The Copenhagen School (theology)
Encyclopedia
Biblical minimalism is a term used by its detractors to refer to a tendency in biblical exegesis
which stresses a heavily skeptical approach to archaeological evidence when establishing the history of Ancient Israel and Judah. It came to prominence in the late 1960s as a reaction to the Biblical Archaeology movement, and the perceived contradictions between the archaeological record of Syro-Palestinian archaeology
and the Bible's version of history
. The following quote characterizes the viewpoint of the Biblical Minimalists: "For decades ... scholars interpreted archaeology in light of what the Bible said ... [taking] for granted that what the Bible said, was true—not just morally and religiously, but historically and scientifically. So, as an archaeologist back in the 19th century, you would pick up your Bible and expect to find Noah's Ark
somewhere on top of Mount Ararat
in Turkey, just as the Bible said; or that you could dig in Jerusalem and find the remains of David
's and Solomon
's palace."
According to the Copenhagen School, by historicising the biblical text, the traditional approach to Biblical scholarship created a false ancient Israel which fails to fit into the archaeologically established context of Iron Age Syria and Palestine. The Biblical history as seen by Minimalism is in fact more comparable to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
: the play is based in real history, but was not written for the purpose of retelling that history. In recognising that the historical narrative of the Bible is literature rather than as history, with a plot, a set of characters, and a theological
theme concerning the nature of the covenant
between the people of Israel and their God
, Minimalism treats "biblical Israel" as in fact a literary construction rather than an objective reality.
Scholarly hypotheses which are strongly associated with Minimalism include dismissing the entire united Israelite monarchy period of David
and Solomon
as fictitious; and positing that few if any books of the Hebrew Bible
date from before the 4th-century BC (while many may be later still).
Key scholars associated with this school of thought (although they do not necessarily consider themselves to be part of any unified movement) include John Van Seters
, Thomas L. Thompson
, Niels Peter Lemche
, and Philip Davies
. Critics include William G. Dever
and Baruch Halpern
.
has raised numerous objections to minimalist claims, rejecting Thompson’s assertion that the Hebrew Tabernacle is a literary fiction, that the Merneptah Stele
is not reliable evidence for a people named ‘Israel’ in early 13th century Canaan, that the Tel Dan Stele
does not refer to a Hebrew ‘House of David’, that the description of Solomon’s wealth is legendary, and that the use of the first person perspective in the Mesha Stele
indicates a post-mortem or legendary account. Kitchen has also criticized Finkelstein and Silberman. Archaeologist William Dever
has opposed minimalism vigorously, declaring himself the opponent of what he refers to as "minimalist" or "revisionist" views. He has criticized Davies for lack of familiarity with standard literature, accused Whitelam of "caricatures of modern archaeological theory and results", and dismissed one of Thompson's works as "next to nothing to do with real archaeology".
Despite sympathies with some minimalist views, Israel Finkelstein
has rejected strongly the minimalist claims concerning Persian era Hebrew scribes, that the "lists and details of royal administrative organization in the kingdom of Judah" are fictional, and that the Hebrew King David never existed. He has also acknowledged strong archaeological support for certain parts of the Biblical record.
Exegesis
Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...
which stresses a heavily skeptical approach to archaeological evidence when establishing the history of Ancient Israel and Judah. It came to prominence in the late 1960s as a reaction to the Biblical Archaeology movement, and the perceived contradictions between the archaeological record of Syro-Palestinian archaeology
Syro-Palestinian archaeology
Syro-Palestinian archaeology is a term used to refer to archaeological research conducted in the southern Levant. Palestinian archaeology is also commonly used in its stead, particularly when the area of inquiry centers on ancient Palestine...
and the Bible's version of history
Chronology of the Bible
The chronology of the Bible is the elaborate system of genealogies, generations, reign-periods, and other means by which Hebrew Bible measures the passage of time and thus give a chronological framework to biblical history from the Creation until the historical kingdoms of Israel and Judah.The...
. The following quote characterizes the viewpoint of the Biblical Minimalists: "For decades ... scholars interpreted archaeology in light of what the Bible said ... [taking] for granted that what the Bible said, was true—not just morally and religiously, but historically and scientifically. So, as an archaeologist back in the 19th century, you would pick up your Bible and expect to find Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
somewhere on top of Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat is a snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone in Turkey. It has two peaks: Greater Ararat and Lesser Ararat .The Ararat massif is about in diameter...
in Turkey, just as the Bible said; or that you could dig in Jerusalem and find the remains of David
David
David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
's and Solomon
Solomon
Solomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...
's palace."
According to the Copenhagen School, by historicising the biblical text, the traditional approach to Biblical scholarship created a false ancient Israel which fails to fit into the archaeologically established context of Iron Age Syria and Palestine. The Biblical history as seen by Minimalism is in fact more comparable to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
: the play is based in real history, but was not written for the purpose of retelling that history. In recognising that the historical narrative of the Bible is literature rather than as history, with a plot, a set of characters, and a theological
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
theme concerning the nature of the covenant
Covenant (biblical)
A biblical covenant is an agreement found in the Bible between God and His people in which God makes specific promises and demands. It is the customary word used to translate the Hebrew word berith. It it is used in the Tanakh 286 times . All Abrahamic religions consider the Biblical covenant...
between the people of Israel and their God
God in Judaism
The conception of God in Judaism is strictly monotheistic. God is an absolute one indivisible incomparable being who is the ultimate cause of all existence. Jewish tradition teaches that the true aspect of God is incomprehensible and unknowable, and that it is only God's revealed aspect that...
, Minimalism treats "biblical Israel" as in fact a literary construction rather than an objective reality.
Scholarly hypotheses which are strongly associated with Minimalism include dismissing the entire united Israelite monarchy period of David
David
David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
and Solomon
Solomon
Solomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...
as fictitious; and positing that few if any books of the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
date from before the 4th-century BC (while many may be later still).
Key scholars associated with this school of thought (although they do not necessarily consider themselves to be part of any unified movement) include John Van Seters
John Van Seters
John Van Seters is a scholar of the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East. Currently University Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina, he was formerly James A. Gray Professor of Biblical Literature at UNC. He took his PhD at Yale University in Near Eastern Studies...
, Thomas L. Thompson
Thomas L. Thompson
Thomas L. Thompson is a biblical theologian associated with the movement known as the Copenhagen School. He was professor of theology at the University of Copenhagen from 1993–2009, lives in Denmark and is now a Danish citizen.-Background:Thompson obtained a B.A...
, Niels Peter Lemche
Niels Peter Lemche
Niels Peter Lemche is a biblical scholar at the University of Copenhagen.-Biblical minimalism:Lemche is closely identified with the movement known as biblical minimalism, and "has assumed the role of philosophical and methodological spokesperson" for the movement.In common with the general trend...
, and Philip Davies
Philip R. Davies
Philip R. Davies is a biblical scholar with interests in Early Judaism, History of Ancient Israel, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Davies has been labeled a biblical minimalist and associated with the Copenhagen School...
. Critics include William G. Dever
William G. Dever
William G. Dever is an American archaeologist, specialising in the history of Israel and the Near East in Biblical times. He was Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Arizona in Tucson from 1975 to 2002...
and Baruch Halpern
Baruch Halpern
Baruch Halpern is the Chaiken Family Chair in Jewish Studies at Pennsylvania State University. He has been a leader of the archaeological digs at Tel Megiddo since 1992. As an undergraduate at Harvard in 1972, he wrote a political analysis of the Bible, which subsequently influenced research into...
.
Criticisms
Egyptologist Kenneth KitchenKenneth Kitchen
Kenneth Anderson Kitchen is Personal and Brunner Professor Emeritus of Egyptology and Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, England...
has raised numerous objections to minimalist claims, rejecting Thompson’s assertion that the Hebrew Tabernacle is a literary fiction, that the Merneptah Stele
Merneptah Stele
The Merneptah Stele — also known as the Israel Stele or Victory Stele of Merneptah — is an inscription by the Ancient Egyptian king Merneptah , which appears on the reverse side of a granite stele erected by the king Amenhotep III...
is not reliable evidence for a people named ‘Israel’ in early 13th century Canaan, that the Tel Dan Stele
Tel Dan Stele
The Tel Dan Stele is a stele discovered in 1993/94 during excavations at Tel Dan in northern Israel. Its author was a king of Damascus, Hazael or one of his sons, and it contains an Aramaic inscription commemorating victories over local ancient peoples including "Israel" and the "House of...
does not refer to a Hebrew ‘House of David’, that the description of Solomon’s wealth is legendary, and that the use of the first person perspective in the Mesha Stele
Mesha Stele
The Mesha Stele is a black basalt stone bearing an inscription by the 9th century BC ruler Mesha of Moab in Jordan....
indicates a post-mortem or legendary account. Kitchen has also criticized Finkelstein and Silberman. Archaeologist William Dever
William G. Dever
William G. Dever is an American archaeologist, specialising in the history of Israel and the Near East in Biblical times. He was Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Arizona in Tucson from 1975 to 2002...
has opposed minimalism vigorously, declaring himself the opponent of what he refers to as "minimalist" or "revisionist" views. He has criticized Davies for lack of familiarity with standard literature, accused Whitelam of "caricatures of modern archaeological theory and results", and dismissed one of Thompson's works as "next to nothing to do with real archaeology".
Despite sympathies with some minimalist views, Israel Finkelstein
Israel Finkelstein
Israel Finkelstein is an Israeli archaeologist and academic. He is currently the Jacob M. Alkow Professor of the Archaeology of Israel in the Bronze Age and Iron Ages at Tel Aviv University and is also the co-director of excavations at Megiddo in northern Israel...
has rejected strongly the minimalist claims concerning Persian era Hebrew scribes, that the "lists and details of royal administrative organization in the kingdom of Judah" are fictional, and that the Hebrew King David never existed. He has also acknowledged strong archaeological support for certain parts of the Biblical record.
External links
- Philip Davies (2005), "The Origin of Biblical Israel", The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures, Volume 5, Article 17. Places the origins of "biblical" Israel in the Neo-Babylonian period.