Time Line Preferences Bug

[Enoch]

The menu of choices on Time Line Preferences includes the choice of Conservative vs Critical, but these are not mutually exclusive categories. Was "Critical" a typo for "Liberal"?

[jeremyduncan]

"Liberal" tends to be a pejorative term in a lot of Church circles therefore "critical" is fairly common usage. I doubt it's a typo. It's also an indication of conservative (using the literal biblical dates and reference) as compared to critical (using contemporary archeology and scholarly work to translate the literary dates into historical ones).

Edited November 21, 2014 by jeremyduncan

[Alistair]

I agree it isn't simple case of either/or, but well done OakTree for at least making an effort to NOT reproduce Ussher's work, and giving us some choice.

[Helen Brown]

Yes, we toyed with the idea of offending everyone by calling the two systems Fundamentalist and Liberal, but we decided to be a little more diplomatic with Conservative and Critical.

 

For details on the two systems, consult the Help files:

You are here: The Timeline > The Timeline Dates > Understanding Conservative vs Critical Dates

 

We did draw the line at Ussher, but we sometimes get angry users demanding dates for Noah, Enoch, and the other patriarchs. We lengthened the time period and do allow users to add their own events with all the supported date uncertainties.

[Alistair]

Yes, we toyed with the idea of offending everyone by calling the two systems Fundamentalist and Liberal…

If you were truly liberal you wouldn't bother to attempt a chronology of mythical/legendary figures… that might leave only three people in the timeline…

[Enoch]

"Liberal" tends to be a pejorative term in a lot of Church circles therefore "critical" is fairly common usage. I doubt it's a typo. It's also an indication of conservative (using the literal biblical dates and reference) as compared to critical (using contemporary archeology and scholarly work to translate the literary dates into historical ones).

Conservative scholars use archaeology and scholarly work. They don't find that literal biblical dates and references are inconsistent with critical examination of evidence.

 

Here is an example, http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2009/03/30/The-Biblical-Date-for-the-Exodus-is-1446-BC-A-Response-to-James-Hoffmeier.aspx

 

I suggest that the alternatives should be named in a neutral fashion, as for example late-system vs early-system or compact-dating vs expanded-dating. As it now is, the alternatives suggest that conservatives do not think critically.

[Enoch]

If you were truly liberal you wouldn't bother to attempt a chronology of mythical/legendary figures… that might leave only three people in the timeline…

You do raise interesting questions of paradox; but it is not hard to think of reasons for bothering to publish a chronology, even if one considers figures mythical. The antithesis to conservative is liberal (the antithesis to fundamentalist is modernist -- except that the news media converted fundamentalist into terrorist bomber), but I advocate adopting neutral language which does not rely on motivation of the scholars, but the output of the scholars. Perhaps long date system vs short date system.

Edited November 23, 2014 by Enoch

[Alistair]

You do raise interesting questions of paradox; but it is not hard to think of reasons for bothering to publish a chronology, even if one considers figures mythical. The antithesis to conservative is liberal (the antithesis to fundamentalist is modernist -- except that the news media converted fundamentalist into terrorist bomber), but I advocate adopting neutral language which does not rely on motivation of the scholars, but the output of the scholars. Perhaps long date system vs short date system.

Neutral language might be hard to pin down to everyone's satisfaction, but point taken.

 

I suggest "scholarly vs. simplistic" as another unhelpful alternative

[Enoch]

Neutral language might be hard to pin down to everyone's satisfaction, but point taken.

 

I suggest "scholarly vs. simplistic" as another unhelpful alternative

And then the Scholarly will be what is now called Conservative, while what is now called Critical will be called "Simplistic"? The would be OK, except it might be offensive.