What is Historicity?

Last updated on: February 18, 2015 at 6:34 pm by William Hamblin

What is Historicity? 2015-02-18T18:34:40-07:00 William Hamblin

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.

In his blogs of the past few David Bokovoy has been using the term “historicity” in a rather idiosyncratic way, leading to a great deal of confusion. Here is his definition.

“Historicity” means the act of producing a work that attempts to depict an accurate representation of the real past.

Personally I’ve never seen the term used in this manner.

According to the readily available Wikipedia:

Historicity is the historical actuality of persons and events, meaning the quality of being part of history as opposed to being a historical myth, legend, or fiction. Historicity focuses on the truth value of knowledge claims about the past (denoting historical actuality, authenticity, and factuality.) The historicity of a claim about the past is its factual status.

I have consistently used the term in my discussions with this standard meaning. Readers of our blogs need to understand the term is being used in two different ways.

But even if one were to accept Bokovoy’s unusual definition, I reject his claim that the biblical authors intentionally attempted to NOT “produc[e] a work that attempts to depict an accurate representation of the real past.” Quite the contrary, whether they were correct in their beliefs and understanding or not, biblical authors who wrote historical-style books (e.g. not Proverbs) clearly believed they were accurately describing the real past.

PS It is also unfortunately that David refuses to engage me in a direct discussion on these matters, answer my questions, or even provide links to my comments. I’d be happy to answer any questions from him, or to allow him to post response on my blog.

Ancient Studies

Bible

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Previous Post

February 15, 2015

Historicity and the New Testament

Next Post

February 18, 2015 Jesus and the Eyewitnesses

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Ancient Studies Atheism Bible bibliography Book of Abraham Book of Mormon Book of Moses Christianity Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Deseret News Column Doctrine and Covenants Documentary Hypothesis Genesis Haram al-Sharif Historicity History Islam Israelite Religion Judaism LDS Mormon Studies Mormonism Mormons Movies Noah Penteteuch Photography Religion Temple Temple Mount Temples Third Temple Movements Uncategorized

Select a Month September 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 February 2014 October 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 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How did Judas signal who Jesus was to the soldiers?

Select your answer to see how you score.

By handing Him bread With a kiss By pointing By shouting