In his 1887 polemic, On the Genealogy of Morality, Nietzsche suggested that the idea of good and evil, of morality itself, might have been born by slaves. Candida Moss, who holds the Edward Cadbury Chair of Theology at the University of Birmingham, riffs off this Nietzchean idea by suggesting that enslaved Christians, as well as artisans and women, might have actually written (or, at least, transcribed) the Bible. This precariat of antiquity were, Moss argues in her new God’s Ghostwriters, not much different to the Amazon delivery men and Uber drivers who now make up the labor force of our digital economy. It’s an intriguing argument especially, as Moss gleefully acknowledges, because it will offend many American evangelicals who assume that the Bible was written by white men like Luke, Peter, Mark, Paul, John and Ringo. Happy Easter everyone. Enjoy your Cadbury chocolate eggs and the Resurrection/Passover.
Candida Moss is Edward Cadbury Chair of Theology at the University of Birmingham, prior to which she taught for almost a decade at the University of Notre Dame. Moss is the award-winning author or coauthor of seven books, has served as papal news commentator for CBS News, and writes a column for The Daily Beast. She has written for and had her work reported on in the New York Times, the LA Times, the Washington Post, The Guardian, and The Atlantic, among other outlets. Moss has appeared as an on-air expert for CNN and Fox News, and in documentaries for NBC, National Geographic, History Channel, BBC, PBS, Smithsonian Channel, and others. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Oxford, and MA and PhD from Yale.
Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.
Episode 2013: Candida Moss on how Christian slaves helped write the Bible and why this will outrage some American evangelicals