Archaeology...Sorry No Indiana Jones Shit.

[Minimalist]

Prof. Bloch-Smith is with the Theology Dept of St Joseph's University in Philadelphia. Still, she is an archaeologist and has written this paper which is bound to piss off fundies....if they bothered to read anything which didn't tell them what they wanted to hear in the first place.


https://www.academia.edu/7857714/Questio..._and_Texts

Archaeology, as an independent witness to ancient Israel, enables reconstructing the historical context for the production of Bible texts and in which they are to be understood. Te devastating Assyrian campaigns formed the backdrop for Hezekiah’s reforms and prophetic oracles. In the el Arad example, archaeology supplies material correlates for Israelite features such as massebot and a temple (not mentioned in the Bible) and the actual features and practices to which biblical authors and editors were responding. As the two case studies demonstrate, studying the physical remains together with the literary record provides insight into actual practices of the late eighth through the sixth centuries, the historical circumstances that shaped those actions, and the evolution of Yahwistic cultic practices through the last centuries of the Davidic kingdom.

Tough titties, jesus freaks.

[Jenny A]

They won't read it. The bad news has been coming out for decades. It's hardly new. Doesn't seem to faze the literalists. From what I read, I think the Hebrews and the Canaanites were essentially the same people. No promised land, just a gradual dominance of one religion over the others which solidified during the Babylonian captivity.

As for monotheism, there are indicators in the OT that god was once one god among many.

[Minimalist]

The accumulation of evidence will overpower them eventually. They can stay stupid forever but the clock is winding down on them.

I do recommend Philip R. Davies, In Search of Ancient Israel. It was the Persians who began this monotheistic wave in the ANE.

What Bloch-Smith, and Dever and Mazar before her, are getting at is the establishment of a state cult as the central governments grew. Yhwh was the boss hooter in Jerusalem...just like Marduk was the boss hooter in Babylon.

[Polaris]

Prof. Bloch-Smith is with the Theology Dept of St Joseph's University in Philadelphia. Still, she is an archaeologist and has written this paper which is bound to piss off fundies....if they bothered to read anything which didn't tell them what they wanted to hear in the first place.


https://www.academia.edu/7857714/Questio..._and_Texts

Archaeology, as an independent witness to ancient Israel, enables reconstructing the historical context for the production of Bible texts and in which they are to be understood. Te devastating Assyrian campaigns formed the backdrop for Hezekiah’s reforms and prophetic oracles. In the el Arad example, archaeology supplies material correlates for Israelite features such as massebot and a temple (not mentioned in the Bible) and the actual features and practices to which biblical authors and editors were responding. As the two case studies demonstrate, studying the physical remains together with the literary record provides insight into actual practices of the late eighth through the sixth centuries, the historical circumstances that shaped those actions, and the evolution of Yahwistic cultic practices through the last centuries of the Davidic kingdom.

Tough titties, jesus freaks.

Last centuries of the Davidic Kingdom? Uh what....glad I never went to Seminary if this is what they offer.

[Minimalist]

Yeah..you couldn't handle it. Far too demoralizing to find out how badly you have been conned, Polecat.

Stay stupid. It suits you.

[Polaris]

Yeah..you couldn't handle it. Far too demoralizing to find out how badly you have been conned, Polecat.

Stay stupid. It suits you.

The Davidic Kingdom did not even last one century.

[LivingNumbers6.626]

I like Jenny's comment. It's quite clear that a huge issue in the OT had to deal with servitude to one god. The OT, if serving for anything, shows that the society in control at the time sought to mandate the belief in one god but of course, this couldn't have meant that there was belief in many gods. Alright fundementalists, I guess you will have to admit that your god loves to be irrelavant in conversation then, and that his first commandment is basically, well, irrelevant.