Education Series: Lesson 05
Regular readers of my blog should be familiar with this material. But it’s important to show that Christian folk-science is nothing new. We’ve attempted to solve questions of physical science with appeals to Scripture and Theology ever since the earliest days of the Church. These are merely two examples.
Let me know what you think!
June 27th, 2008 at 7:30 am
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Gordon, but “antipodes” is pronounced an-Tip-uh-dees. I highly recommend a reshoot of the first 4-5 minutes on this basis alone.
Also, the phrase “human-like creatures” could be taken badly by some folks. I know you’re just explaining it from the point of view of Christians of the time, but it sounds a little condescending. I’d just replace it with “humans”
June 27th, 2008 at 7:30 am
Oh, but otherwise it’s pretty good.
June 27th, 2008 at 7:51 am
Crap! I’ve never heard anybody else say it. Thanks for the headsup.
I’ll think about the “human-like” reference.
June 27th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Gordon, well done argumentation and delivery, but AMW beat me to the punch.:antipodes is indeed pronounced an-TIH-poe-dees. In fact, although the original singular antipous (an-ti-poos) has been replaced in modern usage by the back formation antipode, the plural antipodes has not been subjected to variation in pronunciation. As with any minor but obvious error, this may serve as a distraction at best or at worst a reason to dismiss what you’re saying.
But once again, the train of thought comes across well, which is what we want the most. When can we expect the next one?
June 27th, 2008 at 8:56 am
In school I blew off English, History and Social Studies and focused all my energy on Math and Science. My parents tried to tell me that I would regret it someday, but I didn’t listen to them. Only later in life did I realize how important these other things are to communicating your ideas effectively. I’m still paying the price.
Thanks for the tip. I’ll add the first-half of this to my do-over list. Lesson 6 goes up Sunday. Then 7 on Wed, 8 on Friday. I’m still working on 9, 10 and 11 — so I can’t get ahead of myself. Otherwise I’d put them up faster.
Plan is to have them all up by July 11th, which gives me 2 weeks to re-shoot, re-edit, and re-post before going on vacation. I’m forbidden to work on these during our vacation — or for the rest of the summer for that matter. I’m taking the 2nd half of July and August off (from the blog).
June 27th, 2008 at 10:28 am
I forgot to add that I really liked this background. Probably the best so far.
June 27th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Those arguments for a fixed earth get me laughing every time:
“The earth has no limbs or muscles. Therefore, the earth does not move.”
Makes sense to me!
Thanks for all your hard work! And also good job taking time off to avoid neglecting your family.
June 27th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
To second AMW and joepinion,
1) I did really like the background this time.
2) I think those quotes are priceless and invaluable for your argument. Hopefully in a couple hundred years or so, our progeny will laugh as hard at some of the more outrageous remarks made by current folk-scientists.
June 27th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
another excellent episode, Gordon. Thank you for all your hard work on these. I plan to use this series this fall as a teaching tool.
I’m famous for mispronouncing words I’ve only seen in print. My family likes to recall me, as a nine-year-old, discussing the esophagus (ee-so-fag-us) at the dinner table…
June 27th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
First off, I’m really loving these videos!
I did wonder if the bare breasted Eve might be distracting to some in your target audience. It’s a truly lovely work of art but perhaps this is a place to cater to those who easily take offense. Just a thought.
June 27th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Jul,
Thought the same thing about that picture. It panned down, which brought our eyes’ attention…well, down there.
June 27th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Still doing a good job Gordon. I loved “Beyond the Firmament” by the way.
I think number 4 is a good video to show people to get them thinking, but I am looking forward to some of the later ones that you keep talking about.
June 27th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Thanks all for the comments! I understand the concern about Eve’s mammories, but when I serch for images related to “Adam and Eve” or the “Garden of Eden” or “The Fall of Man” — this one appears to be the least offending. I’m at a loss as to what else I could use here. Sugguestions?
Adam, I’m glad you enjoyed BTF! The 2nd printing (re-edited version) should start shipping out any day now. As soon as I get confirmation of this, I’ll write a post letting everybody know.
June 27th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
GJG,
How about playing to their sympathies? (know where that pic was taken?)
June 28th, 2008 at 6:15 am
Is that from the creation “theme park” (aka: museum)?
I use a picture of Adam naming the animals from the creation “museum” in Lesson 09.
Or what about this?
http://www.copticchurch.org/Pictures/Designed_Pictures/adam_eve.jpg
It’s actually offensive for other reasons — like being too cheesy.
I actually like the idea of using the creation “museum” image — since the dialogue is talking about turning the garden of eden narrative into something that competes with natural history.
June 28th, 2008 at 9:48 am
It sort of cracks me up that that picture you linked to is from a Coptic church. The Coptic church I visited in Egypt (where that church originated and is based) would never dream of imagining Adam and Eve looking like Barbie and Ken: both the clergy and the attendees were even darker than your typical Arab! At least our favorite “museum” tries to make them look sorta Jewish, considering that the names “Adam” and “Eve” are decidedly Hebrew.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:09 am
Sorry to be late to the party. A very good video, Gordon. One thing: in the quote by Scipio Chiaramonti, “Angels” is spelled “Angles” the first time it is used.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:53 am
Thanks Jim, I’ll make sure and fix than in the final version! I’m also taking the last segment about “evidence against a moving earth” and adding it to the Lesson 6. That keeps 5 under 10 min and makes 6 a little longer. I also think it flows since 6 is about the absurdity of modern geocentricism.