the-criterion-of-embarrassment
Original: the-criterion-of-embarrassment on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (a man in a suit): By "the criterion of embarrassment," we can tell a Bible passage is likely to be true by examining whether the people who wrote it down would have found it embarrassing.
Panel 2 (the same man): The more embarrassing a moment is, the more true it must be.
Panel 3 (the man): Consider Mark 3:21, where Jesus' family thinks he's a little crazy. I mean... that wouldn't have happened. Why would you leave it in?
Panel 4 (a second man, listening): In the Edda, Loki has a guy bound to death, then later at a party he cheers up that guy's daughter by tying his balls to a goat.
Caption / final panel (the second man, reacting): That's the truest thing I've ever heard.
Votey:
A goat speaks: You really had to be there.
Panel 2 (the same man): The more embarrassing a moment is, the more true it must be.
Panel 3 (the man): Consider Mark 3:21, where Jesus' family thinks he's a little crazy. I mean... that wouldn't have happened. Why would you leave it in?
Panel 4 (a second man, listening): In the Edda, Loki has a guy bound to death, then later at a party he cheers up that guy's daughter by tying his balls to a goat.
Caption / final panel (the second man, reacting): That's the truest thing I've ever heard.
Votey:
A goat speaks: You really had to be there.
Alt text
A four-panel comic about the "criterion of embarrassment," a real method biblical scholars use to judge which scripture passages are likely true. In the first panels a man in a suit explains that a passage is more likely true if the people who wrote it down would have found it embarrassing, so the more embarrassing a moment is, the more true it must be. He cites Mark 3:21, where Jesus' family thinks he's a little crazy, asking why anyone would leave such an unflattering detail in unless it really happened. A second man takes the logic further, describing a wild scene from the Norse Edda in which Loki cheers up a grieving woman at a party by tying his testicles to a goat. The first man, awed, replies, "That's the truest thing I've ever heard." In the votey aftercomic, a hand-drawn goat says, "You really had to be there."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.