In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David sits down with Gil Student, an infamous blogger who created Torah Musings, to talk about the credibility of modern Biblical scholarship.

Gil grew up learning the Bible from the perspective of Biblical criticism, but its conclusions never jived with him. Though many are quick to note places where the Torah uses inconsistent characterizations as evidence that it has been written by multiple authors, he has always noted the implicit assumptions that these lines of thinking entail. Through his years developing and evolving opinions, Gil has experienced firsthand how subjectively we humans think, and he is loath to call any conclusion objectively true.

-Are the conclusions put forth by Bible critics indisputable, or at least strongly convincing?
-Do traditional commentaries have anything to say that’s of value?
-How flexible can we be before crossing the lines denoted by Orthodox Judaism?
-And how should we strike a balance between adhering to traditional curriculums and accounting for modern scholarship when teaching the next generations?

Tune in to hear Gil discuss the different views on the Bible, from those of traditional commentators to secular Bible scholars. For more, visit https://18Forty.org/bible#student.