It seems there is a perpetual misunderstanding in this thread about how I would use such books, essays, podcasts, videos, etc.
Let this be perfectly clear:
I will not be getting into the details of any archaeological debates. Those are not the claims I will be making or disputing.
What I will be using these resources for is *GIVING EXAMPLES* of contrary materials. It is not necessary for me to have read them, understand, agree or disagree with them. The fact that they exist is enough. My use for them is to ask more general questions such as whether the group leaders or potential group members should even be willing to read from a wide variety of views, rather than the single view that the group leaders will espouse. That is it. That is all.
The only purpose for asking for authors and books is to give examples of such. It would be more helpful to have examples than to not have them. For all I know these contrary materials are overall flawed. But people can still learn and become more intelligent by reading what are flawed materials. It helps identify and minimize our biases, for instance. It enhances our critical thinking skills and learning how to apply logic. It is a test of our willpower.
For everyone reading: Do you only get your information from sources that you already agree with? Do you think you should? That others should? Or should we try to get our info from a diversity of viewpoints and simultaneously enhance our critical thinking skills in other ways to learn which resources are more or less credible?
I am in favor of the latter approach. I have had many discussions with fundamentalist Christians about philosophical problems with prophecies and how to evaluate them. What I do not get into is citing of specific chapter/verses, because I do not know or care about them. The general problems override those specific instances they perceive as evidence. But my case is augmented by making these additional points---that other contrary scholarly views exist and that it is better to read from a variety than a narrow selection, if you are going to read any at all.