Monday, May 16, 2011

Thomas Verenna on the fake metal codices

FAKE METAL CODICES WATCH: Thomas Verenna has published an excellent article over at Bible and Interpretation about the metal codices and how they have been handled by the media and bibliobloggers:
Artifacts and the Media: Lead Codices and the Public Portrayal of History

More scandalous is the complete lack of journalistic integrity, honest research, and thorough fact-checking. These codices might never have been heard of if the authors of the reports for BBC and Fox News (among others) had just checked with the academic community before publishing the “find”. At the very least, the journalists might have used less authoritative language, expressed more caution, and exposed the controversy rather than simply stating, as if doing so made it fact, that these codices were “the earliest Christian texts” and that they held “early images of Jesus.”
As Tom concludes, "Perhaps blogging isn’t enough; but it is something."

Background here and just keep following those links.