Here for your enjoyment is a nice conversation between Tim O’Neill, who manages the History for Atheists podcast, and Dr Kipp Davis, a Dead Sea Scrolls specialist, on the subject of Jewish Apocalypticism. Davis was part of the team of scholars who made headlines a few years ago when they demonstrated that most of the text fragments purported to be part of the Dead Sea scrolls discovered in the last twenty years were actually forgeries. This included the batch purchased at great price by the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC. Davis also runs an excellent YouTube site where he downloads lectures and discussions with other scholars about relevant subjects.

Interesting interview.
Bart once started talking about modern apocalypticism but did not elaborate on the topic. This is a pity, because it is easier to understand the phenomenon of human religious imagination.
He talked about books by some NASA retiree that made some farmers sell their properties in anticipation of the certain end of the world.
He talked about David Koresh and Waco.
Apocalypticism is the key that constantly opens the door to a certain type of audience. Regularly and for centuries.
The world is always collapsing in the eyes of passing generations and therefore needs to be repaired in a violent and epic way. Apocalypticism is eternally alive through this cyclical process
The message attributed to Our Lady in numerous apparitions always has an apocalyptic and anti-systemic tone. Radio Maryja in Poland is the result of a silent rebellion against the Church as a corrupt structure. People no longer wanted to listen to those who no longer understood them.
Apocalypticism stimulates the religious imagination. The world is going downhill, religion has become corrupt and supports an inept government that is unable to cope with the problems and is itself their source.
It was enough to write a few sentences about a certain unknown event from 65 years ago, which at the right time met the audience’s expectations. True power of the message.
People believe what they want to believe.
BDEhrman
FreedomBen
evgendob
Robert
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