Dr. Fran: Bible, atheism, God's wife Asherah

Dr. Fran, Ryan Kohls, Aug. 25, 2023; Ashley Wells, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

DR. FRANCESCA STAVRAKOPOULOU on the Bible, Jesus, death threats, God's wife Asherah (Queen of Heaven?), New Atheism, and that guy Jordan Peterson

(Ryan Kohls) This is an in-depth interview with atheist Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion at Exeter University, England, author of God: An Anatomy. For a transcript and more go to: whatiwannaknow.com/francesca-stavrakapoulou.

Timecodes

• 0:00 - Intro
• 0:50 - Stavrakopoulou: An Anatomy
• 2:04 - Being an atheist Biblical scholar & response to critics
• 5:35 - What is the Bible?
• 7:47 - What is the most misunderstood thing about the Bible?
• 9:15 - Contradictions in the Bible
• 12:00 - How are is an atheist biblical scholar?
• 12:53 - Biases of Christian biblical scholars
• 15:03 - Probability of Moses/Abraham/Noah's existence
• 18:00 - Did people in biblical times believe in existence of Abraham/Moses?
• 21:02 - Did Jesus Christ really exist?
• 23:00 - Other Jesus-esque figures who existed at the same time
• 24:22 - Why/how did Christianity become a global phenomenon?
• 27:14 - Death threats and why some Christians are afraid to study biblical history
• 29:51 - Antisemitic tropes about God of Old Testament vs. New Testament
• 33:53 - When did Christians start believing the Bible was infallible?
• 37:50 - Role of Enlightenment in biblical infallibility theory
• 40:31 - God's forgotten body and the book God: An Anatomy
• 47:13 - God's wife Asherah and roots of patriarchy/sexism
• 51:30 - New Atheists (Dawkins, Harris) and their perspective on the Bible/religion
• 54:52 - Jordan Peterson, modernity, and Judeo-Christian values
• 56:55 - Humanism and Prof. Stavrakopoulou's worldview