There is even a tv documentary based on their book.

http://www.bibleinterp.com/commentary/Finkelstein_Silberman022001.htm

I was disappointed in the program about the quest for the “legendary Ark of the Covenant” on the History Channel.

These pseudo investigators went all over the place, spending thousands of dollars and time to get to the bottom of the legend.

They ended up in Africa by a tiny church where some lone religious guy guards the place. It turns out no one is “allowed” to see what is inside. !!!! That was good enough for them! Alrighty then.

What a crock. They purposely left that sham hanging. History my rear.

I’ve been disappointed the History Channel can’t separate myth from factual history. They have lost all credibility with me.

I expect a program where they climb Mount Olympus to see if Zeus was there. Just when they get to the top, they will have some reason not to answer the question.

CNN recently interviewed people about Bible end times and the Rapture BS with NO refutation. !!! This is news?

They cater to the credulous by feeding them stories like this. It perpetuates the lack of critical thinking skills in the general public when this stuff doesn?t get challenged.

I suspect that the individual that researched all of this (he was on the program) is an atheist by how he spoke. He seemed to avoid anything remotely resembling mentions of a deity or miracles performed by said deity. It was mostly an intriguing look into the battles between bronze and iron age men, the kinds of weapons they worked with, the tactics that would have been employed, etc.

To say that the bible contains no historical information whatsoever is dishonest. Every popular historical fiction must contain some accurate information, mostly about the time during which the fiction was written. After all, The Three Musketeers has a lot of detail about France during the period that is accurate.

I totally agree. You make an important point.

However, there is a difference between having a program about France and one looking for the feathers from the Musketeer?s hats.

What bothers me is when the fiction in historical fiction is treated like part of the history. Just because the Civil War happened doesn’t mean Rhett Butler existed because Gone With The Wind said so.

I agree that often the history channel has some excellent programs. I’m just saying catering to believers damages their credibility.

The biggest error is one on which I can comment having not seen the movie — it was on the History channel! Folx, the Bible is not history, it’s mythology.

Hmmmm…Dave, still recovering from your quality time?

I’ve heard a lot of closed minded statments, but to state that the bible is not historical is intellectually dishonest…

I’ve heard a lot of closed minded statments, but to state that the bible is not historical is intellectually dishonest…

Well, there’s no doubt that there are some historical events in the bible, but they are few & far between.
The Exodus, which was a crux of the Judaic faith,has no archeological evidence for it. The trip in question would’ve taken 10 days, not 3 yrs. The egyptians only chronicled an invasion of the Hyskos, & a CE later, their expulsion.
The Moabite Stele also portrays a stark contrast to biblical story-telling.
David didn’t write the psalms, there were 2 davids, book of Daniel goofs up on current events (written in 2 CE BCE, not 10 CE BCE), etc.
Some historicity? Maybe.
Not much, though.

a mixture of mythology, pseudohistorical legend, and history

That right there is a formula for propaganda. It’s quite brilliant really, because it uses just enough of confirmable historical events to base their bullshit on. All you have to do is create a hero figure that takes credit for leading some great battle or something, and presto! You have your bible passage.
Y’see it’s real easy to write fictional characters around real events. It happens all the time, to this day. Want an example? ABC aired “Invasion”, which was written around Hurricane Hugo in 1992.

The trip in question would’ve taken 10 days, not 3 yrs.

Nice pickup! Them Joos were sure slow, weren’t they? I’d give ‘em 2 weeks at least, though.
3 years. *snicker*…
Oh and Dave? It would have been helpful to give us email addresses to the producers of the History Channel piece so we could express our displeasure to them for this dishonest and inaccurate portrayal.