(not) Understanding the Bible (Old Testament)

[QingyaLiu]

I don't understand why some people can't separate literature and history from theology. Clearly Yale is not a "holy" place and the professor is not teaching theology. Knowing about Bible from a different perspective is helpful especially when we are facing some fundamentalists. Bible is not history, Bible is infallible when it comes to morality and Faith.

[cctman]

This lady can claim anything she wants behind a nice warm office and a closed classroom setting. Interesting how I can't find any debates that she is willing to participate in. If she thinks her scholarship is so sound why not dare to take on a real apologist or a Biblical archaeologist?

There are some tremendous assumptions and failures in most of her arguments. But its hard to critique someone like this when they refuse to come out from behind a university class room setting.

[rocnation2222]

What you don't understand is that these ppl samaritans, babylon, where dealing with satan. Whats the best way to deceive the world? Tell the story first really look at these ppl religion belief

[JCGCINC]

If you hear the difference of tone in her voice you can tell she is lying about things.

[mitukats]

I think the part Jonny and I both enjoyed was @ 9:26

[Joniversity]

@mitukats You said it :-)

[mitukats]

One will undoubtedly find similarities between Jewish traditions & theology and those of other cultures. Many practices and beliefs come from the same mystic sources. This fact neither proves nor disproves the verity of such traditions. Believers will understand it as supporting their faith, while agnostics will see this as casting even more doubt.

Either way, I found this video quite interesting, and did not feel threatened by it regarding my beliefs.

[ronathanedwards]

Oh yes, the ol' secular "myths" begat Genesis excuse... yawn.... The true story of Genesis was only revealed to Moses and written down at a certain time. That does not mean Moses "took" from the myths, but only shows that the myths had some remnants of truth handed down from what historically took place and were changed by story telling. That does not in anyway mean that the myths generated the Genesis account.

[danieljliversLXXXIX]

@ronathanedwards Moses and the the Torah is nothing but garbled Jewish folklore that wasn't written until the Babylonian exile. It wasn't "revealed". These myths existed long before any such thing as Judaism sprung up. And there is nothing true about them. That's why they're myths.

[ronathanedwards]

@danieljliversLXXXIX It wasn't "revealed"? You have no evidence to back up your claim. There are many evidences of a world wide flood, the Jewish captivity in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea etc.... You might want to do some reading from other sources before parroting the third hand sources in which you are getting your disinformation.

[danieljliversLXXXIX]

@ronathanedwards Pressumption piled on pressumption. The only thing regarding a global flood appears in mythology. There isn't anything to back it up in reality. Jews were never held captive in Egypt and thus anything regarding the Exodus is completely made up. There's no evidence to support any of it.

[ronathanedwards]

@danieljliversLXXXIX Making false assertions doesn't help your case at all. There is an amazing amount of evidence for a global flood, you just have to study a little. The Jews were never held captive in Egypt? Again, you are showing a considerable amount of ignorance. In parroting what has been told you, you are as guilty as the ones who have parroted the information to you of not going to the sources. Ad fontes, my friend, Ad fontes....

[danieljliversLXXXIX]

@ronathanedwards And yet you have provided no evidence for your claims. If you think any of these happend then you are deluded. And I'm not your friend.

[Idiopathogen]

Modern day Sadducee. Nothing new here.

[wh0m33]

I came across her introductory class earlier today on their website. After hearing her first class, Im not so sure that I'm going to watch anymore, not because of her, she obviously knows her stuff and she is clearly a recognized scholar. It's just that she went into such detail about how she would be teaching from an historical standpoint and not a theological one, that I began to wonder how long, because of my faith, it would be before she started sounding like a heretic.

[danieljliversLXXXIX]

@wh0m33 Then you're faith is getting in the way.

[Eliyahu775]

I'm attending a Junior College here in Oklahoma, and am taking a course called "Old Testament". Here she speaks of the same things that were discussed in my classroom. The difference: I don't have to pay out the nose to attend my class like I would at Yale. lol

[Joniversity]

@Eliyahu775 I envy you. I really do.

[Eliyahu775]

@Joniversity Eh, but in the long run, I don't have the same credentials as I would if I went to Yale. But I'm going into the IT field, which is a growing industry, so I think I'll be alright once I get out of college. I'm sure they have quite a few classes on Information Systems Management at Yale. It's a really good school.

[equallyeasilyfuqyou]

@Eliyahu775 or you could learn about this by reading some books. =)

[doyoublush]

@Eliyahu775 roger that, LOL!

[NWOconspired911]

let me summerize this whole lecturer

the text and the message always been that same since adam ?

so ,my question is who is god in the bible? is their any god

[123backinyerface]

Its interesting that she removed 'theology', and its good that she see's 'comparative religion' in it also. Too many people assume that because its comparative then its entirely irrelevant. You cannot deal with these things via emotional attachments, this goes for theist and atheist alike. The added differences to the myths are more like historical bookmarks marking the changing shape of the religiously mind.

The bible and other religious books and texts do need to be "defused".

[Joniversity]

@123backinyerface I should start adding your comments as annotations to the videos themselves.

[beowulfsword08]

excellent video

[captquest1]

This was great, thanks so much for posting. What an interesting course.

[Joniversity]

@captquest1 Check out the link in the description. It has the entire course in it and it's an absolute must for anyone who takes interest in such matters.

[ArteTuga]

This video rocks, great speech, great research, perfect phrasing.

[Will224000]

for a deeper perspective check out the Urantia Book...

[EncompassedRunner]

you lost me @ 1:31 "these 11 chapters owe a great deal to ancient Near Eastern mythology"

'nuf said, this video stinks

[gingerXLL]

@EncompassedRunner

Right

academy reduced bible to zero

[Joniversity]

@gingerXLL I think you're wrong (and i think i had this discussion with ER already). Academy shines a new light on the bible - it can provide you with new insights and perspectives and explain what at first glance looks as discrepancies and ambiguity. When you get the whole picture - how the bible is looked upon by different people - you see things that you didn't before.

[doyoublush]

@Joniversity things you didn't see before, like the idea that the authors of Genesis just copied already existing ideas from polytheistic religions from the present day Middle East. I must say, I didn't know that untill about six months ago...

[Will224000]

@EncompassedRunner ...and the Earth is 6000 years old... (sing) 'for the Bible tells me so'...

...'God' is bigger than the Christian religion...

...he who has ears, let him hear...

[EncompassedRunner]

@Will224000, strawman

[Joniversity]

@EncompassedRunner I love provoking you man :-)