THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL has forthcoming programs on the Dead Sea Scrolls and on Cain and Abel. For the Dead Sea Scrolls show there is an impressive lineup of scholars, but they also include conspiracy-theorist Michael Baigent, whose nonsense inspired the Da Vinci Code. That alone indicates to me that the producers haven't a clue what they are doing, and I can only hope that the qualified scholars will be able to salvage the show.

Apart from Jon Levenson (who is excellent), I don't know much about the people lined up for the Cain and Abel program. It looks as though they are combining an attempt to get at the original-audience meaning of the story with a look at its history of interpretation. This could work quite well. But it's not a good sign that the program is looking for "where the biblical Eden actually existed."

I won't be able to see either show anytime soon, but I'll be watching the reactions to it with interest.