

From the makers of Exit Mundi: The Other Bible. Fun articles on biblical science and scholarship.
posted by absalom (12 comments total)

Of course, reading the bible ain't as easy as it used to be.
posted by absalom at 8:02 PM on July 16, 2007

I love me some exit mundi... but this seems a little sophomoric.
Actually, freshmoric.
Made that up.
i make stuff up.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 8:04 PM on July 16, 2007

Surely you mean the TOB, and not Dr. Ehrman?
posted by absalom at 8:06 PM on July 16, 2007

[Oh, and the intro slide show is horrible.]
posted by absalom at 8:07 PM on July 16, 2007

Bible criticism? In my vagina?
posted by fleetmouse at 8:38 PM on July 16, 2007

Horrific design aside, there's a lot of great stuff here from skeptical "Historical Jesus" type scholars, but it's too bad that many of these articles insist on making offhand references to the "Jesus is a Mithra copycat" theory as though it were credible. It's not. A lot of the Mithraist parallels to the Christian narrative only came around well after the mythos of Jesus had begun settling into the general culture, and the so-called "parallels" between the two narratives are forced ones which draw on cultural cues common to the context of both religions of the day.

One of many sources on this topic.
(Yes, yes, J.P. Holding, biased source, but still quite instructional.)
posted by brownpau at 8:44 PM on July 16, 2007

The more critical analyses of the bible we have, the better off we will be. This looks like it could be good. Just as long as they put a bit in about King Solomon and how he completely didn't exist.
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 8:45 PM on July 16, 2007

I always thought of Jesus as more of a Dionysus rip-off.
posted by empath at 8:59 PM on July 16, 2007 [1 favorite]

My guess is there was an actual person (Jesus, Yeshua, Mithra or by some other name) who preached "love your enemies" and delivered the Sermon on the Mount. Likely, it was the same fella who contradicted Old Testament scripture regularly (working on the Sabbath, stopping the stoning of someone). This guess is based on what a radical departure these messages were for the impoverished and scripturally conservative of the day. Only problem is, we can't know that much about that person.

Biblical literalists should know that word "literal" doesn't mean anything in a strictly oral culture.
posted by McLir at 9:40 PM on July 16, 2007

This is where we learn how historians think people really spelled wendell's name.
posted by roll truck roll at 9:41 PM on July 16, 2007

cool
posted by caddis at 11:12 PM on July 16, 2007

Some interesting stuff there, thanks. However, concerning the 'sacrifice' of Isaac...

"Scholars have pointed out that it is also a very 'unbiblical' story. Nowhere else in the bible, humans are sacrificed. In fact, the bible repeatedly and explicitly forbids human sacrifices (Lev 18:21, Deut 12:31)."

Maybe they missed this, from Judges 11:29-40:

At that time the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he went throughout the land of Gilead and Manasseh, including Mizpah in Gilead, and led an army against the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD. He said, "If you give me victory over the Ammonites, I will give to the LORD the first thing coming out of my house to greet me when I return in triumph. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.
So Jephthah led his army against the Ammonites, and the LORD gave him victory. He thoroughly defeated the Ammonites from Aroer to an area near Minnith – twenty towns – and as far away as Abel-keramim. Thus Israel subdued the Ammonites. When Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, his daughter – his only child – ran out to meet him, playing on a tambourine and dancing for joy. When he saw her, he tore his clothes in anguish. "My daughter!" he cried out. "My heart is breaking! What a tragedy that you came out to greet me. For I have made a vow to the LORD and cannot take it back." And she said, "Father, you have made a promise to the LORD. You must do to me what you have promised, for the LORD has given you a great victory over your enemies, the Ammonites. But first let me go up and roam in the hills and weep with my friends for two months, because I will die a virgin." "You may go," Jephthah said. And he let her go away for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never have children. When she returned home, her father kept his vow, and she died a virgin.
posted by sluglicker at 2:35 AM on July 17, 2007