Fresh Ways of Seeing Based
on Modern Science and Scholarship?
I wouldn’t be the first person to
note that
advances in learning of all types have enabled new ways of apprehending
our world. These gains include more than just considering the
possibility that time may be merely a convenient illusion.
New research has revealed animals to be much more sentient than we originally considered them. For instance, cows have best friends.
In light of these findings, our ignorant earlier beliefs about them now seem to reflect more than just not taking the trouble to see them clearly. I think maybe we’ve found it necessary to minimize their sentience in order to justify the ways we’ve brutalized them.
Also, recent advances in botany, as popularized in works like Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass, have shown that even plants can communicate with and support one another. One of my neighbors who’s pursuing a post-graduate degree in agricultural science also confirms this.
At the same time, better biblical scholarship has enabled us to get a clearer glimpse of what actually happened in biblical times than was previously possible, in times when all we could do was take biblical accounts of events at face value, or risk being tortured and/or burned at the stake for heresy.
A case in point: on closer examination, Passover doesn’t actually make much sense as the traditional Jewish holiday season in which Jesus is said to have ridden a donkey through the streets of Jerusalem, to the acclaim of multitudes shouting “Hosanna” and waving palm fronds—i.e., the event we now call Palm Sunday. Why not? Because where would the people have suddenly gotten all those palm fronds?
A more plausible time for this to have occurred is the Feast of Tabernacles, which was instituted by Moses to commemorate the years the Israelites spent wandering in the desert after their departure from Egypt. Jews then and now celebrate this occasion by living outdoors in tents or booths—which, in Jesus’ time, were often made of palm fronds.
Possibly the early authors of the New Testament tied Jesus to the more important holiday of Passover to boost people’s perception of his significance, in much the same way they falsely ascribed his lineage to the Royal House of David.
Another example: the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls gave us new insight into an early Jewish sect called the Essenes, who most likely either counted Jesus among their number, or at least influenced him. Among other things, they took their meals communally, in a manner very similar to the Last Supper. They've also been reported to practice magic —which may have some bearing on how we view the miracles ascribed to Jesus.
New research has revealed animals to be much more sentient than we originally considered them. For instance, cows have best friends.
In light of these findings, our ignorant earlier beliefs about them now seem to reflect more than just not taking the trouble to see them clearly. I think maybe we’ve found it necessary to minimize their sentience in order to justify the ways we’ve brutalized them.
Also, recent advances in botany, as popularized in works like Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass, have shown that even plants can communicate with and support one another. One of my neighbors who’s pursuing a post-graduate degree in agricultural science also confirms this.
At the same time, better biblical scholarship has enabled us to get a clearer glimpse of what actually happened in biblical times than was previously possible, in times when all we could do was take biblical accounts of events at face value, or risk being tortured and/or burned at the stake for heresy.
A case in point: on closer examination, Passover doesn’t actually make much sense as the traditional Jewish holiday season in which Jesus is said to have ridden a donkey through the streets of Jerusalem, to the acclaim of multitudes shouting “Hosanna” and waving palm fronds—i.e., the event we now call Palm Sunday. Why not? Because where would the people have suddenly gotten all those palm fronds?
A more plausible time for this to have occurred is the Feast of Tabernacles, which was instituted by Moses to commemorate the years the Israelites spent wandering in the desert after their departure from Egypt. Jews then and now celebrate this occasion by living outdoors in tents or booths—which, in Jesus’ time, were often made of palm fronds.
Possibly the early authors of the New Testament tied Jesus to the more important holiday of Passover to boost people’s perception of his significance, in much the same way they falsely ascribed his lineage to the Royal House of David.
Another example: the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls gave us new insight into an early Jewish sect called the Essenes, who most likely either counted Jesus among their number, or at least influenced him. Among other things, they took their meals communally, in a manner very similar to the Last Supper. They've also been reported to practice magic —which may have some bearing on how we view the miracles ascribed to Jesus.
(c) COPYRIGHT 2024 ROBERT
WINTER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
