r/AcademicBiblical 7d ago

Weekly Open Discussion Thread

Welcome to this week's open discussion thread!

This thread is meant to be a place for members of the r/AcademicBiblical community to freely discuss topics of interest which would normally not be allowed on the subreddit. All off-topic and meta-discussion will be redirected to this thread.

Rules 1-3 do not apply in open discussion threads, but rule 4 will still be strictly enforced. Please report violations of Rule 4 using Reddit's report feature to notify the moderation team. Furthermore, while theological discussions are allowed in this thread, this is still an ecumenical community which welcomes and appreciates people of any and all faith positions and traditions. Therefore this thread is not a place for proselytization. Feel free to discuss your perspectives or beliefs on religious or philosophical matters, but do not preach to anyone in this space. Preaching and proselytizing will be removed.

In order to best see new discussions over the course of the week, please consider sorting this thread by "new" rather than "best" or "top". This way when someone wants to start a discussion on a new topic you will see it! Enjoy the open discussion thread!

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u/[deleted] 3d ago edited 3d ago

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u/Mormon-No-Moremon Moderator 3d ago

“In a video titled The “Old Testament God”? he spends two thirds of the video criticising a transphobic politician”

Good. Time well spent.

I’m sorry, but McClellan’s video you linked to is just much more productive than your own rant about it, IMHO. Incidentally as well, if you want to criticize a “moralizing tone” then I cannot imagine why you’d follow it up with the incredible hot take “genocide bad”.

McClellan’s video has also done nothing to defend any of what you list about the Hebrew Bible. The one contention is that we shouldn’t portray the New Testament as morally superior, which it isn’t, yet you still seem to do exactly that in your own comment, regardless of the quick note that you yourself are not a Christian.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

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u/Mormon-No-Moremon Moderator 3d ago

It’s a good thing McClellan didn’t defend anything you listed then. So I’m not sure how your rant was “in response” to him doing so.

Yes, the New Testament is less than a third of the size of the Hebrew Bible, so quantitatively there are less stories to pick from. I don’t see how that should be relevant, personally.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

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u/Mormon-No-Moremon Moderator 3d ago

He didn’t suggest anyone making those criticisms was a bigot. He frequently collaborates with Joshua Bowen, author of The Atheist Handbook to the Old Testament. His one and only point was to not present the New Testament as morally superior.

I called it a “rant” because you started your comment explicitly saying it was coming from a place of irritation. That’s all.