The Murfreesboro Bible Park… Maybe It Won’t Be As Hideous As It Seemed

Always wary of ‘bible themed’ anything these days, I wasn’t too sure that the planned park in Murfreesboro, TN, would be different than the Creation Museum in Kentucky or several other of the poorly executed and biblically inaccurate similar projects. But it seems that the board working on the Murfreesboro park might have learned a thing or two from past mistakes others have made, because they’ve assembled a panel of advisors including

Darrell Bock, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, TX
Paul Ferris, Ph.D., Professor of Old Testament Studies at Bethel Seminary, St. Paul, MN
Craig Keener, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament Studies and Christian Origins at Palmer Theological Seminary, Wynnewood, PA
Amy-Jill Levine, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament Studies at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Byron McCane, Ph.D., Professor of Religion at Wofford College, Spartanburg, SC
Carol Meyers, Ph.D., Professor of Old Testament Studies at Duke University, Durham, NC
Eric Meyers, Ph.D., Professor of Old Testament Studies, Archaeology of the ancient Near East, and Jewish History of the Greco-Roman period at Duke University, Durham, NC
Carolyn Osiek, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament Studies at Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX
Emerson Powery, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament and African American Church Studies at Lee University, Cleveland, TN
Ben Witherington, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, KY

Now, of course, the question will be whether or not the Park organizers, builders, and owners will listen to what their biblical scholars say. If they do, things might well be worth seeing down there; but if not, it will be another Jim Bakker type of fundamentalistic nonsense park or ‘Creation Museum’. Time will tell.