Shuck and Jive


Tuesday, October 07, 2008

The Guild of Biblical Minimalists

I am tickled to have been accepted into the Guild of Biblical Minimalists. Well, kind of. I am the first member to be welcomed to its lowest rung, "those barely tolerated by the guild." See their sidebar for my name in lights.

Wikipedia has a definition of biblical minimalism:

Within the academic community, the main discussion revolves around how much weight to give the text of the Bible against counter-evidence or lack of evidence. Generally those giving more weight to the text of the Bible, assuming its correctness unless proven otherwise, and tending to interpret it literally, are called Biblical maximalists, while the opposing view is Biblical minimalism. The debate between the two sides is inextricably tied to how one views historiography: they disagree over how much weight documentary and indirect evidence should be given. Biblical maximalists view the Biblical narrative as a starting point for constructing the history, and correct or reinterpret it where it is contradicted by archaeological evidence. Biblical minimalists start purely from the archaeological evidence, and only consider Biblical accounts of value if they are corroborated by the archaeological evidence.
I am not sure if the guild recognizes wikipedia's definition. Posting it here is further evidence of why I am barely tolerated.

7 comments:

  1. obviously we are glad to receive you on the marginal fringe of the guild; but please be advised that not only do we not accept wikipedia's definition but we reject utterly wiki itself as a manifestation of the antichrist.

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  2. They may be Biblical minimalists, but oh! the colors on that website! Definitely NOT minimalist anything!

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  3. well you're funny!
    so we're going to adjust your membership status to associate! and boy are we pleased as punch to have a presbyterian associate member...

    congrats!

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  4. Woo Hoo! That was one fast promotion! I will try to remember some good jokes.

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  5. dont get too excited. you can always be demoted and lumped back with dever and rainey and bird... or, as we call it, purgatorial darkness.

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  6. The Wiki definition seems quite reasonable. If reasonableness is your aim.

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