Today in Samples
Mar. 2nd, 2023 02:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitoutToday in Samples:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094RF3CF3/
I read the whole sample — it is lengthy. It’s good; I have zero beefs with it. Which honestly, pretty fucking astonishing. I can usually find something to complain about in anything and stop myself, but no effort was required.
I have not decided whether to buy it and read it (or the second one in the 2 volumes) or not. I _probably_ will — if you have, or if you follow Dr. Josh on Twitter, or his wife Megan Lewis at her YouTube channel The Digital Hammurabi, please share in the comments your opinions and feelings!
The general idea of The Atheist Guide to the Old Testament is to summarize the contents of the OT and then contextualize that summary archaeologically, historically, geographically, etc. That’s a thing apologists do all the fucking time, but in a It Must Be True or at least It Must Have a Core of Truth way, whereas what Bowen is doing is something very different. Reading Bowen makes apologist approaches to providing Ancient Near East context feel like those cartoon maps of the United States As Seen by a New Yorker.
Someone collected the original such map and a bunch of knockoffs here:
https://imgur.com/a/XTnSn#0
I’m on the fence about whether to read it or not, largely because in general, I’d rather just walk away from anyone who is talking about the Bible at all. It’s just not worth it. I see that there is value in convincing people to not be so crazy, but I just don’t have the energy for it and I’d rather apply coercive tactics because I think we’re at a point where we can and we probably would benefit a lot more by doing so.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094RF3CF3/
I read the whole sample — it is lengthy. It’s good; I have zero beefs with it. Which honestly, pretty fucking astonishing. I can usually find something to complain about in anything and stop myself, but no effort was required.
I have not decided whether to buy it and read it (or the second one in the 2 volumes) or not. I _probably_ will — if you have, or if you follow Dr. Josh on Twitter, or his wife Megan Lewis at her YouTube channel The Digital Hammurabi, please share in the comments your opinions and feelings!
The general idea of The Atheist Guide to the Old Testament is to summarize the contents of the OT and then contextualize that summary archaeologically, historically, geographically, etc. That’s a thing apologists do all the fucking time, but in a It Must Be True or at least It Must Have a Core of Truth way, whereas what Bowen is doing is something very different. Reading Bowen makes apologist approaches to providing Ancient Near East context feel like those cartoon maps of the United States As Seen by a New Yorker.
Someone collected the original such map and a bunch of knockoffs here:
https://imgur.com/a/XTnSn#0
I’m on the fence about whether to read it or not, largely because in general, I’d rather just walk away from anyone who is talking about the Bible at all. It’s just not worth it. I see that there is value in convincing people to not be so crazy, but I just don’t have the energy for it and I’d rather apply coercive tactics because I think we’re at a point where we can and we probably would benefit a lot more by doing so.