Reading the Bible Historically: The Historians Approach

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Reading the Bible HistoricallyThe Historians
Approach

• J. Maxwell Miller

In Steven L. McKenzie Stephen R. Haynes, eds.
To Each Its Own Meaning An Introduction to
Biblical Criticisms and Their Application,
Revised and Expanded Edition. Louisville/London/Le
iden Westminster John Knox, 1999. 1734.
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History Historical Method

• History is the past as understood by
  historians, based on their analysis and
  interpretation of the available written
  evidence. (17)
• Historians strive for objectivity to discover
  and report what really happened in the past
  (18)
• an ongoing conversation between the past and
  the present. (18)
• Principle of analogy (1819)
• With contemporary world
• With other ancient societies

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Historical Reconstruction

• Find available, pertinent evidence
• Use whatever techniques of analysis apply to each
  type of evidence
• Construct a scenario of what probably happened
  (i.e., an hypothesis)
• Make the case for this scenario to other
  historians and public (20)
• Consider response to reconstruction
• REPEAT

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The Bible asSalvation History

• Bible history conscious
• Conveys historical data
• Many books take historical form
• Preserves authentic historical memory
• The historians task is to separate the
  authentic historical memory from its highly
  theological and often legendary context.

• Not written for the sake of mere history
• Not all books intended to be read as history
• The biblical authors perceptions of history
  usually are heavily influenced by theological
  and national interests
• (pp. 2022)

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Biblical Scholarship the Study of Ancient
Israelite History

• Historical-critical analysis seeks to
  determine the historical contexts out of which
  the various biblical materials emerged and what
  changes occurred in these materials as they were
  transmitted from ancient times to the present.
  (23)

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Historical Evidence
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Epigraphical Evidence
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Sociological Models

• Hypothetical models of human society
• How it functions, e.g.,
• Clan structure
• Patriarchal organization
• Gender role distinctions
• No classes like other contemporaneous societies
• Patterns of change
• How social change happens
• What prompts social change

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Max Webers Models

• Four social structures in ancient Palestine
• Nomadic bedouin
• Semi-nomadic herders
• Peasant farmers
• City dwellers
• Three types of social authority
• Legal
• Traditional
• Charismatic

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Critique of Historical-Criticism

• Biased to the core (32)
• Sources are biased
• Literary remains are male and elitist
• Archaeological findings are predominantly
  substantial stone structures of the elite v.
  lower-class, humble dwellings of wood or clay
• Exacerbated by male J-Xn leaders
• Eurocentric scholarship
• Complete objectivity is an unattainable goal