Can the Bible Be Saved From Biblical Scholarship? December 9, 2008

Biblical narratives are often at odds with ancient Near Eastern history. The Bible's laws sound suspiciously like rewrites of Hammurabi's laws, and some believe the Psalms are not David's heartfelt prayers but vaguely worded ritual pieces designed by temple poets for a multitude of speakers. Since today's biblical scholars know a great deal about how the Bible came to be written and its original intentions, is there way to save the Bible from its own scholarship? James Kugel is the director of the Institute for the History of the Jewish Bible at Bar Ilan University in Israel. A specialist in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Kugel is the author of 50 research articles and 11 books.