If you want to dig deeper into the myths borrowed by the Old Testament, do please consider checking out Dr Josh's 7 part lecture series using my affiliate link: emmathorne1--pursuit4knowledge.thrivecart.com/ot-myths/ Thank you lovely people!
While I always find your topics and interviews interesting and enlightening, I just had to take a moment to comment on your voice. You sound so much like the actress Elizabeth Henstridge, and it is so delightful. I could listen to you just for the sake of listening, and the fact that you always have such incredible information makes it all the better.
When I was young, I liked to watch Nova. I'm talking like 80s and 90s by the way, Those kinds of shows on the public broadcast system back in. the day. and then I would go to church with my mom and they would talk about Genesis. That, wouldn't make any sense. Genesis talks like from the point of view here being the center of everything in existence, to the point of view of a lot of people, the center of the universe, which that's too small too. We're talking about the entirety of the whole void of space. This being called God or whatever, if it exists, which I'm kind of leaning towards. Yes, but you would have to look at everything it's ever said from the point of view. of where it is. The outside of our void and our existence, our time and space. Looking in utilize a spear, a globe, a ball. And think of that as the entire void. And in the center there was a big bang. Genesis That's the way I look at Genesis and then. that is how it makes sense. Adam was made from the dust of the Cosmos. The Garden of Eden is the entirety of the void of space. And if Scientists are right. which II thought of years ago, and I'm glad they actually started thinking this way too. If all black holes Cannib alize each other You would have to think they become one black hole eventually absorbing everything in existence and then. collapsing in itself. becoming another Big Bang. If that's the case, how many cycles did Adam Go through before it got Eve? Yes, he is not a he. She's not a she. They are. It's they're beyond comprehension. They don't need food, water, oxygen. They don't reproduce like we do. They don't need gravity. Time doesn't affect them. Hundreds of trillions of years go by and there's still an existence. Forever goes by. There's still of existence. What we consider forever anyway. Different point of view for this being called God who or what it is. as unknown how long. and how long it's been around is something that is beyond comprehension. It is beyond comprehension. People try to play it down to where they can comprehend it. That would be sacrilegious. to downplay what such a being has done to something that you could comprehend and not realize you're supposed to go forth be fruitful. Multi from the point of view. of this being called God outside the Voiter space looking in We haven't even gotten started yet. And they're saying we've gone far enough They're ready to go back.
So, I just bought the course, and watched it. (Cooped up here with Covid🙄). I love the course, but the MVP website has some problems, including that Dr. Bowen's course doesn't appear in their list on the main site. At least I couldn't find it. Also, the second lecture in his series has some sound problems. Had to use headphones. Anyway, thanks for having him as a guest. I'm recommending your video and the course to my son who loves this stuff.
So refreshing to hear the bible discussed as one ancient text among many, with its own context, intertextuality and intentionality. As a mythographer raised atheist, this is what I hoped "religious education" classes in school would be. I never understood the exceptionalism related to the Abrahamic texts, nor the arbitrary distinctions made between miracles and magic, prayer and spells etc. I also love to hear ancient texts and myths discussed in a post-structuralist context - the differences matter!
The exceptionalism is that people chose to believe it. That’s it…that’s all. Actual believer’s who are not delusional do not make claims of knowing for a fact that what they’re reading are facts….they believe they are and they are comfortable with that faith.
@@skepticsinister It’s only a delusion if it is actually proven to be false and we already know that the existence of God cannot be proven or disproven. It’s faith or disbelief.
....when you said: The arbitrary distinctions made between miracles and magic, prayer and spells..... Is that how you view it? That is an interesting take for me, that it could all be chalked up to magic, not miracles. Only curious, and I'm not coming from a religious angle fyi.
My first exposure to this was when my son took a mythology class in high school. I found out that the virgin birth story was an old mythological standby way before the Jesus story. I was already an atheist, but I found this to be eye opening.
This is the sort of thing that would drive the fundamentalists up the friggin' wall. They'd go on a rampage talking about how the government is trying to brainwash their kids and turn them all into sexless drones or something. "First they came after our guns, now they're coming after our lord and savior!" Etc., etc. The sad and scary thing is that this is approximately 40% of the country (about a hundred million plus).
My understanding is that "virgin births" specifically aren't really old mythological standbys. Gods having sex with mortal women (often in unusual and mysterious ways) who then give birth to demigods or great heroes is. The Christian twist on that for Jesus likely comes from adopting the basic idea, but adapting it to fit a more transcendent God and the focus on purity in Judaism of the time
@@adamk.7177 I watched a few Crecganford videos, but he seemed very focused on tying everything to the Indo-Europeans, which has the same problem as tying it all to Babylon.
@@jeffmacdonald9863 That's a good point. Bringing in the concept of virginity may muddy the waters. From my understanding, it would probably be most accurate to say that magical or miraculous births are a common motif. Heroes often have some divine origin. The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell is a good starting point.
I took a mandatory class on world religions at university and the whole first part of the semester was about this stuff. Completely forgot about it until now, that was such an interesting class.
And of course fundamentalists desperately don't want people to learn about this, which is why they scream about universities "indoctrinating" everyone. (When in fact they are UNindoctrinating people.)
When I was a university senior, I took a two term class on the bible as literature. We examined the bible like another other book. As you say, an interesting class. 😉
”I've been involved in a number of cults, both as a leader and a follower. You have more fun as a follower, but you make more money as a leader." -Creed Bratton
Emma, I very much admire the fact that you took a moment to recognise the brilliance that is the Doctor’s tie. May I say your butterfly blouse is likewise noteworthy! I appreciate appreciation in the community!
Dr Josh’s commitment to the bowtie is admirable, and they suit him perfectly. I think his equally-estimable wife Megan has as many different styles of eyeglasses as Josh has of bowties…
Agreed! I noticed that butterfly blouse right away. A perfect blouse for YT. Bright and attractive and all concentrated up high enough to be seen on a YT screen. Brilliant!
My absolute favorite meme is a single panel, and it says (paraphrasing because I don’t remember the exact wording since I haven’t seen it in a while), “Telling someone that they have to live their lives based on your beliefs, is like telling someone that they can’t eat a donut because you’re on a diet.” I keep trying to find the image again, but I can’t find the exact one, and I’m not very good with computers, so I can’t recreate it myself.
@@stufour Taking on a food regime to lose weight is being used as an analogy for Christian ethics by OP, but you object to a food regime to lose weight being used as an analogy for veganism? If the analogy doesn't work for veganism, it definitely doesn't work for Christianity.
Wow! I discovered this on my own the very hard way as a Syrian Teenager 15 years ago! ... The proverbs used 5,000 years old or more, are still used into modern day colloquial Syrian Arabic. The same examples and proverbs, and same exact metaphors.
This interview works as a gentle primer to comparative mythology and textual analysis. As a former English major, it's oddly exciting to hear someone use the term "intertextuality" on youtube. Since most people aren't English or literature majors, I'm glad there are resources like this. Also, the timing is fortuitous in that I recently read both Gilgamesh and the Descent of Inanna for the first time. These texts may sound daunting but Gilgamesh, despite being known as an "epic", is not even particularly long. The trickiest part is choosing which translation to use--well, that and the fact that there are little gaps in the story since clay tablets tend to be recovered in fragments.
@@WS-dd8ow I'm not remotely an expert on the language, so I can't vouch for accuracy. Foster's is the Norton Critical Edition, and Nortons are a go-to for literary scholars--good but dense. I'd read a few samples on online. Check publishing dates---newer ones will (hopefully) have benefited from recent scholarship. If you look up the translator, you should be able to find their background.
Irving Finkel's "The Ark before Noah" is an interesting read covering the way the flood myths evolved through the different cultures, taken from all of those Cuneiform tablets that they left scattered all around Mesopotamia.
there's evidence that a glacial dam burst several thousand years ago and catastrophically flooded the mesopotamian basin. such sudden floods were fairly common as the glaciers "retreated" (an interesting euphemism for melted, eh?) 10,000-20,000 years ago
@@thehellyousay Doesn't need to be nearly that far back. The Euphrates and Tigris are (or were) beeeg civilisation growing and sustaining rivers, like the Nile in Africa, the Danube in Europe, the Yangtze in China or the Sindhu (indus) in India. Any major river flood during a time of low to none existent literacy could result in a lasting multi generational story that becomes more and more embellished with each passing. This is proven to occur with oral traditions. Memories are imperfect, storytellers embellish for dramatic emphasis. Within a dozen generations you have gone from "it wiped out a few riverside villages" to "the gods sought to end us, almost all of mankind and the animals were lost in that great flood".
@@mnomadvfx the ruins of the city believed to have been jericho was once estimated at 10,000 years old. geological evidence show such sudden catastrophic flooding from glacial dams giving way, was still occurring as the glaciers melted back towards the poles. all i'm pointing out is the evidence. i'm not speculating on the cultural effects.
I think Genesis borrows most extensively from Atrahasis and Utnapishtim, if I recall correctly. Enuma Elish was the big influence on the primal narratives.
Irving Finkel did a very amusing talk about how a clay tablet in the British Museum from Babylon tells the whole Noah's Ark story, predating the Old Testament. Well worth a watch.
People share stories. Copyright and intellectual property are relatively recent inventions, historically speaking. Plus in ancient times, there was a lot of migrating and conquering, both of which can be causes of cultural exchange.
There is a difference between borrowing, sharing and blatant plagiarism. Christianity denies the pagan origins of these stories and presents them as it's own original ideas.
@@emilywyatt9340 Yeah the tones of Zoroastrian Ahriman are extremely audible in Christian Satan - couldn't be clearer once you have a good grasp on both.
Great conversation! And it's always a treat to hear Dr. Bowen. Thanks for inviting him. 13:00 re. a "shared flood" - Something that gets overlooked here is that there is simply no physical evidence that such a flood ever occurred, and if one had occurred, the evidence would have been plentiful. We don't need to make historical/literary arguments against a "shared memory". We _know_ it didn't happen because of the hard physical evidence against it. Sometimes people who work in the historical/literary/philosophical fields tend to lose sight of the fundamental importance of the archeological record.
@@DavidSmith-vr1nb Yes, that's true. Which is probably why floods appear in the myths of cultures all over the world. These are not a shared memory of one worldwide flood but rather separate memories of separate floods. And the physical evidence supports the multiple floods idea, which was my primary point. When we're discussing these stories we need to keep in mind that there is _physical evidence_ that needs to be considered as well, and that is often more definitive as evidence.
I think that at 13:13 when he mentions "sooo many problems with this idea" he's partly referring to the lack of archeological evidence. But he's sticking to his literary stuff, because that's what he's here to talk about.
a glacial lake bursting through a glacier dam hundreds of miles to the north would still wipe out whole ancient cities in the mesopotamian plains in a sudden wall of water, and lo and behold! there is evidence that exactly that happened more than once in the region, let alone around the world. go figure.
Also the fact that rivers and coastlines are surprise surprise pretty common sights for human habitation across history. Tsunami and river flood events are so plentiful that I have witnessed several on the news in the less than 40 years I have been alive. One of them was literally in my home country - the event was so traumatising and damaging to $billions in property that they referred to it as BIBLICAL on the news, despite the water never rising above the first story of most buildings. So it can easily be imagined how the ancients would have embellished such stories when retelling them in antiquity.
What an absolute delight. I am definitely eye-balling that course. Being a comic book nerd going way back, I have long come to regard ancient religious texts and their antecedents like Superhero comics. Two thousand years from now, (presumably human) archeologists might uncover my comic collection and believe Batman was a real person, otherwise why would there be SO many published works of his capers, not to mention telling and retelling Bruce Wayne's origin story with very little variation. What if Yahweh is simply the Punisher, Moses is Moon Knight and Jesus is Dr. Strange?
"Make them make sense!" I can say, as an American who was raised Mormon, this is absolute heresy. Heresy! Once I sort out what the Bible says, exactly, about that then I'll do... something! Something!
my advice for you, once you you've sorted out what the bible is all about, would be to keep it in the bathroom against the next pandemic run on toilet paper, but i'm certain that option will suggest itself to you before you're finished anyway.
@@mcpudd-20k pocket bibles, maybe. i was in prison a long time ago, and yes, they can be used to roll a smoke in a pinch, but a proper family sized bible beside the johnson can see you through those pandemic-related shit ticket shortages like no other publication can ...
Yes! As a former evangelical, that was the best description of it. I remember feeling that anxiety in talking to people. It was so nice to deconstruct and not feel that anymore.
I had a Priest from my Catholic church once tell me that most Old Testament stories are nothing but that, just stories, and they are meant to teach us and not to be taken literally and I completely agree.
@@Jeremiah59 nah they've always been "just stories", meant to teach morals that correspond with its age and also give a sense of national pride and a half-true "history of our people" to both the jewish tribes that made Israel and the early christians
Catholicism doesn't stress that one needs to read the Bible. The hierarchy emphasizes the NT much more. In Mass, the first reading is never about a sadistic God. 1. The NT was started centuries after the OT. During that gap, God created something like Prosac for himself. God went from sadistic to being very compassionate. 2. Revelation, the last book of the NT is not referred to much, either. Cult faiths like Evangelism and Mormons use the OT and Revelation to scare the Hell out of their followers to keep them in line. 3. I went to 12 years of Catholic schools with one Religion class daily. I won the Religion award at HS graduation, in my 64 years, I never cracked open a Bible. 4. Maybe when the one year of Religion class, the Bible was treated like a history book. 5. The following year was devoted to all other World religions. The teacher stressed that we needed to be objective.
Since I first encountered Digital Hammurabi a couple years ago, I have been fascinated by the depth of knowledge Josh and Meagan are willing to share with those seeking better explanations. I enjoyed every minute of this discussion. It always occurs to me when considering how basic story themes seem to reappear in the foundational myths of successive generations, that in the ancient world there was no standard set of historical and/or scientific facts (?) that had been recorded in libraries that were accessible to the general populace. The only narratives they had to piece together what may have happened in the eras that preceded theirs were the myths about gods. epic heroes, devastating natural disasters etc. that had been handed down orally or by early script. Today we have a historical, an archaeological and a geological timeline from which to draw understandings of the ancient world. In the days of Umma and Lagash the people who wrote down what would become the "history" of their lineage had no Encyclopedia Britanica to consult. The literate elite of the Israelites who were held captive in Mesopotamia had access to a rich tradition of origin myths and legends. Aside from the Canaanite myths from their homeland, this was what they had to work with.
I love this conversation, and your butterfly blouse. I thought the thumb nail (when i blur scrolled first thing in the morning ) was Bill Nye talking to some adorable little cowboy.
True, that much of the Genesis stories are based on the gilgamesh epos was already tought to me in catholic class, but they kept the Eminem - Joan Jett knowledge from us
the parallels from most of the bible and the actually history of mesopotamia to the genocide today in palestine is just - it’s horrifying that thousands of years have past and humans are still doing the same horrific shit in the name of a God that they claim loves everyone.
Fun! In old English, the word timber can be used as a noun, to timber, synonymous with “to build”. Matthew 7:24: “biþ gelic þæm wisan were, se his hus ofer stan getimbrode”
41:50 The "eye opening experience" Dr. Bowen gave those evangelical Christians would have, at certain times in the past, gotten him burnt at the stake. This is why this stuff matters.
My catholic highschool, freshman year, had a required course in the Old Testament and it was the first time a religion teacher had ever said directly that the creation myth and a lot of the old testament was entirely made up. We spent a lot of time reading the creation myths from other religions and cultures and comparing them to the one in the Old Testament.
The one good thing about the Catholic Church is their generally very honest and progressive biblical scholarship of the last 100 years. I use a catholic commentary because it’s as close as you can get to a systematic atheist commentary. Like fully admitting Elohim and YAHWEH may not be the same character levels of honesty
Yes! So much of the criticism of religion is from ex-fundamentalists who feel betrayed because their childish literal faith wasn't "true" in a scientific sense. In my experience, both Catholic and mainline protestant churches are more than happy to support teens and adults in developing a mature faith. Not many people take them up on that, though.
@@josevalverde7431 look in the NJBC. Nihil Obstat on the frontispiece and fully explored the fact of scholarly doubt about the identical nature of the of the J and E source deities
When I was a kid and my mum was a devout Catholic, one of the many pamphlets she had accumulated was called "Spirit of Truth/Spirit of Error". In it was a short list of various religions and other Christian denominations, with reasons why they were wrong (citing specific differences to Catholic beliefs). At the time - mostly because I was a kid born into Catholicism - this viewpoint seemed completely reasonable; we're right and everyone else is wrong. I'm glad to say that, when I became a man, I put away childish things.
Bible literalists are like Constitution originalist: The text clearly states what they want it to say. And the are using their holy text as a shield against criticism.
No that’s not true. The Bible is scrap book in the sense that it’s a collection of literature, some of which has been stitched together, research documentary hypothesis for the creation of the Pentateuch. Other examples are in the book of Job, not a creative work by a single author at a single point in time. The book of Daniel goes from Hebrew into large chunks of Aramaic. Scholars say you have Isaiah one Isaiah two, Isaiah three and Isaiah four. As well as the books and letters in the so-called New Testament part of the Bible, several different copyists didn’t like the way the author of the gospel we now know, as the gospel of mark ended, so different authors in different places, added different endings as many as four. In contrast the United States Constitution was preceded by the articles of confederation and was created to form a more perfect union. We know who wrote it. We know why they wrote it we know it’s purpose. The US Constitution doesn’t come from God. It comes from the minds of men. Those men wanted stability so they made a system that wasn’t set in stone. There is a process of adding as well as removing. The words contain in the text. They didn’t want to make it easy, they wanted it to be difficult for stability reasons. They wanted good well thought out additions and not just a simple majority. To add or subtract from this, you have to get both houses of Congress 2/3 of each a president. To sign it. And then 2/3 of the states have to ratify it. So in conclusion contract law, what did the contract mean when it was entered into. That’s what judges ask when two parties are complaining that somebody didn’t honor the agreement in a contract. The US Constitution is a contract between a fictitious entity called government. It exists at the consent of the governed/the people. It’s hard. It’s supposed to be hard. You can participate convince others of your improvement ideas. Two things first governments and states have powers, people have rights. The US Constitution doesn’t give anybody anything,you have it because you exist and you’re rights pre exist the United States founding documents. The bill of rights is a restriction on government power it codifies some of the many pre-existing rights retained by the People.
@@joachimschoder there is Catholic tradition. The early church fathers. A lot of answers are found in the early church fathers, st Paul, peter and john epistles.
As a child who believed in Jesus I was very upset with the flood story. If people were evil; why kill all the animals? Why kill all the trees? Why kill babies?
But of course. The Noah story is from a Mesopotamian legend. Instead of god warning a man to build a boat it was these supernatural beings that felt they needed to save mankind and went against gods wishes from starting over. More detail in the 1st book of Enoch.
The 10 plagues of Egypt made no sense either. The Egyptian people were punished by God and suffered horrendously just because the Pharaoh was stubborn, and his heart was hardened that he wouldn't set the Israelites free. And yet we read in Exodus 7:3 that it was God himself who deliberately hardened the Pharaoh's heart and made him stubborn. So the Pharaoh was just a puppet who had no free will as the whole catastrophe unfolded in Egypt. The story is absurd and afflicted with a serious plot hole.
An *EXCELLENT* vid Emmush. ❤️👍🏻 As for the flood - it *obviously* preserves the old memories from the trauma of the end of the Ice Age, approximately 11,500 years ago. Having been passed only orally for hundreds of generations, it was _eventually_ written in Mesopotamia and, of course, adapted later to other cultures... And - well, I am not familiar with the examples he gave for cultural borrowing, however, some of the Greatest Creations of our times, are those based upon earlier versions - many TNG Episodes, as well as "Charmed", "Sliders", "The Orville" and "Andromeda", are based on TOS Episodes, or - lots of times - on the very root of things: the Original "Twilight Zone" Episodes, and, of course, no one would dream calling that _"stealing"..._ on the contrary - _"If The Stars Should Appear",_ for example, is an *obvious* homage to _"For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky". "I Dream of Phoebe",_ for example, or _"This Slide of Paradise",_ even use their names to make the Historical connection clear. 🌞 And a large part of the Fun is identifying these Historical connotations and connections. And, talking "Trek" stuff - I really Hope to see lots more of *Laura Reed?* 😍😍
I'm an atheist and was raised by atheists, but this is the kind of thing that I'm really interested in when it comes to religion. I liked studying this kind of history, culture and mythology around religion when I was in university.
There is an individual at my work that I have conversations/debates about different items in the Bible. One item they will NEVER drop is that they say all rules we have today about not killing/harming others and how we should treat others is from the Bible. They make it out to be that no one would have ever figured that it's wrong to harm others if it wasn't in the commandments first....WoW.
i love love love your interview videos like these. i hardly have the means to dedicate to the full courses and books, usually, but these are so informative and point me right towards resources if i want them. thank you!
This was a great intro do the subject! It's what we learned in late antiquity classes at the university. It was fascinating. I'm so glad people are showing interest in these themes. What I don't understand is the apologetics.
The whole web of what Hebrew mythology evolved from (including the pillager origins of Yahweh) and where they stole various story elements from is always an intriguing rabbit hole to go down.
When I found put how many mythological figures died, rose 3 days later, then ascended into heaven. I was stunned to see that the bible version was basically crappy fan fiction
I think you should learn about Christianism other than through the lense of modern american evangelical fundamentalism. For example we have Popes that have literally written books on those other figures that had similar archetypes to the story of Christ... Its not some sort of arcane knowledge.
Regarding _"all goes back to the tower of Babel"_ - including the Inca, the Aztecs, the Polynesians, the Japanese and the original inhabitants of Australia??? 😂
They might argue that even science says that early modern humans came out of Africa, went through the Middle East, and spread to all the places you list. I'm sure they would say it was 5000 years ago, not 50,000. And that people went into Africa from the Middle East, not the other way around.
@@EinsteinsHair The Tower of Babel story is about men who try to elevate themselves to the position of God, but collapse because God makes it impossible for them to communicate. What's being described here is what brings down every hierarchy: The SNAFU Factor. The SNAFU Factor, originating from the military acronym "Situation Normal, All Fouled Up" (or a more colorful variation), describes a state where systemic issues and miscommunications are so entrenched in an organization that they become the norm, leading to constant inefficiencies and problems. It highlights how bureaucratic inertia and the normalization of dysfunction can cause routine operations to be persistently chaotic and error-prone, despite appearing normal to those within the system. The reason the SNAFU Factor always rises up in hierarchies is because honest communication is only possible between equals. When subordinates will be punished for delivering bad news, they tend to deliver good news. The more layers of hierarchy (the higher the Tower), the more obfuscated any problematic issues become as information rises through the hierarchy. The end result is that the head of the hierarchy is making decisions based on bad information, which results in bad decisions, which results in the Tower collapsing.
Just tell them that the Basques speak the original, pre-Babel language, and were on vacation when the big switch up happened. That way, you are rid of the Christians at the door, the Basques get American tourist dollars, and the christians are none the wiser. Winners all around.
Thank you for this summary. As a church leader I have just this last month given our folk a handout talking about Genesis being written or edited in Exilic time and introduced to alternative views of the early chapters. I find so much more depth in exploring what the writer/editor is trying to tell us, and what that might mean to the early readers beyond the surface story. Jesus is recorded to have said 'you heard it said, but I say...' I think of the writers taking stories already around and effectively saying the same thing as they add a new spin to talk of their God.
Quite enjoyed this discussion, you had some really insightful questions to get him speaking about these topics in a very interesting and engaging way, great video
I read Gilgamesh when I was in college and was surprised to see that there was another great flood story. By that time I had already deconverted but it was still interesting to see that the Bible isn't the only text that tells a story of a great flood.
@@ivymontefusco4442 I started when I was introduced to Old Testament only doctrine which made me denounce Christ as the son of god and follow Torah. Then I went down the rabbit hole of mythology of the Old Testament and found out it was just borrowed reformed stories from the Canaanite pantheon and renounced religion all together. There are even verses originally made for ba’al in psalm from the ba’al cycle that’s in the Bible.
The Umma story made me think of the way Putin is gaslighting the Russians, and the world, as to why he had to invade Ukraine. “They are wicked, I had no choice but to invade them.”
Agree -- core doctrine of *_Russkiy-mir_* which is itself part of the *_Holy Rus'_* dogma of Putin's quasi-Christian entity, the Russian Orthodox Church.
@@ComradeBeer you know that's a factual lie and that the only ones deliberately murdering civilians in Donbas was Girkins "little green med" of unmarked Muskovite troops that led the 2013/2014 first stage of the Muskovite invasion. He said it himself at the public ceremony wher Putin gave him a medal for his warcrimes!
@@ComradeBeer I must have missed all of those news stories about NATO invading other countries unprovoked and killing thousands of people just to restore the territory of their beloved motherland.
I don't believe this is related to the subject of the video, but came to mind from the title and I wanted to share. There's a special place in my heart for all the old Christian fables. Specifically _because_ all the context has been cropped off and replaced by "God did it," they feel rampantly creative. Just unhinged with possibility, like a 5-year-old trying to string an explanation together from pure stream of consciousness. -She soaked a wedding shirt in poison. "Is it his nicest shirt or is "wedding shirt" a custom?" -As soon as he put on the shirt he burst into flames. "How does poison cause fire?" -Someone else wears the shirt and is fine, because God. "Why is the shirt still intact after someone burned to ash inside it?" Just captivating stuff.
Thank you, Josh is great. 1. I don't remember the word Apologetist being used until on YT three years ago. 2. It sounds more like a connation, negative. The root is apology, trying to make things better after a wrong. 3. I was raised Catholic and went to 12 years of Catholics. 4. Catholicism is not obsessed with proving and disproving doctrine. 5. I was taught that the OT are just stories. One's main goals should be being moral and caring for others. 6. Christianity is not the only way to be in union with God. It's the better and easier way. Catholicism is better still. 7. We were taught about Evolution and the Big Bang. 8. I never heard shunning or excommunicate in a religious context, either, before on YT three years ago. 9. I sure do now. The ex followers of all faiths together should start a church for tax purposes. Your convictions are just as valid. To me, your convictions are the only logical ones. 10. I still call myself, Catholic. Catholicism doesn't have faith police. One's faith is personal and they are not required to avow it publically to anyone.
@alekhidell3644 thank you. I just learned the root word 2 years ago watching videos where lines are drawn, exXian vs Xian and exMor vs Mor. Us, recovering Catholics don't think of ourselves exCatholics or atheists, some might. We sometimes call ourselves agnostic. Same for deposition and disposittion, with all Tim Ballard's role. On TV, i thought it was the actor's accent, prouncing di for de.
Wow I really enjoyed this. I wasn’t expecting to find Dr. Josh so likable- informed, reasonable, having well thought through arguments, yes. But likable? That’s something different. I lost it when he said “Miss me with that shit!” So down to earth!
31:17 - and it’s not even that one person’s interpretation most of the time; it’s their interpretation of what someone else’s interpretation of what another person decided was yet another person’s interpretation is. (And that before we factor in translations, editing, etc into this chain).
Josh is great, isn't he? I have seen him quite a bit in the last decade. He's a very well respected scholar and author. He really knows his shit, and never shows bias to emotions or presuppositions... He doesn't only know how to read and write at least one (I think more than one though) ancient languages, but also understands their relations to adjacent languages, and how they developed and merged and also grew apart, which involves geology and all sorts too, as well as how words were and were not used for the sheer vast amount of literature he has studied, and so can spot a bad or nefarious translation with ease, and many an apologist has been caught by him using interpretations that are way off, but serve their agenda. Those exist in the bible too, when scribes used words that fit one of two definitions of a word in another language, but used the wrong one of the two definitions and similar, and with each translation to another language or other version via some interpreter, all with their own personal belief based agenda and lack of understanding the language in enough detail, and now you got many different versions of the bible, some with quite large differences, all proclaiming to be, and believed to be true! It doesn't work like that! Nothing works like that!! The apologist rarely if ever cares what's true, but only about that which serves their agenda: LYING FOR GOD!!
When I was young, I liked to watch Nova. I'm talking like 80s and 90s by the way, Those kinds of shows on the public broadcast system back in. the day. and then I would go to church with my mom and they would talk about Genesis. That, wouldn't make any sense. Genesis talks like from the point of view here being the center of everything in existence, to the point of view of a lot of people, the center of the universe, which that's too small too. We're talking about the entirety of the whole void of space. This being called God or whatever, if it exists, which I'm kind of leaning towards. Yes, but you would have to look at everything it's ever said from the point of view. of where it is. The outside of our void and our existence, our time and space. Looking in utilize a spear, a globe, a ball. And think of that as the entire void. And in the center there was a big bang. Genesis That's the way I look at Genesis and then. that is how it makes sense. Adam was made from the dust of the Cosmos. The Garden of Eden is the entirety of the void of space. And if Scientists are right. which II thought of years ago, and I'm glad they actually started thinking this way too. If all black holes Cannib alize each other You would have to think they become one black hole eventually absorbing everything in existence and then. collapsing in itself. becoming another Big Bang. If that's the case, how many cycles did Adam Go through before it got Eve? Yes, he is not a he. She's not a she. They are. It's they're beyond comprehension. They don't need food, water, oxygen. They don't reproduce like we do. They don't need gravity. Time doesn't affect them. Hundreds of trillions of years go by and there's still an existence. Forever goes by. There's still of existence. What we consider forever anyway. Different point of view for this being called God who or what it is. as unknown how long. and how long it's been around is something that is beyond comprehension. It is beyond comprehension. People try to play it down to where they can comprehend it. That would be sacrilegious. to downplay what such a being has done to something that you could comprehend and not realize you're supposed to go forth be fruitful. Multi from the point of view. of this being called God outside the Voiter space looking in We haven't even gotten started yet. And they're saying we've gone far enough They're ready to go back.
Fascinating video, always found this subject interesting. So many similarities amongst different cultures and religions when it comes to creation myths, flood stories etc... Some brilliant observations here and really gets you thinking about the true origins of some of these myths and legends 🤔
You say this about Eminem, but remember when Vanilla Ice tried to argue he didn't? Maybe Tiamat's blood evaporates quickly and thus could visibly blow around? I am still glad that during a church 'question period' I asked about different religions having the same flood myth and wasn't run out of town, but the pastor handled the question well (that you'd have to expect commonalities with the Bible all over the place, even the weirdest of places, because the Bible is truth was kinda the core of the argument, I think I was 8, so maybe imperfect memory?), so I was comforted.
Thank you, Emma and Josh, this was a wonderful video, with an eloquent and grounded explanation of history and the history of theology. As a student of theology (turned computer guy), I found that the Enlightened Mystics of all religions had similar experiences of the divine, and attempted to convey something completely outside the scope of daily life, using the human languages they had available, resulting in a hot mess of different details. Then, along come people who have never had such experiences, and typically are ill-prepared to even try to understand, who read those words, and edit and modify, and re-record those words in ways useful to getting thru daily life. (We'll leave out motives for the moment.) That is to say, I'm suggesting the divine is real, relatively unified in what is, but that humans made a hot mess of it.
The only original myths are the ones our ancient ancestors first conceived and told. Since then, we've added to them, modified them, reinterpreted them, remixed them, and argued over them. The Hebrews were Middle Eastern, part of a set of ethnic groups and cultures that were either directly related to each other or heavily influenced by each other. It would be more surprising if the stories in the Old Testament were completely different from anything around them.
I recall a philosophy class in early college where we touched on the similarities to Jesus and other religious figures. At the time I had already considered myself non religious, but those kinds of studies very quickly made any belief in christianity plummet.
What a terrific, articulate presence this scholar is; so wonderful to have him on Team Counter-Apologetics. Thank you for lending him your platform, Emma. You just added a new subscriber!
If you want to dig deeper into the myths borrowed by the Old Testament, do please consider checking out Dr Josh's 7 part lecture series using my affiliate link: emmathorne1--pursuit4knowledge.thrivecart.com/ot-myths/
Thank you lovely people!
While I always find your topics and interviews interesting and enlightening, I just had to take a moment to comment on your voice. You sound so much like the actress Elizabeth Henstridge, and it is so delightful. I could listen to you just for the sake of listening, and the fact that you always have such incredible information makes it all the better.
When I was young, I liked to watch Nova. I'm talking like 80s and 90s by the way, Those kinds of shows on the public broadcast system back in. the day. and then I would go to church with my mom and they would talk about Genesis. That, wouldn't make any sense. Genesis talks like from the point of view here being the center of everything in existence, to the point of view of a lot of people, the center of the universe, which that's too small too. We're talking about the entirety of the whole void of space. This being called God or whatever, if it exists, which I'm kind of leaning towards. Yes, but you would have to look at everything it's ever said from the point of view. of where it is. The outside of our void and our existence, our time and space. Looking in utilize a spear, a globe, a ball. And think of that as the entire void. And in the center there was a big bang. Genesis That's the way I look at Genesis and then. that is how it makes sense. Adam was made from the dust of the Cosmos. The Garden of Eden is the entirety of the void of space. And if Scientists are right. which II thought of years ago, and I'm glad they actually started thinking this way too. If all black holes Cannib alize each other You would have to think they become one black hole eventually absorbing everything in existence and then. collapsing in itself. becoming another Big Bang. If that's the case, how many cycles did Adam Go through before it got Eve? Yes, he is not a he. She's not a she. They are. It's they're beyond comprehension. They don't need food, water, oxygen. They don't reproduce like we do. They don't need gravity. Time doesn't affect them. Hundreds of trillions of years go by and there's still an existence. Forever goes by. There's still of existence. What we consider forever anyway. Different point of view for this being called God who or what it is. as unknown how long. and how long it's been around is something that is beyond comprehension. It is beyond comprehension. People try to play it down to where they can comprehend it. That would be sacrilegious. to downplay what such a being has done to something that you could comprehend and not realize you're supposed to go forth be fruitful. Multi from the point of view. of this being called God outside the Voiter space looking in We haven't even gotten started yet. And they're saying we've gone far enough They're ready to go back.
🦧
So, I just bought the course, and watched it. (Cooped up here with Covid🙄). I love the course, but the MVP website has some problems, including that Dr. Bowen's course doesn't appear in their list on the main site. At least I couldn't find it. Also, the second lecture in his series has some sound problems. Had to use headphones. Anyway, thanks for having him as a guest. I'm recommending your video and the course to my son who loves this stuff.
I'm a HUGE fan of Dr. Josh and Digital Hammurabi. I subscribed to their channel very early on and bought his books. All of his work is excellent!!
So refreshing to hear the bible discussed as one ancient text among many, with its own context, intertextuality and intentionality. As a mythographer raised atheist, this is what I hoped "religious education" classes in school would be. I never understood the exceptionalism related to the Abrahamic texts, nor the arbitrary distinctions made between miracles and magic, prayer and spells etc. I also love to hear ancient texts and myths discussed in a post-structuralist context - the differences matter!
The exceptionalism is that people chose to believe it. That’s it…that’s all. Actual believer’s who are not delusional do not make claims of knowing for a fact that what they’re reading are facts….they believe they are and they are comfortable with that faith.
@@soulanstreets222actual believers that are not delusional seems like an oxymoron, if you believe that which is false, isn’t that delusional?
@@skepticsinister It’s only a delusion if it is actually proven to be false and we already know that the existence of God cannot be proven or disproven. It’s faith or disbelief.
@@soulanstreets222considering proving a negative is impossible, I'm just going to assume that this is the delusion you're discussing in action
....when you said: The arbitrary distinctions made between miracles and magic, prayer and spells..... Is that how you view it? That is an interesting take for me, that it could all be chalked up to magic, not miracles. Only curious, and I'm not coming from a religious angle fyi.
My first exposure to this was when my son took a mythology class in high school. I found out that the virgin birth story was an old mythological standby way before the Jesus story. I was already an atheist, but I found this to be eye opening.
This is the sort of thing that would drive the fundamentalists up the friggin' wall. They'd go on a rampage talking about how the government is trying to brainwash their kids and turn them all into sexless drones or something. "First they came after our guns, now they're coming after our lord and savior!" Etc., etc. The sad and scary thing is that this is approximately 40% of the country (about a hundred million plus).
My understanding is that "virgin births" specifically aren't really old mythological standbys. Gods having sex with mortal women (often in unusual and mysterious ways) who then give birth to demigods or great heroes is.
The Christian twist on that for Jesus likely comes from adopting the basic idea, but adapting it to fit a more transcendent God and the focus on purity in Judaism of the time
Crecganford is a great channel for these types of stories. Highly recommend!
@@adamk.7177 I watched a few Crecganford videos, but he seemed very focused on tying everything to the Indo-Europeans, which has the same problem as tying it all to Babylon.
@@jeffmacdonald9863 That's a good point. Bringing in the concept of virginity may muddy the waters. From my understanding, it would probably be most accurate to say that magical or miraculous births are a common motif. Heroes often have some divine origin. The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell is a good starting point.
I took a mandatory class on world religions at university and the whole first part of the semester was about this stuff. Completely forgot about it until now, that was such an interesting class.
And of course fundamentalists desperately don't want people to learn about this, which is why they scream about universities "indoctrinating" everyone. (When in fact they are UNindoctrinating people.)
When I was a university senior, I took a two term class on the bible as literature. We examined the bible like another other book. As you say, an interesting class. 😉
Read one holy book and you might be in a cult for life. Compare several and you're done with religion in an afternoon.
You might be done with taking such texts literally
”I've been involved in a number of cults, both as a leader and a follower. You have more fun as a follower, but you make more money as a leader." -Creed Bratton
Emma, I very much admire the fact that you took a moment to recognise the brilliance that is the Doctor’s tie. May I say your butterfly blouse is likewise noteworthy! I appreciate appreciation in the community!
Dr Josh’s commitment to the bowtie is admirable, and they suit him perfectly.
I think his equally-estimable wife Megan has as many different styles of eyeglasses as Josh has of bowties…
@@cuzned1375 "estimable" thank you for my new word today :)
Have you seen his wife Megan Lewis? Her glasses and hair dyes are amazing. She does a weekly podcast with Bart Ehrman, here on YT.
@@cuzned1375 Oh, Wow, I am glad to know that Megan has a husband as stylish as her. What a wonderful Couple.
Agreed! I noticed that butterfly blouse right away. A perfect blouse for YT. Bright and attractive and all concentrated up high enough to be seen on a YT screen. Brilliant!
My absolute favorite meme is a single panel, and it says (paraphrasing because I don’t remember the exact wording since I haven’t seen it in a while), “Telling someone that they have to live their lives based on your beliefs, is like telling someone that they can’t eat a donut because you’re on a diet.” I keep trying to find the image again, but I can’t find the exact one, and I’m not very good with computers, so I can’t recreate it myself.
I see what you did there ... subtly throwing shade at vegans on the sly.
@@caribbeanman3379only if you think taking on a food regime to lose weight and making an ethical stance are synonymous…..
@@stufour Only if you don't know what subtly means.
@@caribbeanman3379that's a false analogy what you did there
@@stufour Taking on a food regime to lose weight is being used as an analogy for Christian ethics by OP, but you object to a food regime to lose weight being used as an analogy for veganism?
If the analogy doesn't work for veganism, it definitely doesn't work for Christianity.
Greetings from Germany. Two of the English speaking persons I most enjoy listen to have a conversation. This day couldn't get any better.
Nice. Woke up, sat down, BOOM, new Emma. Perfect.
What happened to the old one?? Did they kill her??? 😨
@@violetbackedstarling 🤣🤣
You sleep standing up?
Wow! I discovered this on my own the very hard way as a Syrian Teenager 15 years ago! ... The proverbs used 5,000 years old or more, are still used into modern day colloquial Syrian Arabic. The same examples and proverbs, and same exact metaphors.
Could you give us a few fun selections, if they translate into English?
This interview works as a gentle primer to comparative mythology and textual analysis. As a former English major, it's oddly exciting to hear someone use the term "intertextuality" on youtube. Since most people aren't English or literature majors, I'm glad there are resources like this.
Also, the timing is fortuitous in that I recently read both Gilgamesh and the Descent of Inanna for the first time. These texts may sound daunting but Gilgamesh, despite being known as an "epic", is not even particularly long. The trickiest part is choosing which translation to use--well, that and the fact that there are little gaps in the story since clay tablets tend to be recovered in fragments.
Which translations do you recommend? I’ve had the Benjamin Foster one on my list, but don’t recall how I landed on that one.
@@WS-dd8ow I'm not remotely an expert on the language, so I can't vouch for accuracy. Foster's is the Norton Critical Edition, and Nortons are a go-to for literary scholars--good but dense.
I'd read a few samples on online. Check publishing dates---newer ones will (hopefully) have benefited from recent scholarship. If you look up the translator, you should be able to find their background.
I was NOT expecting Dr Josh to say someone was sponge worthy. The bowtie makes him seem like a nice boy.
Irving Finkel's "The Ark before Noah" is an interesting read covering the way the flood myths evolved through the different cultures, taken from all of those Cuneiform tablets that they left scattered all around Mesopotamia.
there's evidence that a glacial dam burst several thousand years ago and catastrophically flooded the mesopotamian basin. such sudden floods were fairly common as the glaciers "retreated" (an interesting euphemism for melted, eh?) 10,000-20,000 years ago
@@thehellyousay Doesn't need to be nearly that far back.
The Euphrates and Tigris are (or were) beeeg civilisation growing and sustaining rivers, like the Nile in Africa, the Danube in Europe, the Yangtze in China or the Sindhu (indus) in India.
Any major river flood during a time of low to none existent literacy could result in a lasting multi generational story that becomes more and more embellished with each passing.
This is proven to occur with oral traditions.
Memories are imperfect, storytellers embellish for dramatic emphasis.
Within a dozen generations you have gone from "it wiped out a few riverside villages" to "the gods sought to end us, almost all of mankind and the animals were lost in that great flood".
@@mnomadvfx the ruins of the city believed to have been jericho was once estimated at 10,000 years old. geological evidence show such sudden catastrophic flooding from glacial dams giving way, was still occurring as the glaciers melted back towards the poles. all i'm pointing out is the evidence. i'm not speculating on the cultural effects.
I think Genesis borrows most extensively from Atrahasis and Utnapishtim, if I recall correctly. Enuma Elish was the big influence on the primal narratives.
@@thehellyousayno, that didn’t happen in Mesopotamia, that happened in North America.
As someone that is a treasure trove of pop culture references, I appreciate so much his references to put things into perspective.
A person isn't a "THAT" ----- A person is a "Who" (or "Whom" - depending upon the verb/adverb context.)
@@manifold1476 lol Thanks. I remember being a grammar Nazi too...when I was 20. At 46 I tend to avoid getting my panties in a bunch.
yea lol my ears perked up for the "That 70's Show" reference that he threw in there haha
I’m an analogy person, so I love Dr. Josh’s use of analogies.
so, you're ... analogous, are you ...?
I love hearing Dr Bowens list of areas of study because it sounds like you're introducing a Stargate character
We need to see Dr. Josh do his Kent Hovind impression.
It's the best thing anyone has ever done with their pants on.
Ancient cultures borrowing and building on older myths is something that I can believe
Irving Finkel did a very amusing talk about how a clay tablet in the British Museum from Babylon tells the whole Noah's Ark story, predating the Old Testament. Well worth a watch.
@@gdutfulkbhh7537 Finkel is the best!
People share stories. Copyright and intellectual property are relatively recent inventions, historically speaking. Plus in ancient times, there was a lot of migrating and conquering, both of which can be causes of cultural exchange.
There is a difference between borrowing, sharing and blatant plagiarism. Christianity denies the pagan origins of these stories and presents them as it's own original ideas.
@@emilywyatt9340
Yeah the tones of Zoroastrian Ahriman are extremely audible in Christian Satan - couldn't be clearer once you have a good grasp on both.
Great conversation! And it's always a treat to hear Dr. Bowen. Thanks for inviting him.
13:00 re. a "shared flood" - Something that gets overlooked here is that there is simply no physical evidence that such a flood ever occurred, and if one had occurred, the evidence would have been plentiful. We don't need to make historical/literary arguments against a "shared memory". We _know_ it didn't happen because of the hard physical evidence against it.
Sometimes people who work in the historical/literary/philosophical fields tend to lose sight of the fundamental importance of the archeological record.
Plenty of widespread regional floods, which might have seemed like "the whole world" to people unaccustomed to frequent travel.
@@DavidSmith-vr1nb Yes, that's true. Which is probably why floods appear in the myths of cultures all over the world. These are not a shared memory of one worldwide flood but rather separate memories of separate floods. And the physical evidence supports the multiple floods idea, which was my primary point. When we're discussing these stories we need to keep in mind that there is _physical evidence_ that needs to be considered as well, and that is often more definitive as evidence.
I think that at 13:13 when he mentions "sooo many problems with this idea" he's partly referring to the lack of archeological evidence. But he's sticking to his literary stuff, because that's what he's here to talk about.
a glacial lake bursting through a glacier dam hundreds of miles to the north would still wipe out whole ancient cities in the mesopotamian plains in a sudden wall of water, and lo and behold! there is evidence that exactly that happened more than once in the region, let alone around the world. go figure.
Also the fact that rivers and coastlines are surprise surprise pretty common sights for human habitation across history.
Tsunami and river flood events are so plentiful that I have witnessed several on the news in the less than 40 years I have been alive.
One of them was literally in my home country - the event was so traumatising and damaging to $billions in property that they referred to it as BIBLICAL on the news, despite the water never rising above the first story of most buildings.
So it can easily be imagined how the ancients would have embellished such stories when retelling them in antiquity.
What an absolute delight. I am definitely eye-balling that course. Being a comic book nerd going way back, I have long come to regard ancient religious texts and their antecedents like Superhero comics. Two thousand years from now, (presumably human) archeologists might uncover my comic collection and believe Batman was a real person, otherwise why would there be SO many published works of his capers, not to mention telling and retelling Bruce Wayne's origin story with very little variation. What if Yahweh is simply the Punisher, Moses is Moon Knight and Jesus is Dr. Strange?
I have met and worked with Josh Bowen in person a few times. Yet I am still envious of the time you have with him now.
"Make them make sense!" I can say, as an American who was raised Mormon, this is absolute heresy. Heresy! Once I sort out what the Bible says, exactly, about that then I'll do... something! Something!
Absolute madness, isn't it?
😂
my advice for you, once you you've sorted out what the bible is all about, would be to keep it in the bathroom against the next pandemic run on toilet paper, but i'm certain that option will suggest itself to you before you're finished anyway.
@@thehellyousayna, you keep it near the stash for emergency rolling paper. Nothing hits like a Jesus Joint
@@mcpudd-20k pocket bibles, maybe. i was in prison a long time ago, and yes, they can be used to roll a smoke in a pinch, but a proper family sized bible beside the johnson can see you through those pandemic-related shit ticket shortages like no other publication can ...
The analogy of the oncoming train is one of the best, if not the best, description of the evangelical mindset
Thank you.
Too bad they have no evidence that there are tracks, let alone an oncoming train…
@@jursamaj i'd love it if god were real. think of the faces of all these christians when they find out they didn't make the cut ...
@@thehellyousay My hypothesis is that God is real and the rapture happened already.
None of the Christians now are thus real Christians. 😉
I 👍💯
Yes! As a former evangelical, that was the best description of it. I remember feeling that anxiety in talking to people. It was so nice to deconstruct and not feel that anymore.
I had a Priest from my Catholic church once tell me that most Old Testament stories are nothing but that, just stories, and they are meant to teach us and not to be taken literally and I completely agree.
That is bad catechesis. The bible is a complex book, that is too simplistic.
@@Jeremiah59complex how? It’s just a bunch of repackaged pagan myths.
@@Jeremiah59 nah they've always been "just stories", meant to teach morals that correspond with its age and also give a sense of national pride and a half-true "history of our people" to both the jewish tribes that made Israel and the early christians
I'd recommend having a browse of "how to read the bible for all its worth"
Catholicism doesn't stress that one needs to read the Bible. The hierarchy emphasizes the NT much more. In Mass, the first reading is never about a sadistic God.
1. The NT was started centuries after the OT. During that gap, God created something like Prosac for himself. God went from sadistic to being very compassionate.
2. Revelation, the last book of the NT is not referred to much, either. Cult faiths like Evangelism and Mormons use the OT and Revelation to scare the Hell out of their followers to keep them in line.
3. I went to 12 years of Catholic schools with one Religion class daily. I won the Religion award at HS graduation, in my 64 years, I never cracked open a Bible.
4. Maybe when the one year of Religion class, the Bible was treated like a history book.
5. The following year was devoted to all other World religions. The teacher stressed that we needed to be objective.
Since I first encountered Digital Hammurabi a couple years ago, I have been fascinated by the depth of knowledge Josh and Meagan are willing to share with those seeking better explanations. I enjoyed every minute of this discussion.
It always occurs to me when considering how basic story themes seem to reappear in the foundational myths of successive generations, that in the ancient world there was no standard set of historical and/or scientific facts (?) that had been recorded in libraries that were accessible to the general populace. The only narratives they had to piece together what may have happened in the eras that preceded theirs were the myths about gods. epic heroes, devastating natural disasters etc. that had been handed down orally or by early script.
Today we have a historical, an archaeological and a geological timeline from which to draw understandings of the ancient world. In the days of Umma and Lagash the people who wrote down what would become the "history" of their lineage had no Encyclopedia Britanica to consult. The literate elite of the Israelites who were held captive in Mesopotamia had access to a rich tradition of origin myths and legends. Aside from the Canaanite myths from their homeland, this was what they had to work with.
I love this conversation, and your butterfly blouse. I thought the thumb nail (when i blur scrolled first thing in the morning ) was Bill Nye talking to some adorable little cowboy.
Silly little guy / adorable little cowboy. Tomato / tomahto. 😋
Amazing comparisons all round
This is a fun way to find out Eminem sampled a Joan Jett song
You just read my mind!
plot twist. it ain't a joan jett song. she only covered it.
@@thehellyousayCool info! It actually helps his point even more!
True, that much of the Genesis stories are based on the gilgamesh epos was already tought to me in catholic class, but they kept the Eminem - Joan Jett knowledge from us
Surprise!
I thought the butterfly blouse was a huge bowtie on a regular white blouse at first. I love it!
Fantastic blouse.
I love when we get amazing guests on channels like this one
Dr Josh and Emma. I cannot ask for more !
Do MORE of this Emma. I wish my brain worked as well as both of you!! BUT, I totally believe in what was said here.
the parallels from most of the bible and the actually history of mesopotamia to the genocide today in palestine is just - it’s horrifying that thousands of years have past and humans are still doing the same horrific shit in the name of a God that they claim loves everyone.
@@picklejuice2
Guilt and fear are deadly
love hurts ...
@thehellyousay
Love is patient, love is kind,
One of the main purposes of religion is to make clear the list of those one is supposed to hate.
@@njhoepner
I don't hate anyone and I'm a Christian
Oh yeah. An entry essay for my Theology Degree was 'The Flood Epic in Religion'. It was a lot of fun!
Regarding Ban'na as 'built' in Hebrew, in Farsi a Ban'na is a noun for a builder, often specifically a bricklayer. It's a term still used to this day
Bana means "make" or "build" in hindu and gujarati too
Fun! In old English, the word timber can be used as a noun, to timber, synonymous with “to build”. Matthew 7:24: “biþ gelic þæm wisan were, se his hus ofer stan getimbrode”
41:50 The "eye opening experience" Dr. Bowen gave those evangelical Christians would have, at certain times in the past, gotten him burnt at the stake. This is why this stuff matters.
My catholic highschool, freshman year, had a required course in the Old Testament and it was the first time a religion teacher had ever said directly that the creation myth and a lot of the old testament was entirely made up. We spent a lot of time reading the creation myths from other religions and cultures and comparing them to the one in the Old Testament.
The one good thing about the Catholic Church is their generally very honest and progressive biblical scholarship of the last 100 years. I use a catholic commentary because it’s as close as you can get to a systematic atheist commentary. Like fully admitting Elohim and YAHWEH may not be the same character levels of honesty
Yes! So much of the criticism of religion is from ex-fundamentalists who feel betrayed because their childish literal faith wasn't "true" in a scientific sense. In my experience, both Catholic and mainline protestant churches are more than happy to support teens and adults in developing a mature faith. Not many people take them up on that, though.
It is all atheist tell us.
@@minui8758?????????????? Absurd.
@@josevalverde7431 look in the NJBC. Nihil Obstat on the frontispiece and fully explored the fact of scholarly doubt about the identical nature of the of the J and E source deities
When I was a kid and my mum was a devout Catholic, one of the many pamphlets she had accumulated was called "Spirit of Truth/Spirit of Error". In it was a short list of various religions and other Christian denominations, with reasons why they were wrong (citing specific differences to Catholic beliefs).
At the time - mostly because I was a kid born into Catholicism - this viewpoint seemed completely reasonable; we're right and everyone else is wrong.
I'm glad to say that, when I became a man, I put away childish things.
I see what you did there with a bible verse. Brilliant 😂
you still seem like a teenager to me my dude.
@@BroderBaltser1-x5gHow so, "my dude"?
Bible literalists are like Constitution originalist: The text clearly states what they want it to say. And the are using their holy text as a shield against criticism.
No that’s not true. The Bible is scrap book in the sense that it’s a collection of literature, some of which has been stitched together, research documentary hypothesis for the creation of the Pentateuch. Other examples are in the book of Job, not a creative work by a single author at a single point in time. The book of Daniel goes from Hebrew into large chunks of Aramaic. Scholars say you have Isaiah one Isaiah two, Isaiah three and Isaiah four. As well as the books and letters in the so-called New Testament part of the Bible, several different copyists didn’t like the way the author of the gospel we now know, as the gospel of mark ended, so different authors in different places, added different endings as many as four. In contrast the United States Constitution was preceded by the articles of confederation and was created to form a more perfect union. We know who wrote it. We know why they wrote it we know it’s purpose. The US Constitution doesn’t come from God. It comes from the minds of men. Those men wanted stability so they made a system that wasn’t set in stone. There is a process of adding as well as removing. The words contain in the text. They didn’t want to make it easy, they wanted it to be difficult for stability reasons. They wanted good well thought out additions and not just a simple majority. To add or subtract from this, you have to get both houses of Congress 2/3 of each a president. To sign it. And then 2/3 of the states have to ratify it. So in conclusion contract law, what did the contract mean when it was entered into. That’s what judges ask when two parties are complaining that somebody didn’t honor the agreement in a contract. The US Constitution is a contract between a fictitious entity called government. It exists at the consent of the governed/the people. It’s hard. It’s supposed to be hard. You can participate convince others of your improvement ideas. Two things first governments and states have powers, people have rights. The US Constitution doesn’t give anybody anything,you have it because you exist and you’re rights pre exist the United States founding documents. The bill of rights is a restriction on government power it codifies some of the many pre-existing rights retained by the People.
@@joachimschoder there is Catholic tradition. The early church fathers. A lot of answers are found in the early church fathers, st Paul, peter and john epistles.
it is more correctly known as The Shield Of Ignorance. it's a +10 on argument defense, but a -5 on charisma, intellect, and agility.
@@thehellyousay a wise man knows that he does not know. God is real, atheist place too much value on something that's only been around for a 100 years
@@Jeremiah59demonstrate a single claim you have made. Show how a single element of Catholic tradition is evidence for God.
As a child who believed in Jesus I was very upset with the flood story. If people were evil; why kill all the animals? Why kill all the trees? Why kill babies?
Because crime syndicates need to make gruesome examples to entrap their victims in their protection money extortion fraud
But of course. The Noah story is from a Mesopotamian legend. Instead of god warning a man to build a boat it was these supernatural beings that felt they needed to save mankind and went against gods wishes from starting over. More detail in the 1st book of Enoch.
@SonsOfLorgar very well said. For a small fee of 10% you can get protection
@@jordanmapfumo9359The God Mafia
The 10 plagues of Egypt made no sense either. The Egyptian people were punished by God and suffered horrendously just because the Pharaoh was stubborn, and his heart was hardened that he wouldn't set the Israelites free.
And yet we read in Exodus 7:3 that it was God himself who deliberately hardened the Pharaoh's heart and made him stubborn.
So the Pharaoh was just a puppet who had no free will as the whole catastrophe unfolded in Egypt. The story is absurd and afflicted with a serious plot hole.
Love Dr. Josh & Emma!!!!❤
An *EXCELLENT* vid Emmush. ❤️👍🏻
As for the flood - it *obviously* preserves the old memories from the trauma of the end of the Ice Age, approximately 11,500 years ago. Having been passed only orally for hundreds of generations, it was _eventually_ written in Mesopotamia and, of course, adapted later to other cultures...
And - well, I am not familiar with the examples he gave for cultural borrowing, however, some of the Greatest Creations of our times, are those based upon earlier versions - many TNG Episodes, as well as "Charmed", "Sliders", "The Orville" and "Andromeda", are based on TOS Episodes, or - lots of times - on the very root of things: the Original "Twilight Zone" Episodes, and, of course, no one would dream calling that _"stealing"..._ on the contrary - _"If The Stars Should Appear",_ for example, is an *obvious* homage to _"For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky". "I Dream of Phoebe",_ for example, or _"This Slide of Paradise",_ even use their names to make the Historical connection clear. 🌞 And a large part of the Fun is identifying these Historical connotations and connections.
And, talking "Trek" stuff - I really Hope to see lots more of *Laura Reed?* 😍😍
Right? Cultural borrowing is great when you get the references. It serves as shorthand to tell us about events, characters, etc.
The Flood Myth “obviously” preserves folk memories of the Ice Age. Really. How many Ice Age-origin stories were you told as a child?
thank you Emma for bringing such a fascinating guest on board!
great conversation Emma, thx
I find it very frustrating that Dr. Josh is simultaneously cooler than and nerdier than me. I just can't win!
Excellent conversation as always.
What a lovely discussion, Dr Bowen is a treat ☺
I'm an atheist and was raised by atheists, but this is the kind of thing that I'm really interested in when it comes to religion. I liked studying this kind of history, culture and mythology around religion when I was in university.
You should watch the channel redeemed zoomer
Read Ayn Rand.
@@dewaldt8104 He said he was interested in studying history, culture, and mythology. Not crazy youtube neo-nazis.
@@allenludwigbryant9350 On the other hand, maybe don’t read Ayn Rand. Too many young Trump-eters are Rand graduates.
Josh Bowen is an excellent scholar. Thanks Emma!
There is an individual at my work that I have conversations/debates about different items in the Bible. One item they will NEVER drop is that they say all rules we have today about not killing/harming others and how we should treat others is from the Bible. They make it out to be that no one would have ever figured that it's wrong to harm others if it wasn't in the commandments first....WoW.
They conveniently omit the misogyny, ownership, and retribution aspects of many "commandment."
I guess they're not interested in all the killing and r*ping God commands in the Bible then.
Exodus 32:27-29, in which Moses ignores the bit about not killing because a bunch of people decided to worship a golden calf.
i love love love your interview videos like these. i hardly have the means to dedicate to the full courses and books, usually, but these are so informative and point me right towards resources if i want them. thank you!
You made my Saturday! I've been looking for more... diplomatic ways to make this point.
It's awesome you're posting more often. You're my favorite commentary to watch on the tube. Keep up the awesome stuff!
Really appreciated this interview. Highly recommended his books
Rainbow Baphy and I are loving this video! I LOVE his books, too!
thank you so much for hosting this discussion... i haven't heard this sort of dialogue for decades
Enjoyed this interview very much. ☺
This was a great intro do the subject! It's what we learned in late antiquity classes at the university. It was fascinating. I'm so glad people are showing interest in these themes. What I don't understand is the apologetics.
Having both Josh and Emma in the same video is an unexpected but welcome convergence of my RUclips viewing habits.
The whole web of what Hebrew mythology evolved from (including the pillager origins of Yahweh) and where they stole various story elements from is always an intriguing rabbit hole to go down.
way to mix your metaphors.
to clarify, i stand in admiration. well done, that ...
When I found put how many mythological figures died, rose 3 days later, then ascended into heaven. I was stunned to see that the bible version was basically crappy fan fiction
I think you should learn about Christianism other than through the lense of modern american evangelical fundamentalism. For example we have Popes that have literally written books on those other figures that had similar archetypes to the story of Christ... Its not some sort of arcane knowledge.
@@LuismaLorcadoesnt make any of the make-believe any less pretend.
Regarding _"all goes back to the tower of Babel"_ - including the Inca, the Aztecs, the Polynesians, the Japanese and the original inhabitants of Australia??? 😂
They might argue that even science says that early modern humans came out of Africa, went through the Middle East, and spread to all the places you list. I'm sure they would say it was 5000 years ago, not 50,000. And that people went into Africa from the Middle East, not the other way around.
@@EinsteinsHair The Tower of Babel story is about men who try to elevate themselves to the position of God, but collapse because God makes it impossible for them to communicate. What's being described here is what brings down every hierarchy: The SNAFU Factor.
The SNAFU Factor, originating from the military acronym "Situation Normal, All Fouled Up" (or a more colorful variation), describes a state where systemic issues and miscommunications are so entrenched in an organization that they become the norm, leading to constant inefficiencies and problems. It highlights how bureaucratic inertia and the normalization of dysfunction can cause routine operations to be persistently chaotic and error-prone, despite appearing normal to those within the system.
The reason the SNAFU Factor always rises up in hierarchies is because honest communication is only possible between equals. When subordinates will be punished for delivering bad news, they tend to deliver good news. The more layers of hierarchy (the higher the Tower), the more obfuscated any problematic issues become as information rises through the hierarchy. The end result is that the head of the hierarchy is making decisions based on bad information, which results in bad decisions, which results in the Tower collapsing.
Just tell them that the Basques speak the original, pre-Babel language, and were on vacation when the big switch up happened. That way, you are rid of the Christians at the door, the Basques get American tourist dollars, and the christians are none the wiser. Winners all around.
Thank you for this summary.
As a church leader I have just this last month given our folk a handout talking about Genesis being written or edited in Exilic time and introduced to alternative views of the early chapters.
I find so much more depth in exploring what the writer/editor is trying to tell us, and what that might mean to the early readers beyond the surface story.
Jesus is recorded to have said 'you heard it said, but I say...' I think of the writers taking stories already around and effectively saying the same thing as they add a new spin to talk of their God.
Quite enjoyed this discussion, you had some really insightful questions to get him speaking about these topics in a very interesting and engaging way, great video
Emma you made my Saturday not allowed to share at church so ! You go girl !!😊😊
Alan Merrill wrote "I Love Rock 'N' Roll" for his band The Arrows and recorded it in 1975. Joan Jett & the Blackhearts covered the song in 1982.
It sounds like you’re agreeing with the point of the video, which is that contrary to the claims of Christianity, the Bible is not entirely original.
I read Gilgamesh when I was in college and was surprised to see that there was another great flood story. By that time I had already deconverted but it was still interesting to see that the Bible isn't the only text that tells a story of a great flood.
I don't want to be indiscreet but if I may ask, why did you deconvert? (I'm not a Christian)
@@ivymontefusco4442 I started when I was introduced to Old Testament only doctrine which made me denounce Christ as the son of god and follow Torah. Then I went down the rabbit hole of mythology of the Old Testament and found out it was just borrowed reformed stories from the Canaanite pantheon and renounced religion all together. There are even verses originally made for ba’al in psalm from the ba’al cycle that’s in the Bible.
@@terrellstringer1495 Thanks, it's interesting, do you have any sources to give me?
Thank you Emma, and Dr. Bowen for doing this. It was wonderful, and just what I needed this afternoon ❤
The Umma story made me think of the way Putin is gaslighting the Russians, and the world, as to why he had to invade Ukraine. “They are wicked, I had no choice but to invade them.”
Agree -- core doctrine of *_Russkiy-mir_* which is itself part of the *_Holy Rus'_* dogma of Putin's quasi-Christian entity, the Russian Orthodox Church.
You do know that the Ukrainian Nazis were committing an ethnic cleansing in the Don Bass the Don ask and Crimea
You probably think NATO is a defensive organization
@@ComradeBeer you know that's a factual lie and that the only ones deliberately murdering civilians in Donbas was Girkins "little green med" of unmarked Muskovite troops that led the 2013/2014 first stage of the Muskovite invasion. He said it himself at the public ceremony wher Putin gave him a medal for his warcrimes!
@@ComradeBeer I must have missed all of those news stories about NATO invading other countries unprovoked and killing thousands of people just to restore the territory of their beloved motherland.
I've wasted a whole decade not learning Sumerian.
I don't believe this is related to the subject of the video, but came to mind from the title and I wanted to share.
There's a special place in my heart for all the old Christian fables.
Specifically _because_ all the context has been cropped off and replaced by "God did it," they feel rampantly creative. Just unhinged with possibility, like a 5-year-old trying to string an explanation together from pure stream of consciousness.
-She soaked a wedding shirt in poison.
"Is it his nicest shirt or is "wedding shirt" a custom?"
-As soon as he put on the shirt he burst into flames.
"How does poison cause fire?"
-Someone else wears the shirt and is fine, because God.
"Why is the shirt still intact after someone burned to ash inside it?"
Just captivating stuff.
Great show. I love dr josh Bowen ! He has RUclips lessons on how to read Sumerian!
great conversation, thank you!
Thank you, Josh is great.
1. I don't remember the word Apologetist being used until on YT three years ago.
2. It sounds more like a connation, negative. The root is apology, trying to make things better after a wrong.
3. I was raised Catholic and went to 12 years of Catholics.
4. Catholicism is not obsessed with proving and disproving doctrine.
5. I was taught that the OT are just stories. One's main goals should be being moral and caring for others.
6. Christianity is not the only way to be in union with God. It's the better and easier way. Catholicism is better still.
7. We were taught about Evolution and the Big Bang.
8. I never heard shunning or excommunicate in a religious context, either, before on YT three years ago.
9. I sure do now. The ex followers of all faiths together should start a church for tax purposes. Your convictions are just as valid. To me, your convictions are the only logical ones.
10. I still call myself, Catholic. Catholicism doesn't have faith police. One's faith is personal and they are not required to avow it publically to anyone.
Apologetist is negative. It's used for people who make up fake reasons for their beliefs. Your religion is a lie. That's all that matters.
It's not "apologetist." It's apologist. And there is apologetics, which is the practice of being an apologist, or the ideas espoused by apologists.
@alekhidell3644 thank you. I just learned the root word
2 years ago watching videos where lines are drawn, exXian vs Xian and exMor vs Mor.
Us, recovering Catholics don't think
of ourselves exCatholics or atheists, some might.
We sometimes call ourselves agnostic.
Same for deposition
and disposittion, with all Tim Ballard's role. On TV, i thought it was the actor's accent, prouncing di for de.
Wow I really enjoyed this. I wasn’t expecting to find Dr. Josh so likable- informed, reasonable, having well thought through arguments, yes. But likable? That’s something different. I lost it when he said “Miss me with that shit!” So down to earth!
31:17 - and it’s not even that one person’s interpretation most of the time; it’s their interpretation of what someone else’s interpretation of what another person decided was yet another person’s interpretation is. (And that before we factor in translations, editing, etc into this chain).
Josh is great, isn't he? I have seen him quite a bit in the last decade. He's a very well respected scholar and author. He really knows his shit, and never shows bias to emotions or presuppositions... He doesn't only know how to read and write at least one (I think more than one though) ancient languages, but also understands their relations to adjacent languages, and how they developed and merged and also grew apart, which involves geology and all sorts too, as well as how words were and were not used for the sheer vast amount of literature he has studied, and so can spot a bad or nefarious translation with ease, and many an apologist has been caught by him using interpretations that are way off, but serve their agenda. Those exist in the bible too, when scribes used words that fit one of two definitions of a word in another language, but used the wrong one of the two definitions and similar, and with each translation to another language or other version via some interpreter, all with their own personal belief based agenda and lack of understanding the language in enough detail, and now you got many different versions of the bible, some with quite large differences, all proclaiming to be, and believed to be true! It doesn't work like that! Nothing works like that!!
The apologist rarely if ever cares what's true, but only about that which serves their agenda: LYING FOR GOD!!
Holy shit i can't believe i wasn't subscribed to emma, I've been watching her stuff for months!
Thank you Emma for exposing us to the brilliant Dr. Brown.
When I was young, I liked to watch Nova. I'm talking like 80s and 90s by the way, Those kinds of shows on the public broadcast system back in. the day. and then I would go to church with my mom and they would talk about Genesis. That, wouldn't make any sense. Genesis talks like from the point of view here being the center of everything in existence, to the point of view of a lot of people, the center of the universe, which that's too small too. We're talking about the entirety of the whole void of space. This being called God or whatever, if it exists, which I'm kind of leaning towards. Yes, but you would have to look at everything it's ever said from the point of view. of where it is. The outside of our void and our existence, our time and space. Looking in utilize a spear, a globe, a ball. And think of that as the entire void. And in the center there was a big bang. Genesis That's the way I look at Genesis and then. that is how it makes sense. Adam was made from the dust of the Cosmos. The Garden of Eden is the entirety of the void of space. And if Scientists are right. which II thought of years ago, and I'm glad they actually started thinking this way too. If all black holes Cannib alize each other You would have to think they become one black hole eventually absorbing everything in existence and then. collapsing in itself. becoming another Big Bang. If that's the case, how many cycles did Adam Go through before it got Eve? Yes, he is not a he. She's not a she. They are. It's they're beyond comprehension. They don't need food, water, oxygen. They don't reproduce like we do. They don't need gravity. Time doesn't affect them. Hundreds of trillions of years go by and there's still an existence. Forever goes by. There's still of existence. What we consider forever anyway. Different point of view for this being called God who or what it is. as unknown how long. and how long it's been around is something that is beyond comprehension. It is beyond comprehension. People try to play it down to where they can comprehend it. That would be sacrilegious. to downplay what such a being has done to something that you could comprehend and not realize you're supposed to go forth be fruitful. Multi from the point of view. of this being called God outside the Voiter space looking in We haven't even gotten started yet. And they're saying we've gone far enough They're ready to go back.
Great video. I think Emma and her guest gave a great very understandable presentation
We LOVE Josh. 🤗🤗🤗💜💜💜
Fantastic interview, and very eye opening. Thank you, Emma.
Fascinating video, always found this subject interesting. So many similarities amongst different cultures and religions when it comes to creation myths, flood stories etc...
Some brilliant observations here and really gets you thinking about the true origins of some of these myths and legends 🤔
Is that Emma crushing on Dr Josh?? So entertaining and educational, many thanks.
Dr. Josh knows what's up. Bowties are cool.
Loved this convo. Thanks, Emma 😊
'Goddamnit Connla..' perfect ending for this video..
Fantastic conversation. More along this vein please.
In an hour you pulled nearly 2,000 viewers. I love your channel, but this is freaking amazing!!
"pulled" might not be the best word choice lmao
@@mikey-wl2jt drew? attracted?
seduced ...?
@@thehellyousay 🤣
@@thehellyousay Enticed? Inspired? Entranced? Beguiled? Charmed? Lured? Endeared?
I like "lured"
Omg I had been looking for a good resource covering this because I can’t find where I first read up on this topic, and up pops this video! THANK YOU!
Thank you, thank you. I find that the older I get, the shorter my attention span gets. This was perfect.
Excellent interview! Going to check out Dr. Josh.
You say this about Eminem, but remember when Vanilla Ice tried to argue he didn't?
Maybe Tiamat's blood evaporates quickly and thus could visibly blow around?
I am still glad that during a church 'question period' I asked about different religions having the same flood myth and wasn't run out of town, but the pastor handled the question well (that you'd have to expect commonalities with the Bible all over the place, even the weirdest of places, because the Bible is truth was kinda the core of the argument, I think I was 8, so maybe imperfect memory?), so I was comforted.
Dr Josh has a great mind. Its a pleasure to listen to him.
Using the Bible as a guide to understanding how the world works is ridiculous 😂
@@Jesusofsuburbia-22
There's some nuggets of wisdom in there, for those with eyes to see
it works for explaining every day, but i have a once dead already and sent back under protest behind me.
@@bignoob1790 yeah, some but not many
@@Jesusofsuburbia-22
Some that even most Christians don't see
Why is it called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
@@bignoob1790 there's no such thing as good and evil.
Just one side vs another
Thank you, Emma and Josh, this was a wonderful video, with an eloquent and grounded explanation of history and the history of theology.
As a student of theology (turned computer guy), I found that the Enlightened Mystics of all religions had similar experiences of the divine, and attempted to convey something completely outside the scope of daily life, using the human languages they had available, resulting in a hot mess of different details. Then, along come people who have never had such experiences, and typically are ill-prepared to even try to understand, who read those words, and edit and modify, and re-record those words in ways useful to getting thru daily life. (We'll leave out motives for the moment.)
That is to say, I'm suggesting the divine is real, relatively unified in what is, but that humans made a hot mess of it.
The only original myths are the ones our ancient ancestors first conceived and told. Since then, we've added to them, modified them, reinterpreted them, remixed them, and argued over them.
The Hebrews were Middle Eastern, part of a set of ethnic groups and cultures that were either directly related to each other or heavily influenced by each other. It would be more surprising if the stories in the Old Testament were completely different from anything around them.
and they all inherited a millennia-long legacy of human mythmaking
I recall a philosophy class in early college where we touched on the similarities to Jesus and other religious figures. At the time I had already considered myself non religious, but those kinds of studies very quickly made any belief in christianity plummet.
Love Emma’s shirt
What a terrific, articulate presence this scholar is; so wonderful to have him on Team Counter-Apologetics. Thank you for lending him your platform, Emma. You just added a new subscriber!
Bow Ties and Fez's are cool, just ask the Doctor!
Bowen ties are cool.
Loved it! You are a most intellectual and precious 🦆! ❤