“Are there
standards for Biblical scholars? Scholars from Israel seem to be highly
knowledgeable about archaeology, ancient history and languages, and linguistic
analysis. Some US scholars sound like glorified televangelists.”Let’s say
you want a PhD in Theology from a marginal Christian University. By the time
you’re awarded a degree you may know more dogma, but will it enhance your
career outside of unlearned churchgoers? No.
I study with
Rabbis, Messianic Scholars and Christian Scholars. Even the lowest Rabbi knows
Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. They know history, archeology and geography. They
have memorized vast sections of scripture and midrash. Their knowledge of Torah
and commentaries is overwhelming. Whereas, other than a few of them, my limited
knowledge of the prophets exceeds them because they’re not expected to read books
like Daniel or certain other books.
Most
supposed Christian Bible Scholars aren’t scholars. They know Greek…barely, and
they struggle with anything other than denominational dogma. Some have PhD’s on
the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. That’s like giving a dog a PhD for burying a bone.
I’ve watched
these Christian PhD’s on TV and you can tell they have an honorary degree or
the degree is from a lousy university. They have no standards.
The rule: If
your Christian PhD only knows Greek, he doesn’t know much. Keep on shopping.
Let’s give
you an example of a typical Christian TV Scholar: Perry Stone. Perry studies
hard and talks your ear off, but he’s a preacher with tons of dogma. Perry
doesn’t know Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic. He’s 62, and shows no ability to learn
languages, so he’s limited to preach to and fleece church folks but most
scholars would ignore him. I have a scholarly friend that counsels Perry, but
Perry’s head is thick with dogma. Nothing scholarly penetrates it.
There are
Christian Scholars working in history, archeology, geography and languages that
are brilliant. Dr. Michael Heiser is one of them. He’s brilliant.
Comparatively, Dr. Heiser couldn’t crack the top 1,000, maybe 10,000, of
Rabbinic Scholars.
Based on
interviewing many scholars, the greatest are Jewish, Messianic or Hebrew Roots
Scholars. They know Torah, the rest of the Bible in various languages and
commentaries. They know prophecy, archeology and geography.
The top
scholars tend to live in Israel or visit regularly.
My top
scholars are:
R. Alon Anava Rabbi Alon Anava - Near Death Experience
D. Thomas Lancaster Discover
R. Yitzhak Shapira Ahavat Ammi Ministries | For the love of my people
Shalom!
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