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In recent years, a question that has been not only debated with increasing intensity, but has also polarised scholarly opinion, is whether the Bible can be regarded as real “history” at least in the modern sense of the word. With particular reference to The Exodus tradition, analyse how these questions reflected in the way biblical historians and archaeologists of various persuasions relate to the Bible as a source of history. The story of the Israelites Exodus from Egypt, like many other biblical stories has sparked scholarly debate as to the historicity, i.e.: the authenticity of the bible as a historical source. While it is subjective and focused primarily on Israel’s life and development, the information stored in the bible about certain occurrences and the time period should not be dismissed as fiction. In an effort to discuss the authenticity of the bible and the story of the Exodus, I will develop a basis of judgement through discussions of, which is a historian? What is history? And how relevant is the bible in the study of past times? I will also talk about the problems with the bible, with regard to chronology, anachronisms and timing of particular events, geographical position and lack of other historical information. I will look at these issues through the perspectives of the Minimalist, the Maximalist and the Fundamentalist. I will discuss the spectrum of beliefs from these three categories of historians and their relationships to each other, the bible and the idea of Sacred versus Secular History. I will also include some brief examples of elements of these historian’s opinions with regard to the Exodus tradition, which plays host to the three way debate. I will mention some of these elements in addition to the other issues which seem to cast doubt on the validity of the Bible. Finally, included in my essay is the relevance and importance of archaeology and the role it plays in Historical studies and proving or disproving the historicity of the bible. We must first ask ourselves what is history, who is a historian, and in the most modern terms how does history deal with the bible and the different streams of belief and study? How relevant is the bible in historical study? Most importantly how authentic and factual is the bible to the historian? It is when these questions are asked that one find them in the centre of a ongoing debate. A serious historian may believe in a God who has ordered and given meaning to, the course of history as a whole, though he cannot believe in the Old Testament kind of God who intervenes…Nor can he invoke God as an explanation of particular historical events To be a historian one must practise and study Secular history and cannot confuse one’s studies by embracing theology as an element of one’s works History should be the study of legitimate documents that have been analysed and widely accepted. The study of history is much like a scientific investigation in its use of the hypothesis, and the notion that “‘Proof’ can never, in any ultimate sense be complete.” With all this is mind, one must question the bible’s place in the study of History. Most historians do use the Bible as more then just “great literature, interesting history, or the development of lofty ideas…The old testament is Israel’s witness to its encounter with God." The old testament presents the story of God’s participation in the history of a particular people. All human history is the sphere of God’s sovereignty, and nature too displays the Creator’s handiwork; but God became particularly involved in the career of a comparatively obscure people, thereby initiating a historical drama that has changed human perspectives and has altered the course of human affairs. Finally looking at the bible as an historical source is an acceptable procedure, but it must be used only with the knowledge that it approaches history with its own agenda and through a “Sacred history” lens. The Bible adheres to a strict sense of chronology in describing Israel’s Growth as a people.
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