Today I discuss the dangers of poorly calibrated pattern recognition in biblical study.
Within this video, I mention ‘The Pyramid and the Garden’ by Scott Alexander. I also mention Gordon Wenham’s treatment of the Flood Narrative.
False Pattern Recognition, Conspiracy Theories, and the Need for Well-Calibrated Perception
It is an extraordinary experience for me seeing, hearing the fully-fledged man, when last it was the boy I spoke to.
I’ve just re-established contact with Phil and Joy.
Wishing you well.
Slán ‘s Beannacht Jim
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So wonderful to hear from you, Jim! I trust that you are doing well.
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So, when you spoke of pattern recognition, confirmation bias, conspiratorial thinking, and especially “one system to rule them all”, do you think the problems you discussed here are at work in systematic theology and large confessional documents? I would guess yes. I can see how to one degree or another it might be or would be—not that systematics is an inherently bad thing.
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They can be, although that was not primarily what I had in mind.
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