BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: Biblical Anthropology: Another Reason to Believe

Abraham's descendants are as numerous as the stars.

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

During the 1990s, some biblical scholars denied the Bible as a reliable source of historical information. This was especially true when it came to the Exodus, the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites, and the reign of King David.

These minimalist or nihilist scholars claimed that the Hebrew Bible was composed in the Persian Period (c.550 BC to 330 BC) and therefore, had no relevance for the study of the Iron Age (c.1200 to 550 BC). See, for example, the work of Israel Finkelstein, doubtless the most famous Israeli archaeologist of our time.

In the 1890s and early 20th century, German higher criticism eroded confidence in the reliability of Scripture. Biblical higher criticism employed historical, archaeological, and literary analysis to understand the biblical texts. This was pioneered in Tübingen, Germany. A key figure of that movement was Friedrich Schleiermacher. The Tübingen School sought to establish the dates and authorship of the various books of the Bible. The advocates of this approach claimed objectivity. However, as with all movements, the agenda of self-advancement took precedent.

The latest movement to understand the Bible employs the tools of cultural anthropology by which the many biblical populations can be studied as objectively as possible. The population that emerges as central to the overall biblical narrative is the Hebrew ruler-priest caste with its moiety structure. Some of the earliest Hebrew rulers are named in Genesis 4, 5, 10, 11, 25 and 36. Analysis of their kinship pattern proves their historicity.

Biblical Anthropology seeks to understand the distinctive features of the Hebrew social structure. A key principle of discovery is to pursue antecedents. A central task of Biblical Anthropology is to uncover antecedents; something coming before what is described in the text. Biblical Anthropology seeks to understand the cultural contexts at the oldest foundations. It is concerned with ancestors and received traditions. What events preceded the events recounted? From what earlier context did certain practices develop? What traces of ancient memory can be uncovered?

The biblical text always speaks of something older, some prior action that solicits a response from later generations. Unless one moves toward that presence, the nature of it remains unknown. Even where later sources attempt to efface an earlier account, as happened with the imposition of a Jewish narrative, the trace has a voice. The prior remains evident.

Long before the emergence of Judaism, the Hebrew believed in a High God who had a son. The Father and the Son were worshipped at the earliest known site of Hebrew worship at Nekhen on the Nile. The common assumption that monotheism emerged from polytheism does not apply to the biblical Hebrew. The evidence of ancient texts, anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics does not support that assumption. The rudimentary Messianic Faith is expressed in the religion of the Horite and Sethite Hebrew and can be studied in such ancient documents as the Coffin Texts, the Egyptian Book of the Dead, and the Pyramid Texts. Many of the Pyramid Texts predate the oldest Hindu texts by at least 1200 years.

Contrary to another popular opinion, monotheism was not invented by Pharaoh Akhenaton and transmitted to the Jews through Moses. Moses, the Horite Hebrew, was the recipient of a much earlier tradition that is "Messianic" in nature because it held that God Father had a divine Son. One of the signs of the Son was the Ram. That helps to explain what Abraham discovered on Mount Moriah.

Biblical Anthropology brings to light the necessity of considering the many contextual incongruities found in the Bible. The Bible presents a complex and layered narrative. Some data pertains to the earliest populations and to the antecedents of the Messianic Faith among Abraham's Hebrew ancestors. Over these older layers are glosses and anachronisms that reflect at least two later sources: the Deuteronomist Historian, and Rabbinic literature. The Deuteronomist writes from the context of the Neo-Babylonian Period, c. 700-300 BC, about 1500 years after the time of Abraham. The Rabbinic insertions reflect an even later period. They date from the first century AD to c. 500 AD.

Understanding the material requires unraveling the interwoven elements and paying attention to the textual and contextual incongruities. A critical reading avoids imposing a presumed order or interpretation on the text. To flesh out the narrative we must notice the incongruities and discrepancies, and what Jacques Derrida calls the trace of the subordinated voices. Those are often the voices of women, especially Hebrew cousin brides, one of the most overlooked groups of the Bible.

Readers of this blog are invited to become better acquainted with the discipline of Biblical Anthropology by which they may become better informed about people of the Bible and gain confidence that the Bible presents verifiable history.

(88) Pfoh 2016 "From the Search for Ancient Israel to the History of Ancient Palestine", in I. Hjelm & T.L. Thompson (eds.), History, Archaeology and the Bible Forty Years after “Historicity”: Changing Perspectives 6 (London: Routledge, 2016), pp. 143-158.

Bunimovitz, S., and Faust, A., 2010, Reconstructing Biblical Archaeology: Toward an Integration of Archaeology and the Bible, in Levy T.E. (ed.)

Historical Biblical Archaeology and the Future – The New Pragmatism, London: Equinox, pp. 43-54 | Avraham Faust and Shlomo Bunimovitz - Academia.edu