Baker Academic

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

What the Hell do Bible Scholars do Anyway?

Today my friend and colleague Jamie Smith, Prof. of New Testament at Cincinnati Christian University, was interviewed following an accident in downtown Cincinnati. Cincinnati.com's Jason Williams reported that a streetcar (we call them cable cars in San Francisco) had been derailed and then suffered a power outage. Williams then writes: "So many bad things have happened in the project's infancy, we have to ask: Is the streetcar cursed?" So Williams turned to Prof. Smith with this question.

I'll let you read the article to find out how Smith answered. Let's focus for a moment on the premise: "....we have to ask: Is the streetcar cursed?"

Do we? Because I really don't think we do. Also, what the hell does Jason Williams think that Bible scholars do? Clearly, this guy is under the impression that academic interest in the Bible is something like water dowsing or doodlebugging. When the reporter didn't get the answer he'd hoped for from Smith, he turned to a local psychic for answers.

Welcome to 2018.

-anthony

1 comment:

  1. From Dr. G

    Amusing.

    I agree that modern theologies and scholars might well not deal with such an idea. Which might also be rejected by modern sermons.

    However? Wouldn't anyone who defends a fully BIBLICAL God or Jesus, have to give this question a serious hearing?

    Since the biblical God and Jesus too, often cursed things.

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