Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Professor Albright, Biblical Archaeology, and the Virtues of Genocide

Professor Albright, Biblical Archaeology, and the Virtues of Genocide

Last updated on: August 25, 2022 at 12:42 am by Philip Jenkins

Professor Albright, Biblical Archaeology, and the Virtues of Genocide 2022-08-24T13:25:19-04:00 Philip Jenkins

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I have been posting about the Bible’s genocidal texts, which have most recently been discussed in Charlie Trimm’s book The Destruction of the Canaanites: God, Genocide, and Biblical Interpretation (Eerdman’s 2022). So obvious were the flaws and dangers of these texts as to make them a gift for critics of religion in general and the Bible in particular, and fundamentalists struggled to defend them.

I particularly note one individual who undertook such a defense, as this was such a prestigious and erudite individual. I am thinking of William Foxwell Albright (1891-1971), one of the most influential figures in the archaeology of Israel/Palestine, and a chaired professor at Johns Hopkins University. He dominated his scholarly field from the 1930s through the 1960s, mentoring a whole generation of brilliant scholars, including Frank Moore Cross and David Noel Freedman. Through works both scholarly and popular, Albright shaped how ordinary Christians in the English-speaking world understood the biblical record.

Albright was the great exponent of Biblical Archaeology, a project aimed at verifying the truth of the scripture, rather than just pursuing the academic study of a region and an era. (That approach is now held in widespread suspicion: see Thomas W. Davis, Shifting Sands: The Rise and Fall of Biblical Archaeology (Oxford University Press, 2004). Although not a strict literalist, Albright held that archaeology confirmed the textual accounts found in the Old Testament, and he believed in both the Israelite conquest of Canaan and the destruction of that region’s native societies and peoples. Albright regarded these massacres as quite justified, describing the Canaanite genocide as not just inevitable but desirable.

As he wrote, the treatment of the Canaanites was

no worse, from the humanitarian point of view, than the reciprocal massacres of Protestants and Catholics in the seventeenth century (e.g., Magdeburg, Drogheda), or than the massacre of Armenians by Turks and of Kirghiz by Russians during the First World War, or than the recent slaughter of non-combatants in Spain by both sides. It is questionable whether a strictly detached observer would consider it as bad as the starvation of helpless Germany after the armistice in 1918 or the bombing of Rotterdam in 1940.

It was just as “inevitable” as the Euro-American slaughter of indigenous Indian peoples. Apparently, he regarded these analogies as a justification for the ancient massacres: everybody did it. So that’s all right, then.

Some obvious objections raise themselves. One is that he is conflating two fundamentally different kinds of action, namely brutal and indiscriminate warfare, as at Magdeburg or Rotterdam; and the conscious and deliberate genocide of every person of any and all ages, which is what God reportedly commands in the Pentateuch. This is a “War is Hell” argument that evades the basic issue of genocide. Also tendentious is his claim that such total genocide of populations was a standard custom among the various Semitic peoples, which it was not. Albright is using every piece of rhetorical sleight of hand he can muster to avoid confronting the dilemmas of the genocide texts. In so doing, he digs himself even deeper into moral quandaries.

As Albright further argued, racial replacement was part of the process of historical progress and evolution:

It often seems necessary that a people of markedly inferior type should vanish before a people of superior potentialities, since there is a point beyond which racial mixing cannot go without disaster.

Who exactly was he thinking of here? Such remarks were not uncommon for an American of his generation—he was born in 1891—and they usually referred to various tribal or “primitive” nations falling back before white domination: indigenous peoples in North and South America, Pacific Islanders, Australian Aborigines, and African Bushmen. As a committed Zionist, he was also thinking of the Arab peoples of Palestine, whose existence he scarcely acknowledged. At best, Arabs provided colorful scenery for the expanding Jewish settlements.

The irony, of course, is that in his arguments for ethnic cleansing and historical evolution, he was speaking exactly the contemporary language of the deadliest enemies of the Jews he so idolized. In 1940, he published a popular text titled From the Stone Age to Christianity, a study of the historical development of monotheism, in which he wrote,

It was fortunate for the future of monotheism that the Israelites of the conquest were a wild folk, endowed with primitive energy and ruthless will to exist, since the resulting decimation of the Canaanites prevented the complete fusion of the two kindred folk which would almost inevitably have depressed Yahwistic standards to a point where recovery was impossible. Thus the Canaanites, with their orgiastic nature-worship, their cult of fertility in the form of serpent symbols and sensuous nudity, and their gross mythology, were replaced by Israel, with its nomadic simplicity and purity of life, its lofty monotheism, and its severe code of ethics. In a not altogether dissimilar way, a millennium later, the African Canaaanites, as they still called themselves, or the Carthaginians, as we call them, with the gross Phoenician mythology which we know from Ugarit and Philo Byblius, with human sacrifices and the cult of sex, were crushed by the immensely superior Romans, whose stern code of morals and singularly elevated paganism remind us in many ways of early Israel.

How sad it is to see even the learned Albright misusing the word “decimate,” which means “to kill one in ten,” not to annihilate. Dr. Trimm does the same thing, sigh…

This frequently quoted passage was first published in 1940, just when Europe was falling under the rule of another group of self-proclaimed “superior Romans,” based in Berlin. They too boasted of their “primitive energy and ruthless will to exist,” and were equally determined to extirpate any “markedly inferior” races who stood in the path of their historical progress. Albright, though, saw nothing troubling in that analogy, and his text reappeared unchanged in a new edition published in 1957, a decade after the Nuremberg Trials. His comments would make sense as a form of veiled pro-Nazi sentiment, were it not for the source. But if Albright was not defending Nazi policies, as he assuredly was not, it is astonishing that he proved unable to think through the implications.

I am doubly intrigued by Albright’s account of Canaanite religion, with its sexual and sacrificial motifs. As I read passages like this, I actually have a powerful sense of déjà vu, and from an odd context. It sounds exactly like the kind of tabloid writing about “Evil Cults” that was common in the mass media of the 1920s and 1930s, and which was reflected in fantasy authors like H. P. Lovecraft, Henry Kuttner, and others associated with Weird Tales magazine. Another key idea of the time was that such alleged atrocities and Nameless Horrors were the direct continuation of authentic ancient pagan cults: this was the extravagantly popular idea derived from British eccentric, Margaret Murray. In later times, that becomes the standard fare of popular fantasies about Satanism.

Actually, I can point to a still closer analogy. Orgies, human sacrifice, ritual nudity, and serpent cults: for an average reader in 1940, this would have resonated instantly, as the core themes of the extensive tabloid literature of the era about Haitian Voodoo, with its overwhelming emphasis on racial primitivism. The most likely source for this picture would be the journalist William Seabrook, an enjoyable writer but a sensational fantasist of dubious credibility and bizarre sexual predilections. Much of the later mythology of Voodoo (and zombies) stems from his wildly best-selling The Magic Island (1929). Sadly, I don’t suspect that the sober Albright ever had a Weird Tales subscription (lovely thought), but he must have been reading the newspapers and magazines of the day, and (apparently) very credulously. Did he read Seabrook on Voodoo? Where else, in the 1930s, would he likely have found that package of human sacrifice together with “serpent symbols and sensuous nudity?” Do recall that Albright describes the Phoenicians as the “African Canaanites.”

I wonder whether Albright learned better in later life? In 1968, he published his Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan: An Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting Faiths, which argued that Yahwism and Canaanite religion had actually gained from a mutual and even fruitful dialogue between the tenth and fifth centuries BC. As I read this later book, however, he does not seem to be retracting those older opinions of his.

Those genocide texts continue to disturb, and to appall. I’ll have more to say on these issues.

Brooke Sherrard has a useful piece on “American Biblical Archaeologists and Zionism: How Differing Worldviews on the Interaction of Cultures Affected Scholarly Constructions of the Ancient Past,” in Journal of the American Academy of Religion 84(1)(2016), 234-259.

Philip Jenkins

genocide

Voodoo

William Foxwell Albright

Previous Post

August 24, 2022

Dated and Overrated: A Review of Jonathan Pokluda’s Outdated

Next Post

August 26, 2022 The Annales Movement (Part One): Working Across Social Science Disciplines

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe Guest Post guest post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Jehovah Rapha" mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The Lord Saves The Lord is Holy The Lord Provides The Lord Heals