The short answer is no, the bible is not historically accurate. There is plenty of information for the historian to gleen though. Mostly, about the time they were written.
My thinking now parallels this surprisingly good textbook I’m reading. that Oral tradition from Judea was converted into written Greek and interpreted to best fit the contemporary culture and geography.
The more I study the more amazed I am that religious belief can grip so many people.
The short answer is no, the bible is not historically accurate. There is plenty of information for the historian to gleen though. Mostly, about the time they were written.
My thinking now parallels this surprisingly good textbook I’m reading. that Oral tradition from Judea was converted into written Greek and interpreted to best fit the contemporary culture and geography.
The more I study the more amazed I am that religious belief can grip so many people.
This is an interesting field. I have done much reading in the area. In addition to Crossan, I would recommend Bart D Ehrman and for a Xtian researcher Rodney Starks. The best overall history of the rise of the Judaea-Xtian tradition is The River of God by Gregory J Riley. A fairly easy read at 237 pgs. of text it gives a great overview.
Ha ha, all these book are intellectual non fiction books, so I feel a little embarrassed to reveal I’m just indulging in some entertaining fantasy, “Game of Thrones” by George R.R. Martin since getting turned onto the TV show. I do read skeptic, scientific and humanist stuff too though, so don’t worry too much for me. As for that kind of thing, it’s an older one but “Misquoting Jesus” by Bart Ehrman is pretty good. I read a lot of blogs and stuff, Onegoodmove.org/1gm is good, and enjoying Brian Dunning’s blog and podcast skeptoid lately. I’ve only read one book by Dan Dennet, Breaking the Spell, but it was really good. I’d like to read more. Some other good oldies are “Surely, You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman” by Richard Feynman, Carl Sagan’s “The Demon Haunted Universe”, and of course the stuff by Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens. Anyway, back to my entertaining fantasy time out for the time being. On a side note though, I think that a lot of atheists seemed to have grown up on good science fiction like The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Universe and Tolkien. I think there is something perhaps subconscious about reading about fantasy and science fiction when it is presented as nothing other than entertainment that can help to prime the mind to realize the difference between myth and reality. Reading fantasy and then hearing some religious beliefs, I think, wow those religious beliefs are like a fantasy novel. Why can’t they see that they belong in the ‘things that are not real but maybe entertaining’ category. I guess it has something to do with all the people out there drinking the magic kool-aid and telling their friends and children that it’s real.
“On A Sea Of Glass” By J. Kent Leyton, Tad Fitch, and Bill Wormstedt.
Yeah, I’m one of those RMS Titanic nutters but if you’re interested in this subject and want something penned by researchers who go to the primary sources and who actually know what they’re talking about, this book is one of the must haves.
Or if you want to keep reading on this subject (now often referred to as evolutionary economics) I can recommend more books, articles and some blogs. Let me know.
