It’s scheduled to be aired on PBS in 1 week, Nov 18th, and I find myself very intrigued!
So far I’ve caught a couple of previews through the NOVA video podcast, and, unlike some of the crap you get on the History Channel, this appears to be based on actual, sound science and is not, at least it seems, another “Evidence for Noah’s ark!” or “Did Mary Magdalene have Jesus’s love child?!” crapola.
It’s probably nothing new for people like Dio who knows modern biblical scholarly/archeological study very well, but it’s bound to be a fountain of information on modern scientific thought of both the origins of the bible and the belief systems that gave rise to Judaism and later Christianity/Islam, for people such as myself.
Anyone know anything else about the program or the people involved? Anyone else going to watch?
From what I can see from exploring the site, it looks a little better than the Noah’s Ark specials, but it’s still kind of slanted. It appears to be aimed at highly tendentious extropolations from scant archaeological evidence in order to create “plausible” historical scenarios which could “possiby” be the source of certain Bible stories.
The interview with Carol Meyers on Moses in which she tries to contrive a possible historical basis for the Exodus is specious in the extreme. She also fais to mention any of the evidence which would mitigate against her hypothesis (a hypothesis which is 100% speculative and is not required to explain any physical evidence, but which is invented solely as a means of finding a plausible gap in the evidence where she can stuff a Bible story). She anachronistically imposes Yahwistic monotheism long before there is any archaeological evidence for it, and she makes no mention of the Hyksos expulsion which is a much more likely historical basis for the Exodus myth.
Eilat Mazar’s claim to have discovered David’s Palace is also quite dubious and is seen with great skepticism by archaeologists other than Mazar, who is funded by a highly political, Zionist group dedicated proving historical claims of the Bible.
A very critical analysis of Mazar’s senationalist claims was published by Tel-Aviv University. It can be found here (in pdf).
Their conclusion is basically that Mazar not only misdated the site (which could actually date as late as the Hellenistic Period), and that what she’s claiming are the walls to one massive buliding are actually multiple buildings.
I’ll probably watch the show, but watch with a shaker of salt nearby, and keep in mind that you might be seeing a one-sided, pre-disposed interpretation of the evidence.
I was going to mention that the info and interviews on the cite did not jive with the tone of the previews on the video podcast. The interviews on the site sounded extremely apologetic, as though they were deathly afraid of fundies getting all riled up because they didn’t approach the subject from a biblical inerrancy point of view.
The podcast can be downloaded (I think) form here: Yahoo
I have it subscribed on my zune, so I’m not sure how that yahoo page works, I guess you might have to click on the little camera icon.
Thanks for pointing out some of the problems with their positions on the site, Dio. I’ll be sure to keep the salt shaker handy.
Hijack - Dio, have you ever considered writing a book on the subject? Maybe a sort of compiled modern history of the bible from it’s polytheistic beginnings to the new testament. Only from a strictly scholarly view, no apologetics? You’d have at least one buyer!
It features Mazar? (shaking my head) “I work with the Bible in one hand and the tools of excavation in the other…” Yeah, that worked REAL well in the past. :rolleyes:
I think a book about the entire Bible would be a little too ambitious for me, but I’ve actually toyed with (even drafted) some “New Testament criticism for idiots” type stuff.
