Niels Peter Lemche

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Niels Peter Lemche (b. September 6, 1945) is a biblical scholar at the University of Copenhagen.

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[edit] Biblical minimalism

Lemche is closely identified with the movement known as biblical minimalism, and "has assumed the role of philosophical and methodological spokesperson" for the movement.[1] His position on the existing approach to biblical scholarship, which sees the biblical record as essentially reliable, at least for the period from the 10th century BC onwards and which apply to the biblical books of Samuel and Kings, is summed up in these words: "The conclusion that historical-critical scholarship is based on a false methodology and leads to false conclusions simply means that we can disregard 200 years of bible scholarship and commit it to the dustbin. It is hardly worth the paper on which it is printed."[2]

[edit] Composition of the bible

In common with the general trend of minimalist scholarship, Lemche identifies the Persian and Hellenistic period (5th century to 4th century BC) as the most appropriate setting in which to seek the composition of the majority of the biblical texts. This is in sharp contrast to the general view, which sees the process of composition culminating in the 6th century, with prior versions or traditions dating from possibly as far back as the 10th century. The minimalist claims have led to heated debate in the world of biblical scholarship, and Lemche has defended minimalism and (specific) minimalist scholars against charges that its general claims and specific interpretations of data are ideologically driven, the second, that many of its proponents are underqualified, arguing that there is nothing ‘ideological’ about concluding that the Persian period is the single period that best explains the 'mental matrix’ for most Old Testament literature and "probably all of its historiography".[3]

[edit] Origin of biblical Israel

Lemche considers the traditional naratives of Israel's history as contained in the bible to be so late in origin as to be useless for historical reconstruction. His alternative reconstruction is based entirely on the archaeological record, and may be summarized as follows: From at least as early as the first half of the 14th century BC the central highlands were the habitation of the Apiru, "a para-social element ... [consisting] of runaway former non-free peasants or copyholders from the small city-states in the plains and valleys of Palestine," living as "outlaw groups of freebooters". When new settlements appear in the highlands over a century later, at the start of the Iron Age, they are evidence of new political structures emerging among those same groups. The Iron I settlements attest a return by those groups to a settled, agricultural lifestyle, and the beginning of a (re)tribalization process. Israel was the end-product of that process. Lemche's view has much in common with that of Israel Finkelstein, and forms part of a widespread (and controversial) re-assessment of Israel's origins and of the historicity of the bible.[4]

[edit] Publications

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Ziony Zevit, "Three Debates About Bible and Archaeology", Biblica, Biblica 83 (2002) 1-27
  2. ^ Lemche, "On the Problems of Reconstructing Pre-Hellenistic Israelite (Palestinian) History", Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 3 (2000) pars. 4.2.
  3. ^ Ziony Zevit, "Three Debates About Bible and Archaeology", Biblica, Biblica 83 (2002) 1-27
  4. ^ Lemche's Evolutionary Israel, in John J. Bimson, "The Origins of Israel in Canaan"