Even before today's post on Method in Biblical Archaeology, I was expelled from the Guild of Biblical Minimalists. I guess I offended them by my sacrilegious misuse of David Clines's photograph, or maybe Jim West didn't like being accused of circling the wagons (I was teasing him because he uses that phrase a lot). Of course, my quasi-agreement with John Hobbins about the end of minimalism in that same post could have pushed me over the edge.
It's so hard when you teeter on the edge of center - sometimes agreeing with one side, some times agreeing with the other. You never quite fit on either side. I'm too skeptical for the true maximalists and not skeptical enough for the minimalists. Oh well, I enjoyed my short time in the Guild. Of course, I knew that sooner or later they'd figure out that I wasn't a pure minimalists. I enjoy the dialogue with those who hold differing opinions, so I hope the members of the Guild don't shun me now. At least, I'm not in the "Those Barely Tolerated By the Guild" list.
It's so hard when you teeter on the edge of center - sometimes agreeing with one side, some times agreeing with the other. You never quite fit on either side. I'm too skeptical for the true maximalists and not skeptical enough for the minimalists. Oh well, I enjoyed my short time in the Guild. Of course, I knew that sooner or later they'd figure out that I wasn't a pure minimalists. I enjoy the dialogue with those who hold differing opinions, so I hope the members of the Guild don't shun me now. At least, I'm not in the "Those Barely Tolerated By the Guild" list.
Is this serious or am I missing the irony?
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of a running joke since I've since been "reinstated" now. It's true though that I'm not fully one or the other. The guild is a satirical take on the whole minimalist/maximalist controversy in biblical studies, esp. regarding archaeology and history.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but what is a biblical maximalist, and what is a biblical minimalist?
ReplyDeleteI normally don't approve Anonymous comments, but since you asked a valid question...generally a maximalist is someone who takes the Bible at face value as an historical source while a minimalist is generally skeptical about using the Bible as an historical source and usually rejects it outright. Now the problem is that while the Bible contains some historical material, it's not appropriate or necessary to link every archaeological find in Palestine to some event in the Bible. For example, several destruction layers were found at Jericho. An earlier generation of archaeologists automatically assumed that one of those layers reflected the Conquest by Joshua depicted in the Bible. We can't automatically connect the archaeological record with the biblical account in every case. It's not even necessary. The minimalists go further and say we can't connect them in ANY case. Both sides go too far, in my opinion. That's why I don't identify as purely one or the other.
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