Lectures: Table of Contents

Liberal Challenges to the Historicity of the Old Testament: Outline - lectures originally presented at an intensive course on the Old Testament.

Lecture 1: A Short History of OT Liberal Criticism

Lecture 2: The Rise of the Revisionists

Lecture 3: Facts We Can Verify

The Historicity of the Old Testament - (outline)

LIBERAL CHALLENGES TO THE HISTORICITY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

OUTLINE:

Lecture 1: A Short History of OT Liberal Criticism.

Introduction

Major Critics of the Old Testament:

Celsus (d. c. 180)
Porphyry (c. 234-c. 305).
Astruc (1684-1766)
Eichhorn (1752-1857)

German Higher Criticism:
Wellhausen (1844-191 Troeltsch (1865-1923)
Noth (1902-196
Albright (1891-1971)
Mendenhall (present)

The Conservative Response
Conclusion.

Lecture 2: The Rise of the Revisionists.

Introduction
What’s All The Fuss About?
Inspecting The Assertions
Historiography: Art or Science?
The Quest for Scientific Respectability
The Vanishing Individual
The Limits of Historiography
A Stinging Reply

Lecture 3: Facts We Can Verify.

A Selection of Twenty Historical Evidences
Closing Remarks: Cutting Through The Rhetoric.

The Historicity of the Old Testament - part 1

LECTURE 1: A Short History of Liberal OT Criticism.

Introduction.

The Old Testament is a divine work, being the first part of God’s special revelation. Without it, it is difficult to imagine how the Israelites before the New Testament era could have ever existed. That extreme sounding statement is quite axiomatic for anyone who holds to the divine inspiration of Scripture, since without the Old Testament, the nation of Israel would have no laws, no promises, and no mandate – no “Oracles of God” as the Apostle put it. What is more, our Lord Himself would have no lineage of note. Neither could His teachings and claims be based upon a settled canon of Hebrew Scriptures. There would be no creation account; no record of the fall and the promise of redemption; no Abrahamic covenant with all its multiple ramifications. Therefore, it is of the greatest importance that we hold that the divine provenance of the Old Testament is rational, and, thus, defensible.

The Historicity of the Old Testament - part 2

LECTURE 2: The Rise of the Revisionists.

What’s All The Fuss About?

Since about the beginning of the 1970’s a group of radical “revisionist” historians of Israel have been producing ever more virulent books and journal articles claiming to debunk the historical picture as set out in the Old Testament. Building upon the work of German scholars (one thinks especially of Albrecht Alt and Martin Noth), and utilizing a leftist sociologist brand of historiography, these scholars are now making pronouncements that, if even half-true, would destroy both the credibility of the Bible, and threaten the national identity of the nation of Israel. To quote two recent liberal writers:

The Historicity of the Old Testament - part 3

LECTURE 3: Facts We Can Verify.

A Selection of Twenty Historical/Archaeological Evidences.

It is all very well to speak about Bible History, but can the claim be substantiated? Does the Old Testament stand up under scrutiny? There follows a broad sampling of its impressive credentials in this area.