From out of the 1870's came the " German Higher Criticism"; really nothing more than an attempt to discredit the Bible at a time of philosophical end fighting between scientific humanism and theologians over the mind of man. Of course what was really at stake was the validity of the concept of God and salvation (much less sin!).
The greatest attacks were against the creation story - which no one can PROVE one way or another via scientific inquiry. Though I sorely wish that there would be found ... but we are called to faith, not scientific observation, as the basis for salvation.
Falling not far behind is the attack against the book of Daniel. If you can successfully break the book of Daniel - you have broken the Bible. Or so were the boasts of the anti-Bible league. So successful were the attacks on Daniel that even to this day, Christians buy into the arguments against the validity of Daniel .... !
However within 16 years of "German Higher Criticiam" published works on Daniel were some very well researched worked disputing, if not totally discrediting, these arguments - point by point! And, the arguments are just repeated as though still true ...
The real argument mostly revolved around the lack of archaeological evidence, Babylon had still not been excavated by Europeans, hence obviously, no one in the book of Daniel could actually exist.
And when the Babylonians texts were translated, the detractors were correct; Daniel, Darius, even Nebuchadnezzar, not a o one of them existed in the records ... End of argument. The book of Daniel was obvious just a story, perhaps an Israeli pro-nationalistic play, but in no way could it have been true. Sigh. However as scholarship has shown, even to the point of actually talking to the people whom lived in the area, Babylonian was far more complex than first thought. It was far more complex than any modern language and yet, it was phonetic - if you knew how to pronounce the characters. (a strong argument for actually talking with the people of any area and not assuming you are smarter than everyone!)
So let us take Darius, King of the Medes, the one whom figured out how to break into the walled city of Babylon. He does not exist because nowhere in the Babylonian texts is anyone with a name spelled Darius to be found. Then again, on a mountain side was found, in huge letters carved into a cliff face: the deeds and victories of this non-existent ruler, Darius King of the Persians. I wonder how Cyrus felt about that claim chiseled into eternity! This was easily read by those in the valley for over 2,500 years before Europeans discovered it. And in the Babylonian texts, Darius is known as: Darayawaush, Dorejawosch, Dara, Darab, Dareious - all variation of his name. It depended upon the language his name was written in and to be read by.
Want a really hard one? Try Nebuchadnezzar! No matter how you try to decode his name, you will end up with something appearing to be An-pa-sa-du-sis! And here is where talking with the locals came in handy to the one whom broke the Babylonian Class 3 codes. This odd An-pa-sa-du-sis actually is pronounced "Nebukadurriussur". Okay, pretty darn close ...
Worse part was that all of this was known before 1857! Long before the German Higher Criticism decided to attack the book of Daniel; including the name mess ups between English and Babylonian translations ....
Naw, no agenda there .... But, certainly a concern when people of limited education decide to attack something they do not wish to believe in. What can you say? Man will always listen to those whom tell them what they want to hear. And the the harder the understanding, the easier it is to prove an argument against it.
But, 140 years of confusing Christians or those whom might investigate Christianity, has taken its toll in the public arena of thought.
No comments:
Post a Comment