In bit of Youtube buffoonery intended to make light of a serious situation, Professor Craig Evans of Arcadia Divinity College, mockingly "beats" a box with a picture of a photoshopped mummy mask attached to the surface.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-ts=1422579428&x-yt-cl=85114404&v=OmG6pz6Imr0
This seems to be the best response he can muster against the growing number of scholars criticizing the treatment of these ancient artifacts by Dr. Craig and other scholars and non scholars attached to the Green Collection.
Perhaps the most succinct expression of this criticism was offered by Dr. Douglas Boin, a professor of history at St. Louis University in a CNN article:
"The destruction of mummy masks, though legal, falls into an ethically gray area right now because of the difficult choices scientists have to make in the lab when working with them ... We have to ask ourselves, do we value the cultural heritage of Egypt as something worth preserving in itself, or do we see it simply as vehicle for harvesting Christian texts?"
http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/21/living/gospel-mummy-mask/
In the meantime, the Youtube video I posted -- showing Josh McDowell's callous approach to the treatment of the masks -- is making the rounds on the blogs of a few scholars who offer additional comments:
James McGrath on Exploring Our Matrix
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/exploringourmatrix/2015/01/handling-ancient-artifacts.html
Paul Barford on Portable Antiquity Collecting and Heritage Issues
http://paul-barford.blogspot.com/2015/01/legal-aspects-of-disposal-of-privately.html?showComment=1422729445703
Roberta Mazza on Faces & Voices
https://facesandvoices.wordpress.com/2015/01/25/destroying-mummy-masks-since-we-own-its-ok-maybe-not/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-ts=1422579428&x-yt-cl=85114404&v=OmG6pz6Imr0
This seems to be the best response he can muster against the growing number of scholars criticizing the treatment of these ancient artifacts by Dr. Craig and other scholars and non scholars attached to the Green Collection.
Perhaps the most succinct expression of this criticism was offered by Dr. Douglas Boin, a professor of history at St. Louis University in a CNN article:
"The destruction of mummy masks, though legal, falls into an ethically gray area right now because of the difficult choices scientists have to make in the lab when working with them ... We have to ask ourselves, do we value the cultural heritage of Egypt as something worth preserving in itself, or do we see it simply as vehicle for harvesting Christian texts?"
http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/21/living/gospel-mummy-mask/
In the meantime, the Youtube video I posted -- showing Josh McDowell's callous approach to the treatment of the masks -- is making the rounds on the blogs of a few scholars who offer additional comments:
James McGrath on Exploring Our Matrix
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/exploringourmatrix/2015/01/handling-ancient-artifacts.html
Paul Barford on Portable Antiquity Collecting and Heritage Issues
http://paul-barford.blogspot.com/2015/01/legal-aspects-of-disposal-of-privately.html?showComment=1422729445703
Roberta Mazza on Faces & Voices
https://facesandvoices.wordpress.com/2015/01/25/destroying-mummy-masks-since-we-own-its-ok-maybe-not/