Re: [asa] Finger on Sodom and Gomorah?

Merv

There is a big difference between using archaeology to help our
understanding of the Bible and squeezing blood out of an archaeological
stone and trying to prove things on insufficient evidence.

That is where Dick and Glenn go wrong

Christianity depends on the Bible especially the NT describing actual
historical events, even when they do not use modern historical methods

Michael
----- Original Message -----
From: "Merv" <mrb22667@kansas.net>
To: <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 11:39 PM
Subject: Re: [asa] Finger on Sodom and Gomorah?

> Michael Roberts wrote:
>> There is much BS around.
>>
>> We can use archaeology in some cases. It enables us to understand the
>> word "downpayment" arrabwn in Ephesians cos of some scrolls found with
>> that word.
>>
>> Considering the archaeology of towns like Perge which we visited last
>> year enables us to visualise what Paul did there, but there was no extant
>> Ist century synagogue.
>>
>> However we can get it wrong as over the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem.
>>
>> The OT is harder and there is no archaeological evidence before Moses ,
>> so all we can say about the Patriarchs is that there lifestyle fits in
>> with what we know of 2000-1500 BC.
>>
>> As for Genesis 1-11, the text is so vague that no correlations can be
>> made as we could probably find 500 floods which could fit the story etc.
>> Both Glenn and Dick force the evidence and claim that the text supports
>> their ideas , but the evidence is not there.
>>
>> I am one of those who accept the Flood as historical but written in a
>> certain form which makes identification impossible. It could have
>> occurred almost anywhere in the middle east and anytime over a
>> considerable period.
>>
>> I might get shot
>>
>> Michael
> So do you take our "facthood" obsession fed by science & archeology to be
> of peripheral, but not central importance? It helps us get a few
> translations in better perspective, but doesn't (or shouldn't?) become a
> major player in theology? Presuming that even among liberal Christians,
> there is still some concern for literal factuality at some point, I'm
> curious if that fuzzy line causes some cognitive dissonance. --and where
> do they put it?
>
> --Merv
>
>
> To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
> "unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
>
>

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Fri Dec 21 12:09:03 2007