William Foxwell Albright --
archaeologist:
i am not diminishing the man's work or contribution i just want to keep it focused so he is not idolized and given god-like status. i think his shadow will loom over the field forever but...he was still human.
Brianroy:
I, too, do not wish to deify the man.
For many years, B.A.R. had treated Albright like a pariah. With the kindly words of Biran, I saw that mood and attitude realter itself.
The papers, notes, some unpublished material, etc., of Albright's estate were loaned out to the Harvard University Library...and accessible, under the right conditions and permissions.
It is my view that we have let ourselves fall away from first hand investigation, first hand knowledge of checking and interpreting documents - manuscripts - inscriptions - artifacts, and first hand checking of sources.
Albright was a pioneer in his field. As the John Hopkins article says, one of Albright's gifts was that he could be a great "authenticator". The level of his expertise, in spite of all these post-Albright computers and sharing of knowledge we have on levels light years fater than in Albright's time -- as far as I know, even wih these toys -- a like intellect as Albright has been unmatched in our own generation.
It doesn't have to be that way.
Perhaps the greatest hindrance we have, is the molding of minds in the Universities to a liberal anti-G-D skepticism that drives young scholars in the making to doubt everything, and become raving (sometimes drunken) lunatics bent on religiously quoting other flawed liberals -- as if they were themselves the very dark reflection of someone they would call a wild-eyed fanatic, who religiously quoted Paul, Rashi, Moses, or Jesus.
In other words, now moreso than ever, the call is to attend University to "learn history"... but to, de facto, walk into clasrooms of anti-priests stumping conversion to the anti-religion religion, suppressing any view that allows Christianity any view of rationality and legitimacy. You are basically told to pay your 12-20k a year, sit down and shut up. You are here to be brain-washed and indoctrinated...and you are not here "to learn", except that which we indoctrinate you with..."you are here to absorb." What history you do absorb, will have to apply an anti-G-D slant to it, or expect to be "failed" for attending the course.
In Albright's case, the love was in the learning...history as it was, not in some anti-this or anti-that G-Dless view of how they want to reshape world history by an Orwellian rewrite (which Orwell borrowed from H.G. Wells).
Albright didn't tell his Jewish students to disavow their faith in G-D...but modern scholarship pressures for precisely that. Modern scholarship will even go further, and demand Jews disavow their very identity as Jews. Deny there was an Exodus. Deny Moses. Deny David.
Or if they are Christian: deny Jesus, and deny a cohesive coherent organized faith for centuries. The third century, says one "Princeton" scholar..."had no organized Church" ... until some wild-eyed / wild-haired lunatic in the 240s A.D. -- or words to this effect (as he states and promotes illiterately in BAR's own book: Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism).
We need to get back to a love of history and research...not very poor anti-G-D or anti-Christian agendas hocked off as "a neo-truth", but really as if they were bad Vaudeville Acts.
Because, with each retelling, they are then promoted as if something that bettered with each retelling of that same very bad act / thesis they performed. In this, we don't attack the person, but the bad hypothesis or bad thesis / bad act they promote.
In regard to such an Orwellian/H.G. Wells rewrite of History, it is up to BAR to print retractions of that which they publish in their own books, offering self-criticism of bad theories well accepted, or to throw out the hook and say..."that's enough"..."we promoted a bad act, and own up to it." Or something to that effect.
Not only is Albright's brilliance missed...but his honesty, and willingness to accept the Bible as often a genuine historical record, validated time and again in archaeology. The man was far from perfect...but his absence in the field of Biblical Scholarship is sorely missed.
Those are my personal opinions, observations, and feelings on the matter. -- Brianroy
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Perhaps someone would like to do a thread on Yigael Yadin, or other prominent excavators?
archaeologist:
i agree with basically everything you said in that last post of yours, i just err on the side of caution.
does any one have a list of good albright books, my profesors did not use any of his in their classes and i have yet to purchase any so if you would be so kind to recommend some i would appreciate it.
archaeologist:
i hope this forum isn't like the others where i ask something and it gets ignored. i do not have lots of time to read and need a short list of definitive books to make sure i read the right ones tobegin with.
Brianroy:
The best place you will go to read his various works is where you will have to invest a bit of time...a University Library. The best selection in one place is found at Harvard
Albright, William Foxwell. Collected Papers, 1916-1972.
and such works are simply not readily available the general public. I am uncertain as to what is available through the Public Library System, where even that of Presidential Libraries and Universities of the public sector are made available for order.
As an out of date author, you may have to make a choice to gather what few books, etc., you can over the course of many years in various old bookstores.
On-line, you will find some rare finds, but are still limited to a small selection:
Antiquarian books, used books, out of print books: Antiqbook
Be sure that purchases are English copies: not Polish, Spanish, German, Japanese, Hebrew, or any other language unless you can read them.
JBL = Journal of Biblical Literature
BASOR = Bulletin of the American Society of Oriental Research
JAOS = Journal of the American Oriental Society
HTR = Harvard Theological Review.
will all have articles written by Albright, and may or may not have his articles as part of their back-order systems. Purchase of these articles is not absolute, but the Harvard link shows in a means of tracking down such articles. Expect to dole out a bit of cash as part of research and learning if you wish to go this route. You invest as a collector and in yourself, should you choose to pursue the study.
But to offer a "short definitive list" for someone who hasn't the time, is not practical. The list of what is available for purchase is already short...and should you choose the search for Albright, the journey will be one requiring time...where a half day or more spent at a well-stocked private or public University would be but a brief moment, and the experience self explanatory, as you pull his works off the shelf, and see for yourself. You may not be able to check certain works out, and find yourself writing pages and pages of notes...exercising patience and joy in the knowledge. Or, maybe such details simply may have no appeal or interest until years from now, when you think back to what you thumbed through and are ready then.
We all have differing takes on what makes history interesting and exciting...and usually it is that preparatorial knowledge base which precedes the material, that helps us unlock what knowledge was closed to us otherwise.
So I guess there are no longer any "right ones" but those you can get your hands on. If you get "Stone Age to Christianity" or " Archaeology and the Religion of Israel" or " The Biblical Period from Abraham to Ezra " or any of his works...you are building on a desire for the same kind of knowledge after the title you are able to get.
And by the by...you aren't being ignored...I kinda figured that you'd eventually Google "William Foxwell Albright" and see for yourself.
At any rate, I hope the info helps.
Peace.
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