Rhea

Does anyone know if there is a site anywhere that compiles the statements of the bible against the actual math?

I'm failing at Google on this. I recall reading on the secweb a discussion of the necessary breeding rate of Joshua's people, plus the size of their crowd leaving. And somewhere else I once read a calculation of how many pounds of Manna must have fallen from the sky to feed that crowd. And on another thread some posters are showing a back-of-the-envelope calculation of the rainfall rate of the flood. Then I consider one can figure out how tall a mountain must be to see "all the corners of the earth" or at least the middle east.

And it strikes me that surely someone must have enjoyed the process of doing all this math by now...

stephan huller

The chronological calculations in the Pentateuch are even more problematic but I they have been recently solved in the Brill publication the Secret System

Toto

I don't know of a single site devoted to math.

You can go to www.infidels.org and search for a few key terms. There has been a lot written - for example

Joseph Wheless or Don Morgan's Bible Aburdities

ApostateAbe

If there was such a site, it really wouldn't have much. There is not a lot of math of any sort in the Bible, let alone mathematical errors. The most popular such complaint is an error in the estimation of pi, when giving the dimensions of an alter. It is an error of precision, not an error of accuracy, and it is among the weakest of complaints. I think a bigger error is a passage that says insects have four legs--not so much an error of math, but an inaccuracy of very basic counting.

Toto

This does not appear to be recent?

The Secret System: A study in the chronology of the Old Testament By Gerhard Larsson on google books or Amazon (or via: amazon.co.uk)

stephan huller

When I meant recent I was saying it wasn't some obscure ancient book. Yes, that's the book. He argues that the calendar system was solar and lunar.

Rhea

I was thinking of more mundane errors, such as those encountered by not doing the math at all. Like realizing the Noah flood delivered 62 inches per hour of water. Or that the Manna represented 5 feet thick of small birds every day. That kind of thing.

Rhea

Ahhh that's the one on Joshua - Wheless. Thank you!

ApostateAbe

OK, I think you should instead look for a source of scientific errors in the Bible, not mathematical errors, though mathematics is the language of science. I predict that you will find a bunch of websites and books if you search using that phrase.

Rhea

Thanks Abe, that's a good idea.