Book Study-Prager's Rational Bible

[nili]

... I can appreciate his honesty and efforts to study diligently the difficult passages in the Torah, due to his belief it is a divine book and therefore, always right. He gave the example of the wayward son, and there being no record of a Jewish court actually carrying out an execution. ...

The presumption taints everything.

As for his example, it should first be noted that, especially here, the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. There is "no record of a Jewish court actually carrying out an execution" in large part because, for the bulk of Israelite history, there is no record, period. Put differently, most of what can be known with any degree of certainty deals with rabbinic jurisprudence and almost certainly reflects Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and even Roman influences.

Prager simply offers an example of making lemonade from the absence of lemons. No doubt others will follow.

========

For those interested, "Torah Is From Heaven!" What Do We Really Mean? is, in my opinion, worth reading.