Comments on the "theological center" of the Old Testament
Such mind-altering substances formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times, Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem wrote in the Time and Mind journal of philosophy.
"As far Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don't believe, or a legend, which I don't believe either, or finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of narcotics," Shanon told Israeli public radio on Tuesday.
Moses was probably also on drugs when he saw the "burning bush," suggested Shanon, who said he himself has dabbled with such substances.
Discussion of the missing "center" of Old Testament theology
Comments on the "theological center" of the Old Testament
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-Assumption 1: The meaning of any one messianic prophecy is not immediately transparent. There is a need for some kind of translation of what is said in the OT into what is seen in the NT. For Hengstenberg it meant a "spiritual" interpretation-a looking to the NT for clues to the OT's meaning. Another word for this is typology. In any event, for Hengstenberg, the NT held the key to the meaning of the OT.
-Assumption 2: The messianic meaning of the OT consists of the predictive nature of its prophecy. To be messianic, the OT must accurately predict the historical events in the life of Jesus. We thus judge the messianic intent of the OT by indexing it to the picture of Jesus in the Gospels. Once again, the NT holds the key to the meaning of the OT.
-Assumption 3: The value of the messianic prophecies in the OT is largely apologetic. To the extent that an OT passage proves to be messianic and thus predictive of the life of Jesus, it shows that Christianity, or the gospel, is true. This is the argument from prophecy. In actual fact, this legacy goes back to the apologists in the early church. It is to Hengstenberg, however, that the credit must go for reviving this concern. In saying this is one of the legacies of Hengstenberg, I am not saying it remains, at present, a productive use of messianic prophecy. Hengstenberg did not convince many even of his own evangelical colleagues