From the Native's Point of View? On the Ethnographic Uses of Biblical Literature

EMANUEL PFOH

Buenos Aires

Congreso; Society of Biblical Literature International Meeting, Buenos Aires 2015; 2015

Society of Biblical Literature (EE.UU.)

This paper aims at presenting some thoughts of epistemological and methodological character on the ways the social information found in biblical stories is commonly used for social-science interpretations in contemporary Old Testament scholarship. In particular, the uses of biblical narrative as some kind of historical ethnographic record on the society of ´ancient Israel´ during the first millennium BCE should be challenged on two basic levels: an ethnographic level, dealing with issues of cultural representations, ideological and symbolical constructs, ancient epistemological matrices, etc.; and a historical level, dealing with primary and secondary sources for history writing and how the data from such sources is analysed and used. Such criticism is exemplified by reviewing some recent literature in the field of Old Testament studies, especially those works seeking to describe Israelite society and explain its dynamics. Some alternatives of interpretation are provided as well in order to further a critical understanding of biblical narrative as a historical source.