Christian nationalism and biblical literalism independently predict conspiracy thinking, study finds

2023/06/11


A new study has found that both Christian nationalism and biblical literalism are independently associated with a greater tendency to believe in conspiracy theories. When people believed in both Christian nationalism and biblical literalism, their distrust of government officials increased significantly. The findings, published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, provide insight into the sociocultural factors that contribute to the spread and persistence of conspiracy beliefs in certain populations.

The researchers were motivated by the growing concern over the harmful effects of conspiracy theories, such as the spread of misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine and the belief in the stolen election narrative, which led to the January 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol. They sought to better understand the factors that contribute to the endorsement of conspiracy theories within specific religious and ideological contexts.

Biblical literalism refers to an approach to interpreting religious texts, such as the Bible, in a strictly literal and word-for-word manner. It involves the belief that the Bible is an accurate historical and scientific account, and every passage should be understood as directly and precisely true.

Christian nationalism, on the other hand, is a political ideology that combines Christianity with a sense of national identity and seeks to establish a close relationship between religion and the state. It views the nation as fundamentally rooted in Christian values and principles, and it often advocates for policies and laws based on those beliefs.

“Like many, we were deeply affected by the sharp divisions, fueled by conspiracy theories, that arose around COVID-19 and the 2020 presidential election,” explained study author Brooklyn Evann Walker, an instructor of political science at Hutchinson Community College.

“We noted that conspiracy theories related to both COVID-19 and the Big Lie gained traction in religious communities that tended towards biblical literalism and Christian nationalism, leading us to wonder if either of these two aspects of American religion (biblical literalism and Christian nationalism) were related to a broader tendency for Americans to think in conspiratorial ways.”

To conduct the study, the researchers used data from the 2019 wave of the Chapman University Survey of American Fears (CSAF), which included measures of Christian nationalism, biblical literalism, and various demographic variables. The survey was administered online to a nationally representative sample of American adults, resulting in a final sample size of 1,219.

The survey asked respondents to indicate their level of agreement or disagreement with the idea that the government is concealing information about different events. These events included conspiracy theories related to government cover-ups of extraterrestrial life, the belief that the 9/11 attacks were not solely carried out by terrorists but involved government involvement or a cover-up, belief in a secretive group or organization that controls world events (e.g. the Illuminati), and more.

The measure of conspiracy thinking including both popularized conspiracy theories as well as one contrived event, allowing the researchers to assess respondents’ adherence to a generalized conspiracy mindset rather than just specific theories.

The study found that there is a positive association between Christian nationalism and belief in conspiracy theories. In other words, individuals who held stronger Christian nationalist beliefs (e.g. “The federal government should declare the United States a Christian nation”) were more likely to endorse conspiracy thinking. This relationship held even when considering the fictional conspiratorial event introduced in the survey, indicating a general propensity for conspiracy thinking.

Furthermore, the study suggested that biblical literalism plays a role in shaping conspiracy thinking. Those who adhered to a literal interpretation of the Bible were more likely to adopt conspiracy thinking, and biblical literalism was found to amplify the effect of Christian nationalism on conspiracy thinking. This suggests that the elevation of religious authority over scientific sources and an anti-elitist sentiment within the Christian nationalist identity contribute to the adoption of conspiracy theories.

“Christian nationalism links being Christian to being American. In the view of many Christian nationalists, this linkage is threatened by secularization and other social changes. Biblical literalism is the belief that each word in the Bible should be accepted as God’s word spoken directly to readers, not to be filtered through religious elites,” Walker told PsyPost.

“Using survey data, we find that the sense of a threatened nation inherent in Christian nationalism and the anti-elite tendencies in biblical literalism amplify conspiracy thinking, and that the two have especially strong effects when they occur together. We conclude that Christian nationalist and biblical literalist support of COVID-19 and the 2020 election conspiracy theories are not a one-off; Christian nationalists and biblical literalists are likely to buy into future conspiracy theories, too.”

Importantly, the findings held even after controlling for demographic variables such as race, gender, age, education, and political leanings. The researchers found that conservative ideology was correlated with conspiracy thinking, while attending religious services had a negative relationship, possibly due to the social capital and trust-building aspects of religious engagement.

“We were surprised at the effect sizes we observed. When occurring together, biblical literalism and Christian nationalism had a much stronger effect than well-established predictors of conspiracy thinking, like education,” Walker said. “It’s also important not to lump all religious activity together — religious service attendance was consistently associated with less conspiracy thinking.”

However, the researchers acknowledge some limitations in their study. They were not able to account for certain psychological factors related to how people perceive and interpret information, such as the need to find patterns among events. They also note that their measure of conspiracy thinking focused on specific conspiracy beliefs and may not capture the full range of conspiracy thinking.

“We measured conspiracy thinking by respondents’ agreement with eight different conspiracy theories,” Walker explained. “Social scientists have developed other measures of conspiracy thinking that don’t rely on respondents’ knowledge of specific conspiracy theories. Replicating our models with one of these more general measures would certainly strengthen the findings.”

“Also, we can’t stop with diagnosing the problem — we need to think deeply about how Christian nationalists and biblical literalists might become less susceptible to conspiracy thinking.”

The study, “Christ, Country, and Conspiracies? Christian Nationalism, Biblical Literalism, and Belief in Conspiracy Theories“, was authored by Brooklyn Walker and Abigail Vegter.

© PsyPost

The ‘biblical manhood’ industry is a scam

The church is the last place where cultural stereotypes should be upheld as biblical truth.
(Photo by Guillaume de Germain/Unsplash/Creative Commons)

By Karen Swallow Prior
February 15, 2024

One Eye Squinted


(RNS) — That’s what I posted on X a few days ago, and it’s still going viral.

(By the way, the “biblical womanhood” industry is also a scam. But the situation that prompted my post, the firing of Aaron Ivey from his position of worship pastor at a Texas church over indecent texts with men, was yet another case of predatory sexual behavior by a pastor selling the message of “biblical manhood.”)

Note I didn’t say that “biblical manhood” (how that is defined is an open question, hence the quotation marks) is a scam. I said that the industry around it is a scam

And by industry, I am referring to a definition like this one in the Cambridge Dictionary: “something that is produced or is available in large quantities and makes a lot of money.”

Of course, not everything that’s produced or available in large quantities and makes a lot of money is a scam. So why would I say that the particular industry around “biblical manhood” (as well as “biblical womanhood”) is a scam?

First, because, as noted above, what constitutes “biblical manhood/womanhood” is not only not clearly defined, but its definition is highly contested. The term originated, after all, in order to make a boundary, strike a mark and create a brand as a reactionary move amid the culture wars. Furthermore, the tropes most commonly invoked within the discourse around “biblical manhood” distort (or even misrepresent) what the Bible teaches about virtue and character for men as well as women.

David wasn’t a warrior wearing armor; he was a shepherd with a slingshot guided by the Lord. Samson’s strength came not from bench presses and leg lifts, but from the Spirit of the Lord. Paul’s admonition in 1 Corinthians 16:13 to “act like men” means in the original Greek to be courageous, and it applies equally to men and women, just as all of the qualities of Christlike character do.

Second, just as women’s fashion magazines exist by creating needs and desires women wouldn’t have otherwise and then offering the “solutions” to these manufactured needs, Christian publications can also operate on similar capitalistic and consumeristic principles. Certain topics — those that get at our core identities and callings, in particular — are more prone to manipulation. This vulnerability derives from basic human nature, but when a spiritual or religious layer is added on top of those basic human needs, the potential for exploitation rises considerably.

Stereotypes around manhood and womanhood are rooted in both nature and culture. Like all stereotypes, they emerge out of something truthful. But the calling of the Christian transcends culture. The church is the last place where cultural stereotypes should be upheld as biblical truth. The worship leader who doesn’t like football shouldn’t feel out of place in the church because of that. The sales manager who is a godly husband, father and Bible teacher shouldn’t feel less manly because he doesn’t enjoy the outdoors. The IT guy who does most of the cooking is just as masculine as the one who doesn’t

Steve Bezner, pastor of Houston Northwest Church, shared these examples with me in a recent conversation. He said that once he saw that machismo was being confused with spiritual maturity, it changed the way he taught and ministered to men in his congregation. Rather than relying on the warrior as a metaphor for manhood, he said, he extols the character of Christ in all its complexity and finds the men in his church doing better as a result.

(Photo by Jon Tyson/Unsplash/Creative Commons)

Certainly, the line between offering a creative work or product and becoming an industry can be fine. Lessons and sermons on character and godliness in all our roles are good and necessary. I think in particular of someone who is teaching principles of manhood to prison inmates or the fatherless and, in doing so, changing lives in important ways.

Moreover, the people who speak, write and teach these things are certainly worthy of their pay. The fact that something costs something doesn’t make it an industry.

But messages that gather into a storm of books, conferences, videos, courses, workbooks, workshops, websites, podcasts and statements are inarguably an industry. Furthermore, when the industry is fronted by celebrities and personalities (often the sock puppets of bigger names behind the curtain), the message risks being lost behind the messenger. And when the people behind the industry don’t live up to or even believe the message themselves, then it’s a scam. Even if the message is true. Like all machines, industries can eat people alive. And such machines distort or destroy the gospel message itself.

In my recent book, “The Evangelical Imagination,” I devote an entire chapter to the notion of “improvement,” showing how this early modern concept contributed to the rise of the self-help movement in the 19th century and has spilled over into Christian thinking and practice today. Many of the publications centered on “biblical manhood” and “biblical womanhood” are just a continuation of this Victorian (and secular) movement.

Indeed, as Daniel Vaca shows in “Evangelicals Incorporated: Books and the Business of Religion in America,” over the course of the 20th century the publishing industry created a “commercial religion,” one in which publishers and booksellers create consumers’ desires along with the authors and celebrities constructed to fill those needs. What follows is a vicious cycle that cultivates the demand that perpetuates the supply.

Thus arose the “evangelical industrial complex,” a term coined by Skye Jethani in 2012. The phrase alludes to a similar one made famous by President Dwight Eisenhower in his 1961 speech warning of the unintended consequences of America’s unrestrained expansion of the military and its self-perpetuating arms industry: the military industrial complex. Both the military industrial complex and the current-day evangelical version are driven by systemic economic forces, Jethani explains. In the case of the evangelical industrial complex, that driving economic power is the Christian publishing industry.

And the unintended consequence in this case is the endless proliferation of images of manhood (and womanhood) that ever expand an appetite they cannot satisfy yet lead further and further away from the one and only One who can.

Earliest mention of ‘Yahweh’ found in archaeological dump

The artifact, less than 1 inch in length and width, and known as a curse tablet, may spur renewed debate on the dating of biblical events, especially those told in the Book of Exodus.

This curse tablet was discovered by Mount Ebal, which is near the Palestinian city of Nablus. Photo by Michael C. Luddeni

March 26, 2022

By 

Jerry Pattengale

(RNS) — An ancient tablet discovered near the Palestinian city of Nablus may contain the earliest known mention of God’s name in proto-alphabetic Hebrew.

Scott Stripling, director of the Archaeological Studies Institute at The Bible Seminary in Katy, Texas, announced the discovery of the lead tablet Thursday (March 24).

He said it could push back the written record of the name “Yahweh” a couple of centuries earlier, to at least 1200 B.C. and perhaps as early as 1400 B.C.

The finding may also spur renewed debate on the dating of biblical events, especially those told in the Book of Exodus. A peer-reviewed article is in process.

The artifact, less than 1 inch in length and width and known as a curse tablet, also recalls the account of Joshua building an altar nearby, which Israeli archaeologist Adam Zertal excavated in the 1980s.

The curse tablet was discovered near Mount Ebal, also called the Mount of the Curse in the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua. Stripling found it in a dump site, part of the structure Zertal identified as Joshua’s altar. Stripling said the finding was a confirmation of the biblical account.

In recent years, Stripling also announced the discovery of a Tabernacle platform during his ongoing excavations at biblical Shiloh.

Scott Stripling announces the discovery of an ancient lead tablet, March 24, 2022, in Houston. Photo by Jerry Pattengale

But the 2-centimeter-square (.78-inch) amulet may be the signature discovery of a lifetime. Professor Gershon Galil of the University of Haifa said this type of discovery is made only once a millennia.

Galil deciphered the hidden internal text with another paleographer, Pieter Gert van der Veen of the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. A release from the Associates for Biblical Research press said they employed advanced tomographic scans to recover the hidden text.

The inscription reads: “Cursed, cursed, cursed — cursed by the God YHW. You will die cursed. Cursed you will surely die. Cursed by YHW – cursed, cursed, cursed.”

Stripling was joined by Museum of the Bible CEO Harry Hargrave, who noted, “This little artifact helps us understand better the history, story, and impact of the Bible — all within one square inch.”

Gabriel Barkay had helped Stripling learn the wet-sifting technique in Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Barkay made the remarkable discovery in 1979 of the Ketef Hinnom scrolls, which contain the earliest biblical text discovered (circa seventh century B.C.).

The Mount Ebal tablet’s text provides context outside the biblical canon but sheds light on the historical context six centuries earlier.

“Our discovery of a Late Bronze Age inscription stunned me,” Stripling said.

The dirt around the area of the discovery was discarded over 30 years ago. It had been dry-sifted before Stripling’s decision to run it through again using the wet-sifting technique.

Ancient curse inscription deciphered from tablet discovered during archaeological wet sift on Mt. Ebal

Biscuit Media Group

March 24, 2022

By 

RNS Press Release Distribution Service

High-tech scans reveal ancient Hebrew script, centuries older than any
other known tablets.

HOUSTON — Today, the Associates for Biblical Research (ABR) announced the discovery of a formulaic curse recovered on a small, folded lead tablet. The defixio came to light in December 2019 when archaeologist Scott Stripling, Director of the Archaeological Studies Institute at The Bible Seminary in Katy, Texas, led an ABR team to wet sift the discarded material from Adam Zertal’s excavations (1982–1989) on Mt. Ebal. 

The ancient Hebrew inscription consists of 40 letters and is centuries older than any known Hebrew inscription from ancient Israel. Stripling formed a collaboration with four scientists from the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and two epigraphers (specialists in deciphering ancient texts): Pieter Gert van der Veen of Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz and Gershon Galil of the University of Haifa. The scientists employed advanced tomographic scans to recover the hidden text. In collaboration with Stripling, Galil and van der Veen deciphered the proto-alphabetic inscription, which reads as follows:

Cursed, cursed, cursed – cursed by the God YHW.

You will die cursed.

Cursed you will surely die.

Cursed by YHW – cursed, cursed, cursed.

THE LAW OF 3 (THREE) IN THIS CASE "CURSED" IS SAID THREE TIMES BY THREE TIMES MAKING NINE, THE ACTUAL POWER OF THE AMULET REGARDLESS OF THE GODS NAME OR APPLICATION (WHICH IS ONLY TWICE) EP

According to Stripling, “These types of amulets are well known in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, but Zertal’s excavated pottery dated to the Iron Age I and Late Bronze Age, so logically the tablet derived from one of these earlier periods. Even so, our discovery of a Late Bronze Age inscription stunned me.” 

Almost immediately Galil recognized the formulaic literary structure of the inscription: “From the symmetry, I could tell that it was written as a chiastic parallelism.” Reading the concealed letters proved tedious, according to van der Veen, “but each day we recovered new letters and words written in a very ancient script.” 

Daniel Vavrik and his colleagues from Prague ensured the accuracy of the raw data which the team interpreted. According to Deuteronomy 27 and Joshua 8, Mt. Ebal was the mountain of the curse. Joshua 8:30 indicates that Joshua built an altar on Mt. Ebal. The defixio derived from previously excavated and discarded material from a structure Zertal believed was Joshua’s altar.

An academic, peer-reviewed article is in process and will be published later in 2022. The collaborative team consists of Scott Stripling, Gershon Galil, Ivana Kumpova, Jaroslav Valach, Pieter Gert van der Veen, Daniel Vavrik, and Michal Vopalensky.

For more information, media should contact the collaborative partners as follows:

Czech – Daniel Vavrik (vavtik@itam.cas.cz)

English – Scott Stripling (scott.stripling@thebibleseminary.edu)

German – Pieter Gert van der Veen (pvanderv@uni-mainz.de)

Hebrew – Gershon Galil (ggalil@univ.haifa.ac.il)

Spanish – Scott Stripling (scott.stripling@thebibleseminary.edu)

Biscuit Media Group
biscuitmediagroup.com

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Religion News Service or Religion News Foundation.

ANOTHER CREATIONIST 'MUSEUM'

Brazil Adventist University Inaugurates First Museum of Biblical Archaeology in South America

The MAB brings together pieces from different eras that prove the veracity of Scripture

The inauguration brought together around 2 thousand people at the UNASP church (Photo: AICOM)

BRAZIL | GABRIELLE RAMOS AND ANA CLARA SILVEIRA

NOVEMBER 19, 2023

Brazil Adventist University (Centro Universitário Adventista de São Paulo—UNASP), Engenheiro Coelho campus, inaugurated the Museum of Biblical Archaeology (MAB), the first museum of its kind in South America. The event was attended by the donors, authorities, and guests, as well as Dr. Rodrigo Silva, the creator of the project.

The donors were honored, and Silva gave an overview of the museum's significance for the institution. "It's not here to be visited. It's here to be experienced," he said during the presentation.

The inauguration ribbon was cut in front of the MAB in a solemn celebration. The first session was attended by the guests of honor, but over the course of the afternoon, six more visits were made, which sold out in about four minutes.

FOR WHAT DOES THE MAB STAND?

The symbol of the museum's logo is an oil lamp, one of the most widely used objects in antiquity. In the same way that this piece is meant to illuminate, the MAB seeks to be the light of God's Word for all people. "Now with this museum, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is giving the biblical text the importance it needs to have, and this is the great reference for us to have a fairer and better world," said Gilberto Kassab, secretary of Government and Institutional Relations for the State of São Paulo.

In addition, the MAB brings a new perspective to those who already know the Bible but don't realize it has idioms, culture, and geography that influence its interpretation and veracity. "The museum's pieces bring a cross-section of that ancient Orient from the biblical period to Brazil so that people can read the Bible in a three-dimensional way, further reinforcing the faith they already have," explained Dr. Silva.

Finally, it uses biblical knowledge in a scientific way to encourage students to develop critical thinking. "Having a museum that values the Bible and links it to science is the pinnacle of the existence of a school that wants to advance at all levels of knowledge," emphasized Martin Kuhn, president of UNASP's Engenheiro Coelho campus, with a sense of mission accomplished.

INTERNAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND BIBLE GARDEN

Visiting the MAB is like entering a time tunnel. With around 3,000 original pieces and dozens of replicas, the exhibition recounts more than 4,000 years of history through a timeline that divides the phases from the Early Bronze Age to the Byzantine period. "We thought of the museum as if it were a flexible box, where the collection is more important than the architecture itself," said Thiago Pontes, project architect.

Upon entering, visitors will find a replica of the floor of the Temple of Jerusalem, from the time of Jesus. This example is unique in Brazil, with only two other reproductions located in Israel. In addition to this artifact, an ancient brick with cuneiform writing also stands out in the exhibition. The piece has important significance, as it mentions King Nebuchadnezzar, who was responsible for conquering Judah, destroying the temple in Jerusalem, and taking the people of Israel captive to Babylon in 609 BC.

The museum's pieces date back to the 2000s BC and come from all over the world, including Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and some European countries. To ensure the maintenance of this collection, planning is necessary to avoid any damage. "We take special care to ensure that the pieces are preserved, such as ensuring the correct exposure to light according to the type of material and coloring," said Sergio Micael, the museum's historian.

In addition to the internal part, the MAB also has the Bible Garden, which has various species of trees and objects with biblical meanings. Examples of these are: the grapevines, which symbolize the blood of Christ; the wheat mill, which represents the body of Christ through bread; and the olive mill, a symbol of the Holy Spirit because of the olive oil. This part, which wasn't part of the initial project, now stands out as being of equal importance to the internal environment.

MUCH MORE THAN A VISIT

For Elizabeth Laffranchi, who is a teacher and one of the donors, the MAB has a meaning that runs from the spiritual to the educational. "Children and sometimes even adults need to see something concrete in order to believe in our wonderful God and in the history of God's people, which is why I contributed to the realization of this place," she said.

The visit was also significant for the Félix family, who live in Rio de Janeiro and found out about the inauguration through Dr. Silva's Bible Commentary course. Although they had organized themselves and bought tickets, they couldn't get the tickets, which sold out quickly. However, the situation became known, and the family had the opportunity not only to visit the museum but also take part in the tributes during the program. "God worked on this and made sure we were here today," said an emotionally moved Amanda Félix.

To find out more about the museum, visit the official website: unasp.br/mab.

On this subject, read two other articles prepared by Revista Adventista:

“Treasures of Biblical Archaeology” and “The History of the Museum of Biblical Archaeology.”

Watch the program in the video below:

The original version of this story was posted on the South American Division Portuguese-language news site.

 

The scientific meltdown over a controversial discovery of ‘biblical Sodom’

The remains of a city’s fiery demise near the Dead Sea have archaeologists at odds.

People participate in the Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project at Tall el-Hammam, an ancient settlement near the Dead Sea, in western Jordan. The Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project is a joint venture by Trinity Southwest University and Veritas International University. Photo via tallelhammam.com

April 20, 2022

By 

Jerry Pattengale

(RNS) — What everyone agrees on is that something unusual happened at Tall el-Hammam, an ancient settlement near the Dead Sea.

In a layer of ancient earth, archaeologists claim to have found evidence of an apocalyptic event: Melted rooftops. Disintegrated pottery. Unusual patterns in the rock formations that can be associated with intense heat. For another three to six centuries after 1650 B.C., the settlement’s 100 acres lay fallow.

But when Steven Collins, the principal archaeologist at Tall el-Hammam, considered the scientists’ evidence in an article that ran last year in the respected scientific journal Nature, he claimed that the incineration matched with the place and timing of the biblical account of Sodom and Gomorrah. This brought down on himself what in academic circles might be called hellfire.

That story of Sodom and its sister city Gomorrah is one of the Bible’s best-known stories. Abraham bargains with God to spare Sodom — even then synonymous with sin — to save its few righteous residents. The Lord was having none of it. “Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah,” the Book of Genesis says. Abraham looks back and sees “dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.”

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RELATED: Earliest mention of ‘Yahweh’ found in archaeological dump

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On the face of it, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see possible connections between Tell el-Hammam. But in a real sense you do.

Steven Collins. Photo via tallelhammam.com

Led by Collins, dean of the College of Archaeology at Trinity Southwest University, 21 experts from 19 research institutions weighed in on Tall el-Hammam’s remains, concluding that the nature of the destruction suggested a massive airburst or comet. 

“The proposed airburst was larger than the 1908 explosion over Tunguska, Russia, where a 50-m-wide bolide” — a meteor that explodes in midair — “detonated with 1000× more energy than the Hiroshima atomic bomb.”

These scholars, more than half with scientific posts, also claimed that the “destruction matrix,” which they put at around 1650 B.C., “is highly unusual and atypical of archaeological strata throughout the ancient Near East.”

What was unlike destruction caused by earthquakes or warfare were pottery shards with their outer surfaces melted into glass, some bubbled as if boiled, “bubbled” and melted building brick and plaster, suggesting some unknown high-temperature event. Objects of daily life, carbonized pieces of wooden beams, charred grain, bones and limestone cobbles were burned to a chalklike consistency.

But last month Steven Jaret, a postdoctoral fellow at the American Museum of Natural History, and R. Scott Harris, a space scientist at Atlanta’s Fernbank Science Center, challenged these conclusions of the 21 scholars, also in Nature, basically hinting that Collins’ group confused run-of-the-mill smelting and pottery processes with heat from an airburst.

A burgeoning group of scientists agree with these two, making much of the fact that Collins’ school is “an unaccredited Bible college.” Paul Braterman, blogging at Primate’s Progress, headlined his take, “an airburst of gullibility.”

“It certainly raises suspicions when an archaeologist makes dramatic claims like ‘this site is Biblical Sodom’ and that person is not credentialed as we expect,” said James Hoffmeier, emeritus professor of Near Eastern archaeology and Old Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, in an interview with Religion News Service.

But Hoffmeier added, “As we well know, however, there are highly qualified archaeologists whose minimalist presuppositions draw outrageous negative conclusions about the Bible and their work is rarely subjected to critical evaluation.”

In comments to RNS, Collins noted that most of the 21 authors of the paper are scientist peers who worked “six years” to produce their findings. But he conceded that “even if the two critics’ claims are valid about the failure to meet the crystalized criteria for extraterrestrial matter, it doesn’t even touch the melted room, plaster, humans, etc.”

The archaeological site of Tall el-Hammam in western Jordan. Photo by Deg777/Wikipedia/Creative Commons

He reiterated his agreement with the findings of the authors of the original paper, going a step further to claim it’s sure evidence of the biblical account of Sodom’s fall. In one of his many video clips he claims he’s walking through the mudbrick gate of the city, “We are now entering Sodom!”

But besides the causes of the destruction, Tall el-Hammam’s link to the biblical events has another test that is perhaps more difficult to prove — its date. The Bible chronology watchdog Answers in Genesis, along with many others such as Bryant Wood, editor of Bible and Spade, are rather candid in putting the fall of Sodom some two centuries off.

Furthermore, other details of the biblical narrative create issues. Simon Turpin, executive director and speaker for Answers in Genesis–U.K., argues, “The only way for proponents of Tall el-Hammam to synchronize it with biblical Sodom is to revise the biblical date of the Exodus, embrace a short Israelite sojourn in Egypt, and significantly reduce the lifespans of the patriarchs.”

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RELATED: In time for Hanukkah, archaeologists reveal battle-scarred stronghold against Maccabees

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Collins has gained traction, at least in the media, and a few scientists and some Bible scholars are telling him to keep looking. Tall el-Hammam, the largest known city of its era in the region, is the best candidate that has surfaced.

But the intense criticism from the larger fraternity of scientists includes assertions that some of the original papers’ authors have been too quick in the past to identify bolides. Science Integrity Digest pointed out that eight of the 21 authors are founders of the Comet Research Group, which has attempted “to show that ancient cities were frequently destroyed by comets, and to do something about comets before ‘your city is next.’”

But Hoffmeier reminds us that scientific debate can proceed without ridicule. “Walter Rast and Tom Schaub in the 1970s-’80s had advanced the idea that Bab ed-Dra and Numeira were associated with Sodom and Gomorrah,” he said. “Their idea was evaluated by the discipline and rejected. I think Collins and his team should be afforded [such] a courtesy.”

VELIKOVSKY WAS RIGHT

Geomagnetic fields reveal the truth behind Biblical narratives

by Tel-Aviv University

Burnt mud brick wall from Tel Batash (Biblical Timnah) with markings of the field orientation

. Credit: Yoav Vaknin.

A joint study by TAU and the Hebrew University, involving 20 researchers from different countries and disciplines, has accurately dated 21 destruction layers at 17 archaeological sites in Israel by reconstructing the direction and/or intensity of the earth's magnetic field recorded in burnt remnants. The new data verify the Biblical accounts of the Egyptian, Aramean, Assyrian, and Babylonian military campaigns against the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Findings indicate, for example, that the army of Hazael, King of Aram-Damascus, was responsible for the destruction of several cities—Tel Rehov, Tel Zayit, and Horvat Tevet, in addition to Gath of the Philistines, whose destruction is noted in the Hebrew Bible. At the same time, the study refutes the prevailing theory that Hazael was the conqueror who destroyed Tel Beth-Shean.

Other geomagnetic findings reveal that the cities in the Negev were destroyed by the Edomites, who took advantage of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Judah by the Babylonians.

The groundbreaking interdisciplinary study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and is based on the doctoral thesis of Yoav Vaknin, supervised by Prof. Erez Ben-Yosef and Prof. Oded Lipschits of TAU's Institute of Archaeology and Prof. Ron Shaar from the Institute of Earth Sciences at the Hebrew University.

Yoav Vaknin explaining about the research. Credit: Tel Aviv University

The researchers explain that geophysicists, attempting to understand the mechanism of earth's magnetic field, track changes in this field throughout history. To this end they use archaeological findings containing magnetic minerals which, when heated or burned, record the magnetic field at the time of the fire.

Thus, in a 2020 study, researchers reconstructed the magnetic field as it was on the 9th of the month of Av, 586 BCE, the Hebrew date of the destruction of the First Temple and the City of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army.

Now, using archaeological findings unearthed over several decades at 17 sites throughout Israel, alongside historical information from ancient inscriptions and Biblical accounts, the researchers were able to reconstruct the magnetic fields recorded in 21 destruction layers. They used the data to develop a reliable new scientific tool for archaeological dating.

Yoav Vaknin measuring at the site. Credit: Shai Halevi, Israel Antiquities Authority.

Yoav Vaknin explains that "based on the similarity or difference in intensity and direction of the magnetic field, we can either corroborate or disprove hypotheses claiming that specific sites were burned during the same military campaign. Moreover, we have constructed a variation curve of field intensity over time which can serve as a scientific dating tool, similar to the radiocarbon dating method."

One example given by the researchers is the destruction of Gath of the Philistines (identified today as Tel Tzafit in the Judean foothills) by Hazael, King of Aram-Damascus. Various dating methods have placed this event at around 830 BCE, but were unable to verify that Hazael was also responsible for the destruction of Tel Rehov, Tel Zayit and Horvat Tevet.

Now the new study, identifying full statistical synchronization between the magnetic fields recorded at all of these four sites at the time of destruction, makes a very strong case for their destruction during the same campaign.

A destruction level at Tel Beth-Shean, on the other hand, recording a totally different magnetic field, refutes the prevailing hypothesis that it too was destroyed by Hazael. Instead, the magnetic data from Beth-Shean indicate that this city, along with two other sites in northern Israel, was probably destroyed 70-100 years earlier, a date which could correspond with the military campaign of the Egyptian Pharaoh Shoshenq.

Shoshenq's campaign is described in the Hebrew Bible and in an inscription on a wall of the Temple of Amun in Karnak, Egypt, which mentions Beth-Shean as one of his conquests.

One of the most interesting findings revealed by the new dating method has to do with the end of the Kingdom of Judah. Prof. Erez Ben Yosef says, "The last days of the Kingdom of Judah are widely debated. Some researchers, relying on archaeological evidence, argue that Judah was not completely destroyed by the Babylonians.

"While Jerusalem and frontier cities in the Judean foothills ceased to exist, other towns in the Negev, the southern Judean Mountains and the southern Judean foothills remained almost unaffected. Now, the magnetic results support this hypothesis, indicating that the Babylonians were not solely responsible for Judah's ultimate demise.

"Several decades after they had destroyed Jerusalem and the First Temple, sites in the Negev, which had survived the Babylonian campaign, were destroyed—probably by the Edomites who took advantage of the fall of Jerusalem. This betrayal and participation in the destruction of the surviving cities may explain why the Hebrew Bible expresses so much hatred for the Edomites—for example, in the prophecy of Obadiah."

Map of the studied destruction layers and the different military campaigns. Credit: Itamar Ben-Ezra

Prof. Oded Lipschits adds that "the new dating tool is unique because it is based on geomagnetic data from sites, whose exact destruction dates are known from historical sources. By combining precise historical information with advanced, comprehensive archaeological research, we were able to base the magnetic method on reliably anchored chronology."

A separate paper, presenting the scientific principles of the novel archaeomagnetic dating method, is in preparation. Prof. Ron Shaar, who led the geophysical aspects of the study, as well as the development of the geomagnetic dating method, explains that "Earth's magnetic field is critical to our existence. Most people don't realize that without it there could be no life on earth—since it shields us from cosmic radiation and the solar wind. In addition, both humans and animals use it to navigate. The geomagnetic field is generated by earth's outer core, at a depth of 2,900 km, by currents of liquid iron."

Burnt mud stones. Credit: Tel Aviv University.

"Due to the chaotic motion of this iron, the magnetic field changes over time. Until recently scientists believed that it remains quite stable for decades, but archaeomagnetic research has contradicted this assumption by revealing some extreme and unpredictable changes in antiquity. Our location here in Israel is uniquely conducive to archaeomagnetic research, due to an abundance of well-dated archaeological findings. Over the past decade we have reconstructed magnetic fields recorded by hundreds of archaeological items."

"By combining this dataset with the data from Yoav's investigation of historical destruction layers we were able to form a continuous variation curve showing rapid, sharp changes in the geomagnetic field. This is wonderful news, both for archaeologists who can now use geomagnetic data to determine the age of ancient materials and for geophysicists studying the earth's core."Chicken bones and snail shells help archaeologists to date ancient town's destruction

More information: Vaknin, Yoav, Reconstructing biblical military campaigns using geomagnetic field data, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2209117119. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2209117119

Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Provided by Tel-Aviv University 

Dismantling the myth that ancient slavery 'wasn't that bad'

SLAVERY IS NOT APPRENTICESHIP

by Chance Bonar, The Conversation

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

As someone who researches slavery in the ancient Mediterranean world, especially in the Bible, I often hear remarks like, "Slavery was totally different back then, right?" "Well, it couldn't have been that bad." "Couldn't slaves buy their freedom?"

Most people in the United States or Europe in the 21st century are more knowledgeable about the transatlantic slave trade, and live in societies deeply shaped by it. People can see the effects of modern enslavement everywhere from mass incarceration and housing segregation to voting habits.

The effects of ancient slavery, on the other hand, aren't as tangible today—and most Americans have only a vague idea of what it looked like. Some people might think of biblical stories, such as Joseph's jealous brothers selling him into slavery. Others might picture movies like "Spartacus," or the myth that enslaved people built the Egyptian pyramids.

Because these kinds of slavery took place so long ago and weren't based on modern racism, some people have the impression that they weren't as harsh or violent. That impression makes room for public figures like Christian theologian and analytic philosopher William Lane Craig to argue that ancient slavery was actually beneficial for enslaved people.

Modern factors like capitalism and racist pseudoscience did shape the transatlantic slave trade in uniquely harrowing and enduring ways. Enslaved labor, for example, shaped economists' theories about the "free market" and global trade.

But to understand slavery from that era—or to combat slavery today—we also need to understand the longer history of involuntary labor. As a scholar of ancient slavery and early Christian history, I often encounter three myths that stand in the way of understanding ancient slavery and how systems of enslavement have evolved over time.

Myth No. 1: There is one kind of 'biblical slavery'

The collection of texts that ended up in the Bible represent centuries of different writers from across the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia, often in very different circumstances, making it hard to generalize about how slavery worked in "biblical" societies. Most importantly, the Hebrew Bible—what Christians call "the Old Testament"—emerged primarily in the ancient Near East, while the New Testament emerged in the early Roman Empire.

Forms of enslavement and involuntary labor in the ancient Near East, for example—areas such as Egypt, Syria and Iran—were not always chattel slavery, in which enslaved people were considered property. Rather, some people were temporarily enslaved to pay off their debts.

However, this was not the case for all people enslaved in the ancient Near East, and certainly not under the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire, where millions were trafficked and forced to labor in domestic, urban and agricultural settings.

Because of the range of periods and cultures involved in the production of biblical literature, there is no such thing as a single "biblical slavery."

Nor is there a single "biblical perspective" on slavery. The most anyone can say is that no biblical texts or writers explicitly condemn the institution of enslavement or the practice of chattel slavery. More robust challenges to slavery by Christians started to emerge in the fourth century C.E., in the writings of figures like St. Gregory of Nyssa, a theologian who lived in Cappadocia, in present-day Turkey.

Myth No. 2: Ancient slavery was not as cruel

Like Myth No. 1, this myth often comes from conflating some Near Eastern and Egyptian practices of involuntary labor, such as debt slavery, with Greek and Roman chattel slavery. By focusing on other forms of involuntary labor in specific ancient cultures, it is easy to overlook the widespread practice of chattel slavery and its harshness.

However, across the ancient Mediterranean, there is evidence of a variety of horrific practices: branding, whipping, bodily disfiguration, sexual assault, torture during legal trials, incarceration, crucifixion and more. In fact, a Latin inscription from Puteoli, an ancient city near Naples, Italy, recounts what enslavers could pay undertakers to whip or crucify enslaved people.

Christians were not exempt from participating in this cruelty. Archaeologists have found collars from Italy and North Africa that enslavers placed upon their enslaved people, offering a price for their return if they fled. Some of these collars bear Christian symbols like the chi-rho (☧), which combines the first two letters of Jesus' name in Greek. One collar mentions that the enslaved person needs to be returned to their enslaver, "Felix the archdeacon."

It's difficult to apply contemporary moral standards to earlier eras, not least societies thousands of years ago. But even in an ancient world in which slavery was ever present, it is clear not everyone bought into the ideology of the elite enslavers. There are records of multiple slave rebellions in Greece and Italy—most famously, that of the escaped gladiator Spartacus.

Myth No. 3: Ancient slavery wasn't discriminatory

Slavery in the ancient Mediterranean wasn't based on race or skin color in the same way as the transatlantic slave trade, but this doesn't mean ancient systems of enslavement weren't discriminatory.

Much of the history of Greek and Roman slavery involves enslaving people from other groups: Athenians enslaving non-Athenians, Spartans enslaving non-Spartans, Romans enslaving non-Romans. Often captured or defeated through warfare, such enslaved people were either forcibly migrated to a new area or were kept on their ancestral land and compelled to do farmwork or be domestic workers for their conquerors. Roman law required a slave's "natio," or place of origin, to be announced during auctions.

Ancient Mediterranean enslavers prioritized the purchase of people from different parts of the world on account of stereotypes about their various characteristics. Varro, a scholar who wrote about the management of agriculture, argued that an enslaver shouldn't have too many enslaved people who were from the same nation or who could speak the same language, because they might organize and rebel.

Ancient slavery still depended on categorizing some groups of people as "others," treating them as though they were wholly different from those who enslaved them.

The picture of slavery that most Americans are familiar with was deeply shaped by its time, particularly modern racism and capitalism. But other forms of slavery throughout human history were no less "real." Understanding them and their causes may help challenge slavery today and in the future—especially at a time when some politicians are again claiming transatlantic slavery actually benefited enslaved people.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Slavery and trafficking occurs in 90% of recent wars and conflicts, new research shows

ENTERED APPRENTICESHIP IN TRADES CRAFTS SUCH AS CARPENTERS, PLUMBERS, ELECTRICIANS ETC. ARE CALLED INDENTURED, FOR THE FACT THAT IN THE PAST THE APPRENTICE WAS 'OWNED' LIKE HIS TOOLS BY HIS 'MASTER' OF THE TRADE. HE WAS FREED WHEN HE COMPLETED THE APPRENTICESHIP BY PAYING HIS DEBT, OR BECAME A JOURNEYMAN. HE WAS AS HE IS TODAY SUPERVISED BY HIS JOURNEYMAN. I USE HIS BECAUSE MOST TRADESMEN WERE AND REMAIN MEN.