Biblical
scholarship is a field of study that seeks to find historical and archaeological
proof of the claims and events of the bible. Biblical scholarship looks beyond theological
evidence and belief and searches for the truth in a real, verifiable and
scholarly way. While traditional biblical scholarship seems to have attempted
to fit facts into an already preconceived framework, modern biblical
scholarship is more focused on the actual evidence and proof. Modern biblical
scholarship is very similar to a “higher criticism” German biblical school of
thought that relied solely on linguistic and textual evidence of biblical accounts.
Biblical scholarship goes further than this by including physical evidence from
archaeological digs which include pottery shards, writings, ruins of cities and
settlement as well as other historical records.
I
think this type of research is important because so many people assume the
Bible is a historically accurate book that accurately depicts the events and
culture of the early Jewish culture. Millions of people around the world are of
an Abrahamic faith that takes the Old Testament as truth, yet Biblical
Scholarship is beginning to show that while some events did take place, other
events are an amalgamation of various local myths or an embellishment upon a
less grand history. In addition, some of the figures of the bible, such as
David and Solomon have very little factual evidence to support their existence.
This is not to say they didn’t exist, but there is very little scholarly proof
to confirm their existence. Take for instance the example of King David and his
successor, King Solomon. Despite the biblical claims that David created a
relatively large, militaristic empire there is very little archaeological evidence
to prove this. Along with the physical remains that would have been left behind
to prove this civilization, there is very little mention of the Davidic Empire
in other countries records and histories.
I
find Biblical Scholarship to be fascinating. While the bible was not created as
a historical book, it still contains the mythology and stories of a unique
culture of monotheism. What I really find fascinating is the idea that some of
the stories were created after the fact to emphasize the power and authority of
Jewish Priests, and to create a sort of national pride for the Jewish people.
Biblical scholarship, even if it disproves some of the claims of the bible,
gives a much richer history to the adherents of the Jewish or Christian religion
or even to the people that identify with these cultures. Regardless if King David was a great king or a
tribal chieftain, his legacy and history is intertwined with three of the
largest religions in the world. I also
think biblical scholarship almost gives more meaning to the Abrahamic religions
because instead of simply being claims based on faith we can find out who truly
lived during ancient times and the kind of people they were. When one approaches
Biblical Scholarship it should simply be from a scholarly point of view,
instead of a theological one. With that we can understand the truth of these
historical events and give more weight to the ideas and culture of the bible.
The bible has been edited, censored and modified throughout time, so perhaps at
one time these ancient writings were more accurate in their time frames and
references but with archaeology and biblical scholarship we can begin to
uncover this worlds long and varied past.
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