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Old 08-05-2006, 04:29 PM   #711
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Originally Posted by Biff the unclean
Intellectual honesty and professional integrity for starters.
As I’ve already explained in my analogy with psedo-science.
You keep repeating this mantra of "intellectual honesty" - I guess every historian is a liar then, right?

Wrong! You still don't get it - you still have no fucking clue. Am I talking to a brick wall?

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None of which you have yet to demonstrate. You treat the Jesus stories as if they exist in a vacuum even going so far as to declare it poor scholarship to view them in context with surrounding cultures. You ignore that all of the Jesus fables originated in other religions of the time, preferring to perhaps acknowledge the odd one. But then call it “parallel” when, in fact the Jesus tales are derivative.
You have yet to show how they're derivative. All you have is merely two similar ideas with no connection.

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Do they not teach ethics in this Christian school you are attending?
The University of Memphis is a Christian school? Whoah, I wonder how I missed that!

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Again and again you make accusations of double standards where none have been expressed. Please appologise.
You are employing double standards, and at the same time calling me dishonest. And you expect me to apologize? You're a joke.

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The only “extreme” that is being requested is that of honesty. If you only assume someone is an historic figure and you present them as an historic figure without any qualification then that is dishonesty.
Dismissing all the evidence without good reason is also dishonest. Pot, meet kettle.

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This is the nuttiest thing that you have written so far. Critical scholarship is what you are attacking. Critical scholarship was what had been requested of you. Had you presented any scholarship at all this conversation would have been over pages ago. You keep repeating what a scholar you are, and no one else is. Yet instead of scholarship you present evasions and bullshite…. Why is that Mr Scholar?
Critical scholarship? Looking at two similar traits and calling it a dependence is not critical scholarship. In any other field, it's called stupidity. Hey, the Aztec pyramids came about in 1500 CE, but the Babylonians came about in 2000 BCE! The Aztecs must have seen the Babylonian pyramids!

I've dedicated years of scholarship at this forum and abroad. It's not my fault you refuse to heed any of it.

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Only you are talking about parallelism.
The church “debunked” it centuries ago by torturing and murdering those who brought the subject up
Fuck the church. What does it have to do with now? I am not the church. If you got problems with Catholics, take it elsewhere.

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So how is it that you call yourself a scholar of that period and yet you are completely uninformed of such and important aspect as the Dionysian religion? It’s like someone claiming to be an expert on New York and not knowing where Times Square is.
This is very suspicious. Haven’t you even read Carl Kerényi?
Are you really that dense? I just fucking mentioned it - obviously I am aware of it!

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Kid, you have no idea what languages I do and do not speak. I’m really tired of you using rudeness to cover your ignorance.
We ask for critical scholarship and you hand us Christian apologetics and whine that asking for scholarship isn’t critical scholarship.
Oh please, Mr. Zoologist, tell me about the literary parallels between Euripides' Bacchae and Galatians! Can't you please?

You wouldn't know scholarship if it punched you in the face. HELLO-O! ANYONE HOME! I've been asking what do you want - a fucking birth certificate?! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT!!!

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That may be. But you have done nothing but whine and bullshite.
Great! So you can accurately describe yourself.

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No, I have shelves and shelves of books on mythology that I have read and quite a few college credits on the subject.
Put the mythology books down and get some critical scholarship done on Roman, Greek, and Jewish culture, politics, and language.

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I believe it was the archaeological evidence that he based his claim on, since none of it predates the 4th century.
That's clearly wrong. There's plenty of archaeological evidence - we have manuscripts dating to the second century! But he refuses to accept them. We have inscriptions dating to the first century. But he refuses to accept them. That's plain obstinance.

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It’s interesting if you are ever in Rome take a guided tour of the catacombs. They say the Christians constructed them to hide from the Romans. Yet all the art and graffiti from before the 300’s is Pagan. Plenty of paintings of Mithra, Apollonius, Dionysus and even Hercules. The tour guide claimed these were symbolic of Jesus. I asked why they needed symbolism in their hiding place when they cheerfully were fed to lions for the love of Christ when upstairs. She had no reply.
What do you expect talking to a tour guide?

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Your embracing of assumptions in lieu of fact is antithetical to science.
You jest.

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Your near hysteria over being asked questions you don’t approve of is the opposite of free though.
No, what I object to is the constant dismissal of evidence and employment of a double standard that is contrary to reason.

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And you apologetic defense of Christ is suspiciously uncharacteristic of an Atheist.
So because my conclusions have led me to see think that there was an historical Jesus, I'm not an atheist anymore? You've reached a new low.

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I’m still calling “bullshite.”
Call all the bullshit you want. I call your house a penguin, but that doesn't make it one.

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I have the credentials. I’ve a Ph. D. in zoology. I am trained the recognize claims of existence as opposed to those based on mere assumptions. But you made it easy, you repeatedly boasted that your assertions are based on assumptions. I didn’t need to know ancient Aramaic to understand that.
Oh I'm sorry, I forgot that studying animals is directly related to Biblical research. After all, didn't Jesus sit upon an ass?



You ever heard of the Talmud Jmmanuel? The main proponent today, Jim Deardorff, whom I have debated with at length, is a research professor emeritus at Oregan State University. His field is meteorology. So do we accept his statements on aliens giving out the original gospel called TJ and that the Biblical gospels are derived from it? Of course not! Do you know why? He's in no way qualified to give such an answer. He doesn't know Aramaic, and he hasn't a clue about historical research.

And neither do you. You haven't got the foggiest. Yeah, you got a doctorate in zoology- go study animals. When you learn the relevant languages, or at least learn something about them, when you learn what is acceptable and what is not in historical studies, then you can start talking.

What you're doing is just what the YECs do in the field of biology. I'm sure, as a zoologist, you must have had YECs tell you that all animals were created by God - the evidence is there! In fact, AiG does the same thing. Their founder, Dr. Monty, claims to be an expert with relevant degrees, but it's in chemistry and kinetics. I think Discovery Institute also employs a "doctor" expert - a dental surgeon! Obviously, these are "experts", right?

Wrong. Have all the PhDs you want in zoology, but you still know jack shit when it comes to history.

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Gee, I wonder why an “Atheist” should write such a mind numbing cliché of Christian apologetic paranoia? I wonder why, Hmmm?
This is pathetic. If they don't agree with you, they're not atheist... Hrm...I don't believe I've ever heard this argument coming from Christians before...isn't there a name for this fallacy...no true...scotsman? Yeah, something like that.

You're not even worth debating anymore.
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Old 08-05-2006, 04:39 PM   #712
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Thanks for the response Chris,
Quote:
Originally Posted by knotted paragon
Do you, Chris, consider Josephus' works to be of the same representational quality in the case of the Egyptian and the authors of the Gospels and Jesus?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Weimer
Of course not. Their genre is ultimately different. But just because we may be willing to believe Josephus more than the gospels doesn't mean that they gospels themselves do not carry any weight.
I also missed where anyone made the positive claim, as here with HJ, that the Egyptian was a real person or based on a real person.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Weimer
Scholars merely assume he is real. It's a double standard to assume that the Egyptian is real, but then require exceptional proof for Jesus.
If their genre is ultimately different, isn't it also a double standard to assume Jesus in the same manner as the Egyptian?
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Originally Posted by knotted paragon
In terms of the number of candidates for possible HJ, at what point would you abandon your belief in an HJ? For instance, if it could be shown somehow that a potential Q1 itinerate preacher was not the same as the guy who got crucified, or the guy who was tempted in the wilderness, or the guy people claimed as the messiah - would you still call such a disparate composite character HJ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Weimer
If they do indeed become an amalgam of these various people, then yes, ultimately the Historical Jesus dies and in place we get a literary Jesus based off these several Historical Jesus-prototypes.
I’d like to expand this thought, but first, how do you distinguish between the two conceptual entities: Historical Jesus, and literary Jesus?

Also, I meant in terms of the number of candidates. When would you make that distinction? If the amalgam could be traced to two, three, four different sources?

thanks again,

...brian...
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Old 08-05-2006, 04:58 PM   #713
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Quote:
Originally Posted by knotted paragon
If their genre is ultimately different, isn't it also a double standard to assume Jesus in the same manner as the Egyptian?
I don't, and no one seriously does. But what many ask is for evidence that would also disqualify the Egyptian.

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I’d like to expand this thought, but first, how do you distinguish between the two conceptual entities: Historical Jesus, and literary Jesus?
The latter was based on the former and contains embellishment unknown prior.

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Also, I meant in terms of the number of candidates. When would you make that distinction? If the amalgam could be traced to two, three, four different sources?
It depends on exactly how little they have. Say we have identified two different candidates very likely to have been the original Jesus. One was an apocalyptic revolutionary who wanted Romans out of Israel, and the other was named Brian, was confused for this revolutionary, and was crucified for it. I'd think the best explanation is that the historical Jesus was the apocalyptic revolutionary and he was confused with another non-Jesus who was crucified. So the historical Jesus contains no crucifixion.

However, if the former's name was Brian and the latter Jesus, then I'd probably argue for a complete reversal - a man named Jesus was the historical Jesus, and all of his teachings were actually stolen directly from his contemporary Brian.

best regards,

Chris Weimer

PS - I noticed I used your name - that was coincidental. I namely had Life of Brian in mind when writing the above.
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Old 08-05-2006, 05:03 PM   #714
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Biff the unclean
All reading comprehension problems aside, isn’t it an odd thing to do to keep repeatedly claiming that I think one way while I keep saying that I think another?
I am pointing out what you claimed, not what you thought, and what you claimed was this:

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When someone observes that the scholarship behind an HJ is piss poor the Christian, or the person playing the Christian, brings up some other ancient figure with piss poor scholarship behind them too
Let's see, now. You are claiming that Chris Weimer was "playing the Christian" and brought up "some other ancient figure with piss poor scholarship behind them [sic] too." This "other ancient figure" was the Egyptian. So, based on what you wrote, you accused Chris Weimer of bringing up the Egyptian "with piss poor scholarship behind them [sic]." You cannot at the same time coherently claim that Chris Weimer brought up the Egyptian "with piss poor scholarship behind them [sic]" and also that you made no claim about the scholarship behind the Egyptian. There is nothing "egotistical" about pointing out what your words meant.
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Old 08-05-2006, 05:28 PM   #715
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Weimer
Both are referenced in ancient literature but have no surviving archaeological evidence. In fact, the Egyptian is only mentioned in Josephus.
Also Acts 21:28, if it is the same Egyptian.

Stephen
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Old 08-05-2006, 05:37 PM   #716
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Originally Posted by Biff the unclean
I have the credentials. I’ve a Ph. D. in zoology.

Gee, I wonder why an “Atheist” should write such a mind numbing cliché of Christian apologetic paranoia? I wonder why, Hmmm?
If your Ph.D. isn't good enough to let you figure out that Chris is not a Christian, you should stop bragging about it.

Stephen
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Old 08-05-2006, 05:43 PM   #717
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Originally Posted by S.C.Carlson
If your Ph.D. isn't good enough to let you figure out that Chris is not a Christian, you should stop bragging about it.

Stephen
As a zoologist things that look like ducks, walk like ducks and quack like ducks tend to lead me to certain conclusions.:huh:
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Old 08-05-2006, 05:47 PM   #718
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Originally Posted by S.C.Carlson
Also Acts 21:28, if it is the same Egyptian.

Stephen
That was the exception. It probably is the same Egyptian, given Acts' use of Josephus, but then again, some here automatically disqualify the Bible.
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Old 08-05-2006, 06:11 PM   #719
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Originally Posted by Chris Weimer
That was the exception. It probably is the same Egyptian, given Acts' use of Josephus, but then again, some here automatically disqualify the Bible.
It was a brilliant test to see how well he knows the primacy sources. If he was familiar with them, he should have hit your pitch out of the park. Instead, it was a swing and a miss.

Stephen
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Old 08-05-2006, 06:54 PM   #720
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Originally Posted by S.C.Carlson
It was a brilliant test to see how well he knows the primacy sources. If he was familiar with them, he should have hit your pitch out of the park. Instead, it was a swing and a miss.

Stephen
Actually, I think I picked it up here the last time this thing happened. I can't take the credit for inventing it.

Chris
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