Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Peter Kirk" <Peter_Kirk AT sil.org>]

Kitchen has the advantage over others I have seen in that he offers a proper
academic approach to the subject, at least from the little of his work that
I have been able to read. Kitchen, by the way, is also a "conservative" i.e.
evangelical Christian. Of course neither of these things make him
infallible. But his work, which is currently accepted as the best
Egyptological scholarship, can be challenged only by even better
scholarship, and I have never seen such a challenge.

Rohl's arguments look promising to me but are flawed from the scholarly
viewpoint simply because they have been written and published only in a
popular form. A book like "A Test of Time"/"Pharaohs and Kings" has to take
liberties with scholarly method in order to be accessible to its target
audience. The same seems to be true of those like Wood and Aardsma, at least
from what I have seen. But if Rohl and others like him want to be taken
seriously in the academic world, they need to publish their conclusions also
in a more scholarly way.

Peter Kirk

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Washburn [mailto:dwashbur AT nyx.net]
> Sent: 17 August 2001 03:02
> To: Biblical Hebrew
> Cc: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
> Subject: Re: Rohl's Chronology-Deconstruction
>
>
> Walter has once again missed my point.  Offlist he suggested that Rohl
> must also deal with datable materials and sites in Canaan and other
> places, but that is precisely Rohl's point: about 95% of the dating of
> those areas is based on chronology established in Egypt.  So if the
> Egyptian chronology is off, purported datings in other regions that are
> dependent on it are going to be meaningless for trying to "deconstruct"
> him.  I am amazed at the constant knee-jerk reactionism that groups like
> this display whenever his name comes up.  The only one who has actually
> tried to put forth any refutation based on serious chronological
> investigation is Ian, and I don't know enough about Assyrian chronology to
> interact with that (plus I lost the material about 6 months ago in a virus
> attack).  Everyone else just points to Kitchen, to which I can only say:
> so what?  When did Kitchen become infallible?  What makes his analysis
> superior?  Why are ANE scholars and other interested parties so afraid of
> a new idea?  The whole thing is quite baffling, frankly.  Nevertheless,
> since Walter is clearly trying to skirt my main point and label anybody
> who takes Rohl seriously with the question-begging title "CONSERVATIVE"
> (why the capitals?  Liberal or conservative has nothing to do with
> accurately representing the person you are supposedly deconstructing), so
> I will not respond to him on this topic any further.  I have made my point
> that he missed Rohl's primary thesis, and that's good enough for me.
>
> >
> > I thought some on this list might have an interest in what two
> CONSERVATIVE
> > SCHOLARS, both of whom WHO BELIEVE IN THE BIBLE and who have argued that
> > archaeology confirms "the truth of the Bible," have to say
> "contra" Rohl's
> > New Chronology.
> >
> > They are Dr. Bryant Wood (trained in Archaeology) and Dr. Gerald Aardsma
> > (trained in Radiocarbon dating)-
> >
> > Dr. Bryant Wood-
> > http://www.christiananswers.net/abr/scoop.html#Pharaohs
> >
> > Dr. Gerald Aardsma-
> > http://www.biblicalchronologist.org/products/archives/vol2.htm#num5
> >
> > I would also like to take this opportunity to "publicly thank" Peter
> > Kirk -of this list- for pointing out errors in my Rohl
> CONCLUSION summary. I
> > had stated -in error- ALL of these places had come into being no earlier
> > than Iron I times, when I should have said they ALL possess Iron debris,
> > some coming into being in Chalcolithic, Early Bronze and Middle
> Bronze (None
> > possessing Late Bronze Age debris). I have made the corrections on the
> > article posted at my website
> > http://www.bibleorigins.net/RohlsChronologyDeconstructed.html
> >
> > All the best, Walter
> >
> > Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld
> > Walldorf by Heidelberg
> > Baden-Wurttemburg, Germany
> > www.bibleorigins.net
> >
> >
> > ---
> > You are currently subscribed to b-hebrew as: [dwashbur AT nyx.net]
> > To unsubscribe, forward this message to
> $subst('Email.Unsub')
> > To subscribe, send an email to join-b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu.
> >
>
> Dave Washburn
> http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur

> Why do the job right when you can do it again?
>