Dr. Mitchell Rothman

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• Dr. Mitchell Rothman
• Professor, Widener University
• Consulting Scholar, The University of
  Pennsylvania Museum

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• Dr. Rothman told us
• Lecture not about proving the bible
• Archaeology disproves the bible
• This shouldnt affect our faith
• If it could be proved that Jesus never existed,
  would it change your faith?

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• What archaeological finds?
• some pictures of pots
• some generic pictures of idols
• the Moabite Stone
• 4 room house foundation
• referred to the Ebla tablets
• Dr. Rothman asserted
• OT not written till 700 or 800 years after
  David (300 years before Christ)
• Not based on any archaeological evidence

While it is still generally held that the
Pentateuch is the product of many hands and many
centuries, since the late 1960s, with the spread
of new scholarly tools and a growing recognition
of the limitations of Wellhausen's analytical
framework, Wellhausen's model has fallen out of
favor. But while the terminology and insights of
the documentary hypothesis continue to inform
scholarly debate about the origins of the
Pentateuch, it no longer dominates that debate as
it did for the first two thirds of the 20th
century. "The verities enshrined in older
introductions to the subject of the origins of
the Pentateuch have disappeared, and in their
place scholars are confronted by competing
theories which are discouragingly numerous,
exceedingly complex, and often couched in an
expository style that is (to quote John van
Seter's description of one seminal work) 'not for
the faint-hearted.'"
P52 John Rylands fragment c. A.D. 125

• NT not written till 100 or 150 years after Jesus
• Not based on any archaeological evidence

• JEDP
• Not based on any archaeological evidence

• Pauls death reported by Clement of Rome, A.D. 96
• It is generally believed Paul died during the
  reign of Nero (A.D. 68)
• Dionysius (2nd Century)
• Tertullian (early 3rd Century)
• Eusebius (4th Century)
• Jerome (4th Century

• Flood Story based on Gilgamesh epic
• Not based on any archaeological evidence
• Eden just a story about Jerusalem
• Based on Gihon

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• Abraham probably not a monotheist
• Abraham probably not from the Ur we know

Gen. 1118 Ur of the Chaldeans!

• If Abraham were from the traditional Ur, he
  would have written in Sumerian.

Haran

• Abraham is called a wandering Aramean

Dt. 265  And you shall make response before the
Lord your God, A wandering Aramean was my
father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned
there, few in number, and there he became a
nation, great, mighty, and populous.
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Exodus probably didnt happen
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Exodus probably didnt happen
PHILISTINES
EXODUS 1317-18 When Pharaoh let the people go,
God did not lead them by way of the land of the
Philistines, although that was near. For God
said, Lest the people change their minds when
they see war and return to Egypt. But God led
the people around by the way of the wilderness
toward the Red Sea.
EGYPTIAN FORTS
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• Jesus not born on Dec. 26
• Not born in year 0
• Nothing about Jesus outside the Bible

Tacitius, c. A.D.116 Yet no human effort, no
princely largess nor offerings to the gods could
make that infamous rumor disappear that Nero had
somehow ordered the fire. Therefore, in order to
abolish that rumor, Nero falsely accused and
executed with the most exquisite punishments
those people called Christians, who were infamous
for their abominations. The originator of the
name, Christ, was executed as a criminal by the
procurator Pontius Pilate during the reign of
Tiberius and though repressed, this destructive
superstition erupted again, not only through
Judea, which was the origin of this evil, but
also through the city of Rome, to which all that
is horrible and shameful floods together and is
celebrated.
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• Jesus not born on Dec. 25
• Not born in year 0
• Nothing about Jesus outside the Bible

Tacitius, c. A.D.116 Yet no human effort, no
princely largess nor offerings to the gods could
make that infamous rumor disappear that Nero had
somehow ordered the fire. Therefore, in order to
abolish that rumor, Nero falsely accused and
executed with the most exquisite punishments
those people called Christians, who were infamous
for their abominations. The originator of the
name, Christ, was executed as a criminal by the
procurator Pontius Pilate during the reign of
Tiberius and though repressed, this destructive
superstition erupted again, not only through
Judea, which was the origin of this evil, but
also through the city of Rome, to which all that
is horrible and shameful floods together and is
celebrated.
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• Jesus not born on Dec. 25
• Not born in year 0
• Nothing about Jesus outside the Bible

• Probably a Pharisee
• Jesus born in Nazareth
• Showed photo of church where Jesus was
  baptized
• James work was in Galilee

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• Joshuas point facts and conjecture, cant mix
  them up
• Scholars, wild conjectures, and the effect on
  the masses
• Dr. Rothman said that, as an archaeologist, he
  studies the evidence excluding the written
  account of the society he is studying.
• Clearly, he does that with the Bible.
• Would he take that skeptical approach with
  anything else?