Again, I’m not a biblical scholar, but I want to continue the theme of this series where I argue that Joseph Smith’s interest in what was called “the ancient theology” is a help in dealing with evidence suggesting historical problems with the OT, and Greek influence on the NT.
Again, I lack biblical expertise, but having dabbled some, it does look to me like the OT isn’t very historical. So I’ll just share a few things I’ve found that point in that direction. Feel free to point out where I’m wrong on the evidence/scholarship.
I’ll be talking particularly about two recent books. First, Jacob Wright’s Why the Bible Began: An Alternative History of Scripture and Its Origins (Cambridge, 2023), which I thought was a really good overview of a central question I had: what historical/archeological evidence for the OT do we have OUTSIDE of the Bible itself? That question isn’t necessarily THE central topic of Wright’s book, but he does discuss it in ways I found very helpful. My take away: there is SOME evidence for a few cursory people and places, but overall, there’s not very much historical evidence for the OT. I’ll give a summary in following posts.
Second, Yonatan Adler, The Origins of Judaism: An Archaeological-Historical Perspective (Yale, 2022). This book struck me as quite the evidentiary watershed as it argues there is NO evidence (historical or archeological) for Jews practicing the Law in any way prior to the Hasmoneans c. 140 BC. Yet, during and after the Hasmoneans, there’s LOTS of historical and archeological evidence of Jews practicing the Law, bringing up the natural question, when was the Law written? Adler suggests not all that long before the Hasmoneans, suggesting the Pentateuch being written around 300 BC. I’ll go into more detail, but I read Adler’s study, along with Wright’s, as indicating that a whole lot of the OT not being very historical.
So I’ll go over these books and a few other things in my following posts. If anyone is aware of Wright or Alder being factually wrong, let me know. Again, I don’t feel the theological need to defend OT historicity. Like I said, I think Joseph Smith’s theology allows for flexibility to point to the importance of the Greeks, a theme I’ll continue to address in future posts.