Rabbi Harold Kushner, the author of "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" and a co-editor of the new book.It was this name that stopped me and convinced me to post this article. I read "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" at a low point in my life and found it comforting. Theodicy is the major reason for my agnosticism and I fail to see why questioning mystical origins is indicative of an agenda.
I disagree with your pre-supposition of mythical orgins, but the agenda is similiar to "scholars" who attack american history and call our founders avarice racist and call the stories of the revolution myths. There is to much of the agenda to address. BTW I read the book as well and it is indeed a good read.
Sorry but that is a really bad deceptive book. If you would permit me to suggest some alternatives.
Surprised by Suffering by R.C. Sproul
Disappointed with God by Philip Yancy.
In fact Philip Yancy has written several great books like The Gift of Pain, When Life Hurts.
Also here is an article by Ron Rhodes that you might by interesting.
I read it, also. His grief caused him to become basically an agnostic. He didn't solve the issue at all or add anything to it, he merely tried to put agnosticism in a more favorable light.
"Mystical" origins?
Are you one of those untellectually dishonest people who believes something merely because he wants to?
If not, then I'm sure you have sound *reasons* for your *conclusions*, and have ready, legitimate answers to refute what Ethan North wrote on this subject which I posted on a different thread HERE at reply #20. To make it convenient for you to set forth your legitimate refutations point by point, here it is again:
"Regarding this NYT article, Freeper Ethan North (whose mother was Jewish), had this to say (in part), in refutation of it:
"The latest archeaeology substantiates the Patriarchal narratives.
Of course Abraham lived and of course Moses lived--and I mean this from a secular perspective. These were men that lived and walked the earth.
There are some scholars that completely dimiss the very notion of any actual, biological Jews existing.
I remember reading a paper--a scientific paper--on the ethnicity of the Jews--they are mostly Turkish and Russian, not Middle Eastern Semites. These people adopted Talmudism some time ago, probably from the few survivors of the Roman annihilation of the Jews and/or received a bastardized version of Talmudism from the Samaritans, that depending on the circumstances, claimed to be Jews and "sons of Abraham."
1. Joshua and Jericho. Garstang found the walls of Jericho to have been made of heavy stone and that they fell outward, probably by a violent earthquake. See John Garstang, *The Story of Jericho*, p. 122. Garstang published his work in 1948--in the interim Jericho didn't disappear and the findings of the toppled walls didn't vanish.
2. Abraham's narrative is completely historical and there is nothing in the narrative of the text to suggest otherwise, linguistically, culturally or factually. The arguments of the liberals are not physical evidence but arguments from silence.
In Ur, circa 2000 B.C., Leonard Woolley (1922-1934) excavated an advanced civilization. Middle-class citizens had homes averaging 10 to 20 rooms. A well-established education system was in existence for children, with instruction in reading, writing, arithmetic and religion.
The name *Abram* has been found on tablets dating circa 1554 B.C.
Excavations have shown Schechem and Bethel existing in Abraham's time period. Genesis 14 and the list of Kings, once thought purely fictional, has been established.
Manfred Lehmann commented that the details of Genesis 23 display a close knowledge and familiarity with Hittite culture so as to attest that this Book is (a) historical in genre and (b) was at least written prior to the destruction of the Hittite empire in the 13th century B.C.
On and on it could go. I really wouldn't worry about these radical liberals, Jewish or other flavors. Leftism, by its very epistemology, is radically relative and prejudicial; it not only doesn't accept conservative scholarship--it has never even looked at it.
The Genesis record of Abraham, the Pentateuch's account of Moses and Joshua, etc., are historical, there is every reason to accept this from the genre of the literature, the internal testimony of the documents, the extra-Biblical archaeological evidence and all cultural and historical references."