Margaret Barker has produced a number of insightful pieces, more than I can keep up on. One basic element of Barker's overall thesis that I have always had trouble with is that she assumes that Josiah is an evil man who corrupted the religion and scriptures of ancient Judah. I have never found any evidence to support this key presupposition in Barker's thesis. While I believe that there were corruptions of both the religion and the scripture, I have a hard time seeing that Josiah is the or even a guilty culprit.
My friend, Bill Hamblin, has addressed the issue on his blog and the analysis has now extended to seven parts, which those who are interested may read here:
Parts 1-2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
This is precisely the kind of analysis that Barker needed and still needs to do to support her assertion. Unfortunately, it supports the opposite.
