I need help with my essay on why is it important that we believe in the historicity of the Bible; why do so many scholars attack the historicity of...

For the
essay that you are preparing, you have
already completed one important step, which is to develop
your argument that
believing in the historicity of the Bible is important. In an argumentative

essay, having a strong argument or thesis statement is key. To support the argument, you
will
need to develop several subsidiary points. These will lay out the
reasons that such belief is
important. You will need to decide if your
arguments will be primarily concerned with the
religious dimensions of
Judeo-Christian traditions, with the history of the Middle East and
North
Africa, or a combination of both.

Once you have decided which
aspects
you want to stress, in a similar vein, the idea that questioning the
historicity is problematic
will need development. Here as well you will need
to elaborate specific arguments that scholars
have raised showing such
challenges. Again, are these challenges problematic because of religion
or
history?

One useful text to consult that lays out a number of
key
arguments is Werner Kellers The Bible as History,
first published in 1955
and revised and republished several times.
Kellers approach is to use scientific evidence,
especially obtained through
archaeological excavations. He shows that in numerous locations
mentioned in
the Bible, the kinds of natural phenomena and human adaptations to them
actually
occurred. Keller mentions that towns in Palestine have been shown to
look exactly as the Bible
describes them. The close or identical accord
between the physical evidence and the Biblical
text is important because it
strongly suggests that the people who wrote the text were speaking
from their
own experience as well as from knowledge gained from oral history.

A contrasting approach to archaeologically obtained evidence, including that
derived
from more recently conducted studies, may be useful in understanding
why people question the
historical accuracy of Biblical passages. Israel
Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman, in
The Bible
Unearthed (2002), review archaeological evidence as it correlates

with or fails to support ideas presented in early Biblical texts. They point out that
some
versions of the texts may more accurately indicate the views of people
who lived later than the
Bibles authors.

Another aspect of
Biblical historicity pertains to theof its
writing. A 21st-century study
taking this approach, which includes the kind of critical approach
your paper
addresses, is Marc Zvi Brettlers How to Read the Bible
(2005).
Brettler utilizes the historical-critical method, which
focuses more on textual analysis. He
notes that each individual will
interpret texts based on their personal and academic background.
Some of
these interpretations relate to ways that people in the Bible interpreted
information,
such as that related to time periods. Keeping in mind those
possible variations can help to
explain evidence derived from other
sources.

For example, evidence from the
Dead Sea Scrolls
can be combined with archaeological evidence from the Qumran community that

produced them. The historical-critical method addresses the Bible as a living document
that has
had different meanings for people in different periods and places
since its existence was first
record. Keeping this changing historical
importance in mind is important for understanding how
it has continued to be
a unique, irreplaceable text worldwide.