Dawkins v Sir Frederick Kenyon
Dawkins's ridicule of the Bible is well placed on p. 237 of The God Delusion. “To be fair, much of the Bible is not systematically evil but just plain weird, as you would expect of a cobbled together anthology of disjointed documents, composed, revised, translated, distorted and ‘improved' by hundreds of anonymous authors, editors and copyists, unknown to us and mostly unknown to each other, spanning nine centuries (then a footnote re Lane Fox). This may explain some of the sheer strangeness of the Bible.”
As pointed out elsewhere on this site Dawkins doesn't understand why his critics see him as being “so 19th Century”. He even seems to be amused by it. One would think that any scholar of his standing would actually be embarrassed by his not knowing what may be implied by that phrase.
For those who do not know who Sir Frederick Kenyon is then just click below on his name below. His book The Story Of The Bible has been put on the web for all to read. Its eleven chapters are a fascinating read and for those interested in the truth of the controversy surrounding the Bible you can't find a more authoritative source than Sir Frederick Kenyon. The paragraph below comes from The Story Of The Bible - Account Of How It Came To Us - by Sir FREDERIC KENYON I.B.E., K.C.B., F.B.A., F.S.A.
“About the year 100 a synod of Jews drew up the list of accepted books, as we find it in our Old Testament today; those books which we now have in our Apocrypha, which had previously been accepted as almost, if not quite, of equal value, being excluded from it. Further, they prescribed rules to ensure the accurate copying of the sacred text. Copies intended for use in the synagogue were to be written according to precise rules, and with the most minute attention to accuracy. Any copy which was found faulty or damaged was to be destroyed. When a new copy had been made, and its accuracy tested, the old manuscript (especially if it had been in any way damaged) was destroyed or consigned to a lumber-cupboard. This practice accounts for the disappearance of all the early manuscripts, but it is also a guarantee of the accuracy of those that survive. In fact, although even these precise regulations have not sufficed to secure the exact identity of all Hebrew manuscripts, it has brought it about that the differences are of minor character and small importance; and scholars are agreed that the Hebrew books, as we know them today, have come down to us without material change since about A.D. 100.” Read the full story . . .
Revised 22/08/07
