MATL - Theology and Archaeology

Prompt: Discuss 3 discoveries made by the scientists and scholars in the Nova documentary that challenged what you came into this class believing about the Hebrew Bible. Why are these discoveries troubling or challenging? How, specifically, do these discoveries challenge particular doctrines or teachings in your faith tradition? How do they challenge your personal spirituality?

The NOVA documentary identified many different discoveries about which I was either unaware or under-informed.  Only one argument seemed contradictory to my understanding of the Hebrew Bible, and that was the placement of the Exodus during the reign of Ramses II.  I found the discussion about the origins of the Israelites, and the supporting evidence for their existence, fascinating.  I also found the discussion of the evolution of monotheism interesting, in particular the extremely long amount of time the concept took to actually coalesce into standard practice.

The placement of Exodus as an event during the reign of Ramses II is troubling in a superficial, “Oh, I need to cross-reference that,” kind of way.  I wrote a piece of fiction in 8th grade about a girl who traveled back in time and viewed the events of the Exodus story- specifically the plagues of Egypt- through the eyes of an Egyptian concubine. I did a fair amount of reading to determine whether or not the Hollywood myth of Ramses and Moses (born therein my love of Yule Brynner!) was solid enough for a creative writing assignment.  In my research, I found there was no archaeological evidence to support Ramses, but also that any of the Pharaohs in the eighteenth or nineteenth dynasties might have sufficed based on oral Torah dating of the fall of the temple.  The NOVA documentary provided no compelling arguments for or against this preexisting thought of mine.  I thought it surprising that a documentary of the caliber that NOVA typically produces would make such a definitive claim, placing the Exodus story in the hands of Ramses, without also providing better evidence. All NOVA really said is that a people called the Israelites lived during the time of Ramses’ son. This surprise was assuaged a little later in the documentary when the film talked about the likelihood that the Exodus story, along with the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Joshua (but absent Jacob and Joseph…!) were likely allegorical and deliberately constructed to create a unique and unifying identity for the newly forming Israelite people in Canaan.

The notion that the Israelites were not a group of people genetically descended from Abraham, but rather a motley crew of refugees and social activists coalescing around the fall of the Canaanite city-states is completely new to me.  It sounds like a very reasonable and rational explanation- much more realistic than a mythic and enduring genetic line drawn from a single man. I tentatively accept the premise, although I think it fails to explain the genetic markers common to those of Jewish ancestry rather than just Jewish faith. Perhaps I am misinformed about the nature of this marker, however.  Obviously, this discovery challenges my understanding of the Bible’s documentation of the origins of the Israelites but I’m not distressed by that in the slightest. This affects neither my personal nor dogmatic spirituality- whether the Israelites created their history or really lived it as documented in the Hebrew Bible means little to a Catholic in the 21st century- it still sets the foundation for my religion.

 In a similar vein, I was not surprised to see archaeological evidence of polytheism in the ancient Hebrews until after the exile from Babylon. Indeed, this supports the Biblical writings, which have repeated admonishments about idolatry and false worship. It seems reasonable to this reader that the Bible would only contain the reminders and warnings if they were still necessary, which implies continued polytheism- so documentation of that seems almost expected. I am a fan of Terry Pratchett’s approach to the ‘Small Gods’ and sometimes, in fits of heretical pondering, I wondered if maybe Yaweh was not once also a tortoise in the desert.  The presence of fertility goddess figures, attributed to Ashira, was also unsurprising, although I was surprised by the willingness to use the term ‘wife’ to describe her.  Typically, fertility goddesses and the major god and goddess relationships of polytheistic cultures describe a consort relationship, which indicates more equality in the pairing, and a level of power and control for both the female and male partners.  Anita Diamond, in her historical fiction work The Red Tent, neatly depicts the tension between Jacob’s god and the gods of his wives.  There is inherent tension between a highly male and paternalistic god, who marks his followers with genital mutilation and creates a mark of covenant only available to males, with the goddess who shepherds birth and creation, who marks the menstrual cycles and supports the holiness of women’s blood and childbirth, which in its own way marks a covenant of genital…well, perhaps not mutilation…but is certainly only available to females.  I can see where this sort of revelation could be devastating, particularly to a fundamentalist mindset. I imagine it would be almost as disruptive as arguments about the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

 Each of these discoveries and positions, both well supported by archaeology and those still being explored and developed, potentially impact both the spirituality of an individual and the catechistic influence of the impacted religions.  The concept of Yaweh in a consort relationship might raise spirituality questions about Yaweh’s needs or desires, or even why a god demanding sole devotion would engage with a consort, or wonder if the ancient Hebrews were completely mistaken in their understanding and worship practice. Catechistically, this discovery could affect teachings about Jesus and immaculate conception, or about the completeness of God in all things, or whether or not God is the /only/ supreme being or simply placed above the rest.  Theologically, then, the mediation between the questions and the teaching may be to explore how ancient fertility worship was an early attempt to explain God’s completeness and encompassing oneness.  If the early stories of the Hebrew Bible are mostly allegorical and designed to create identity, rather than actually depicting miracles and examples of God’s covenant with his chosen people, theology might explore the reason for defining a covenant in the first place. 

What purpose did the covenant serve, why is the imagery and belief still important today, and what did that belief in and understanding of a special relationship enable?