The Debate Continues: The Exodus Decoded
The Debate Continues…Jacobovici has offered a lengthy and passionate reply on the BAS Web site to Prof. Ron Hendel’s sarcastic and caustic review of his film which Hendel titled: “Viewer Beware”
Last week I mentioned the TV documentary “The Exodus Decoded” produced by Canadian filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici with James Cameron. The subject matter is far afield from that of this Blog, which deals with Jesus and early Christianity, as expressed in my book, The Jesus Dynasty, but since Simcha and I are working together on future productions related to my book and its subject matter I thought it worthwhile to mention his Exodus production.
There is a most interesting and fascinating debate about “The Exodus Decoded” between Jacobovici and Hershel Shanks, editor of Biblical Archaeology Review archived at the BAS Web site. Shanks is not convinced of the merits of the case Jacobovici sought to make on any number of points and the two of them bounce ideas back and forth in some detail.
I wanted to call attention to this particular discussion of the film in that it touches on the broader matter of “faith and history” and how one might or might not go about “verifying” the Biblical text. In principle these issues are front and center in The Jesus Dynasty as well, so I thought readers of this Blog, interested in my book, might find the discussion quite informative, in substance as well as principle.