Bamboozled

[poliphilo]

Channel 4 boldly, and in the teeth of protests, gave over their prime-time Christmas slot to a show about how the Bible was written and edited by a succession of power elites and how anybody who thinks it's the unmediated word of God is stupid and/or dangerous.

I was taught this stuff at theological college thirty years ago, but it seems to be no more common knowledge now than it was then. The churches give the information to their clergy (fore-warned is fore-armed) but they don't encourage them to pass it on to the folks in the pews.

I find this mildly scandalous. It's nearly a hundred and fifty years since scholars first began to take the Bible apart. Their conclusions ought to be as much a part of the common culture as Darwin or Dickens.

And so should their methods. If we're awed by one text we'll be awed by others- and politicians, leader writers, newscasters, gurus and advertisers will continue to be able to manipulate and bamboozle us.

Comments

[silent-mouse.livejournal.com]

Would be interesting to compare the approaches to and conclusions of such Bible studies by Christian and Jewish (how do you make a adjective from Judaism?) scholars. Sadly, I'm not much of an expert, - I haven't even got a proper religious education, being a girl and all.
Once thing that strikes me - it's still considered a big No-No in the orthodox community, so I'm amazed to learn that you were taught about it at theological college! Then again, maybe it is taught to the more advanced students, but my feeling is that if it taught, it is taught as an example of lies that are out there.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I get the impression that Christian and Jewish scholars work together. There is after all a lot of common ground.

The programme made the point that the big divide is not between Christian and Jew, but between those scholars, of either faith, who are prepared to follow the evidence wherever it leads and those, again of either faith, who refuse to consider anything that might challenge their beliefs.

[queen-in-autumn.livejournal.com]

At my seminary -- which is an ecumenical program at a Jesuit university -- both the "Hebrew Scriptures" and "Christian Scriptures" class address how the Bible was formed: who wrote what, how the texts were selected and excluded, and etc. The "Christology" class spends a lot of time on the various christological beliefs that were declared heresies, and some of the political manuvering that went on which determined which were accepted. And these are all beginning-level classes.

I had already studied this in a public university class on the New Testament. My experience was that finding out how the NT was put together made it easier for me to understand the differences and the reasons for the differences in the gospels, and etc. But a lot of my classmates (most of whom were young undergrads) were freaked out by the thought that it hadn't all been dictated by an angel whispering into someone's ear.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It freaked me quite a bit- at first- and then I got to find the whole subject quite fascinating.