Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 12:02 PM, James Read wrote:

> A part of good rhetoric is realising who your
> audience is and targetting your argument at them. Karl and I have made
> it clear what our views are on what you keep calling 'secular history'
> and on just how much value we attribute to 'scholarly opinion'. May I
> suggest that if you wish your argument to be taken seriously by either
> of us that you at least make an effort to acknowledge the problems
> associated with the sources you are relying on for what you keep
> insisting on calling 'secular history'. Karl has already made it clear
> to you that most of Egyptian history derives from a 3rd century priest
> whose main goal was proving that Egypt had a longer history than
> Greece. And I have linked to information about the problems with the
> transmission of that history. If you cannot acknowledge these problems
> and start treating the sources a little more scientifically it will be
> difficult to take your arguments seriously.

James,

You can make all kinds of requests of Jim, but "treating the sources a
little more scientifically" is not one of them.  Egyptology is not derived
from a 3rd century priest, (no matter how many times Karl repeats it
and "makes it clear").  Karl's position is actually even more extreme --
"science cannot study the past."  The fact is that Jim at least
acknowledges modern scholarship whereas Karl (I'm not sure about
you) renounce it.  Jim still could be a little more scientific (in that he
simply ignores that part of modern scholarship that is at odds with
his position), but at least it's more scientific than renouncing the
applicability of modern scholarship the way Karl does (and which you
seem to follow at least as far as Egyptology is concerned).  Jim is
treating the sources a little more scientifically than you do.  Not
entirely, but a little more.

Incidentally, a long while ago you brought up Redford's book on the
list.  Do you remember Redford ever using Manetho for evidence?

Yitzhak Sapir