Huffington Post’s Danny Shea took “The View’s” Sherri Shepherd to task yesterday for claiming that Christ predated the ancient Greeks during a discussion of philosopher Epicurus on the gab fest.
“Naturally, talk soon migrated to the topic of religion, and Sherri ‘I don’t know if the world is flat’ Shepherd came out to play,” writes Shea. “More specifically, to spew ignorance and a complete lack of understanding of basic world history!”
“Discussing whether Christians were around during Epicurus’ time (Epicurus lived from 341-270 B.C.), Sherri chimed in, ‘[The Greeks] had Christians ’cause they threw them to the lions.’”
While it is somewhat surprising that a conservative Christian such as Shepherd would not know that it was, in general terms, the Romans, not the Greeks, that staged games in which Christians and other captives were torn apart by wild beasts, I think Shea should save his indignation for the American educational system which has evidently failed Ms. Shepherd.
When Shepherd tells co-panelists Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar, who are attempting to lay out a basic timeline, that “Jesus came first before them,” she seems to sincerely believe what she is saying. A friend of mine feels that Shepherd is “like many evangelicals, using ‘Christian’ in a very particular, hermetically sealed, self-promoting fashion, where the world begins and ends with the people who call themselves ‘Christians.’” While Shea doesn’t directly come out and express the same thought, it is clearly implied.
But, in this case, I don’t think it’s a theological stance, but rather actual ignorance. And I mean that in a nonjudgmental way.
Sadly, Shepherd is by no means alone. If you were to poll typical Americans about basic ancient timelines, you would probably get similar responses. Heck, many Americans have a difficult time identifying events that happened in the last decade and places closer to home.
A 2006 National Geographic-Roper Public Affairs Geography Literacy Study found that two-thirds of Americans aged 18 to 24 could not find Iraq on a map, even after three years of conflict and extensive, daily media coverage.
More disturbing is that fact that “half or fewer of young men and women 18-24 can identify the states of New York or Ohio on a map [50 percent and 43 percent, respectively].” You can’t find Ohio on a map, but you should know when Ovid lived?
It’s terribly disheartening that many Americans have little understanding of ancient history, and it’s even harder to explain to them that scholars believe that Christ was actually born a few years B.C. (Before Christ). And with the term B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) replacing B.C. in most academic circles and texts, people are bound to get more confused than they already are.
Yes, it is frustrating to hear Shepherd mangle history, but I think Shea should look at the positive; when was the last time you heard a daytime talk show panel chat about an ancient Greek philosopher? Perhaps they should rename the show “The Forum.”
posted December 6, 2007 at 12:35 pm
He was around alright, just not in human flesh:)
posted December 6, 2007 at 5:57 pm
Sherri Shepherd’s comments are not the fault of the U.S. educational system – they are they fault of her own beliefs. Sherri Shepherd grew up as a Jehova’s Witness, a group that believes that Jesus was the first thing that God created. Even though she’s now born-again, she apparently hasn’t changed her mind about that particular belief.
Also, a few comments on some other points: no matter how bad the U.S. school system is (and finding a state on a map has little to do with knowing about history), all public schools teach Western history, meaning a heavy emphasis on the Greeks and Romans, not to mention a little about Neanderthals and the first Homo Sapien societies. She would have had to skip school entirely not to have at least caught that. I submit this isn’t something she just never learned, but something she has willfully decided to not believe, in the same way that so many Christians do not believe in evolution despite the fact that we are all taught about it in school. Besides, Christian doctrine is not what history classes are for. If you want to believe Christ was born before Socrates, that’s not educational system’s problem.
Which brings me to another point, which is that, despite your citing of some scholars, there is no consensus even on the fact of Jesus’ birth. There are no records, no solid historical evidence that he was a real person born a particular time. (Yes, there are mentions of Christians and some Christian leader in other texts, do the reading yourself on their validity). That said, it is generally assumed someone was around then, and that Christianity did not appear out of a vacuum, in much the same way that there are other historical figures with little or no real data to support their existence, short of the fact that their impact is felt throughout history. There’s no problem with that, necessarily, but if you’re going to mention that some scholars believe He was born at a particular time, I think it’s important, for the sake of balance, to mention that it could be argued there’s little evidence for His birth in the first place.
One last thing: Shea obviously attributed Sherri’s line to “the Greeks” because they were talking about Epicurus. It was Sherri’s mistake to mention Epicurus and lions in the same breath, not Shea’s. He said what she meant.
posted September 27, 2008 at 1:18 pm
What does Sherri think B.C. and A.D. mean? She should read some history books. It’s pathetic for someone to be that historically ignorant. If Sherri would like free lessons I’ll be happy to help her. I’ve done about 20-25 years of study into the evolution of “Western Religious Thought.” I can be reached at Carneil@aol.com.