Shroud of Turin
A headline in today’s Korea Times reads Christians Denounce TV Program for Humanizing Jesus. Well, at least they didn’t demonize him. Still, the issue reminds me of the constant pushing-and-pulling that goes on here in Korea between the media and society.
When the uproar over US beef imports began the media was implicated for passing off unsubstantiated rumors as fact. One program in particular, PD Diary, was blamed for fanning fears by spreading disinformation. (See PD Diary’s tradition of ethical reporting in the blog Gusts of Popular Feeling for a detailed description. For more on PD Diary, see my story here, or here. )
At issue here was the dispute between what is fact and what fiction, and the media’s responsibility in distinguishing between the two. Koreans were criticized for believing whatever appeared on TV, to the point of shutting down the daily operations of government.
According to the Korea Times article, the Christian Council of Korea (CCK), a group of protestant Christians, complained that the program’s content “could shake many people’s beliefs.” I haven’t seen the program, but I wonder whether they mention recent revelations reported in the International Herald Tribune about a tablet discovered near Jerusalem dubbed “Gabriel’s Revelation.”
The tablet, a Dead-Sea Scroll in stone, is dated to the first century BC, and has led some scholars to the conclusion that Jesus was in fact “a major Jewish independence fighter,” rather than the messianic savior of humanity Christians believe him to be. According to one scholar studying the tablet, the discovery ”should shake our basic view of Christianity.”
Nevertheless, as the continuing protests have shown, no matter what the authorities say or science reveals US beef will still be dangerous to those who believe it is. (Or rather, they will spend their days in line to buy US beef, and their nights bearing candles against it’s importation.) Likewise, for Christians here in Korea, what is truth and what belief is often indistinguishable.
Filed under: Korean Society, media, religion | Tagged: beef, belief, Jesus, Korea, media, myth, religion
I would submit that the “ancient tablet” is probably another sensationalist scam, as is clearly indicated by the facts
(1) that no specific information is available on its provenance and
(2) that no details are provided on carbon dating of the ink.
As such, this “news” brings to mind the faked Lost-Tomb-of-Jesus “documentary” designed to make a financial profit from people’s fascination with the “real” Jesus, as well as the larger scandal of the biased and misleading way the Dead Sea scrolls are being presented in museum exhibits around the world, including Seoul, see
http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/korean-public-gets-learn-all-about-dead-sea-scrolls
with an antisemitic nuance emerging on a government-run North Carolina museum’s website — see, e.g.,
http://spinozaslens.com/libet/articles/dworkin_ethicsofexhibition.htm
and
http://blog.news-record.com/staff/frontpew/archives/2008/06/dead_sea_scroll.shtml.
Peter, I wasn’t aware of the debate surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls. Thanks for pointing it out to me. For my part, I’m always intrigued by stories like these (and maybe too quick to believe what I read).