Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Henry Churchyard" <churchh AT usa.net>]

At 16.43 20/02/00 -0600, Henry Churchyard wrote:

>> But Velikovsky is most widely known for his theories of Venus being
>> a comet ejected from Jupiter, and that kind of thing; so when you
>> call Rohl "Velikovskian", it does seem as though you are tarring
>> him with the brush of exuberant catastrophism on the astronomical
>> scale.

> The book, Ages in Chaos, which I actually once read, has little
> directly to do with his catastrophe theory it was a result of
> it!). The book puts forward a revisionist chronology in a relatively
> provocative manner...  In this situation Velikovsky is the father of
> the theory that Rohl is developing. I see no reason to overlook
> this.

But almost all the "emotional"/affective/connotative value attached to
Velikovski's name (as well as all the reasons for his notoriety with
the broader public) comes from his catastrophism, so that you seem to
want to have it both ways: to attach by implication the all
catastrophe-quackery aura that surrounds Velikovski's name to Rohl,
even though you can't factually accuse Rohl of being an astronomical
catastrophist (apparently; as I said, I know nothing whatever directly
about Rohl).  This might or might not make for an effective rhetorical
cut and thrust maneuver in a flaming knock-down drag-out
political-type debate, but it doesn't necessarily do much to convey to
others on this list an impression of scrupulous scholarly objectivity.

--
Henry Churchyard   churchh AT usa.net   http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/