Entering into the discussion of conservatives and Biblical scholarship, Ken Schenck offered a detailed reflection. His most powerful point was about conservative publications as “innoculation” against other views. One doesn’t have to actually successfully make the case for this or that conservative viewpoint – it is often considered to be enough merely that there is a “response” from some well-known conservative author. That hints at a radically different approach to what the mainstream and some conservatives consider “scholarship” – the mainstream view is trying to achieve our best approximation of the actual state of affairs, while some conservative scholarship is intended merely as a wall to prevent those within from having their views changed by mainstream scholarship. Obviously this is not universally the case, but it certainly is true in some instances.
Scot McKnight also jumped into the fray on the subject of conservative and liberal bias in academic Biblical scholarship. While acknowledging such bias does exist, Scot also provides a helpful warning that many will cry “bias” simply because it is easier than acknowledging that your application and/or your scholarship was simply not good enough. And most recently (so far) Tony Jones has joined in the conversation on this topic.
Jim West objected to one point in Ken’s post, asserting that the New Testament authors did indeed care about the context of quotations they used from the Jewish Scriptures. Jim also provides a photographic illustration of the subject of my recent article: conservative willingness to rewrite the Bible for their own ends. Ben Witherington blogged about the nativity stories.
Ken Schenck also quotes Davids quoting Bauckham on pseudepigraphy. Josh Mann offers a tribute to Colin Hemer.
Meanwhile, Edge magazine (HT New Scientist) asks leading scientists what discoveries or inventions that will change everything they expect they may see in their lifetimes. Might we witness a new Axial Age? Find simple life elsewhere in the solar system or even intelligent life from further away? The answers are interesting, but the question itself is valuable. And as Jim Davila points out, today is pretend to be a time traveller day. Jim also points to a spoof article about the Bible and weather (a subject John Pieret also recently touched on).
Karl Giberson of BioLogos has been interviewed. Heather Wax points to a recent display of Hubble images. And Brian LePort is thinking of calling it quits.
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