Hector Avalos (1958–2021)

Several months ago, I decided to let my subscription to Biblical Archaeology Review lapse because I’d perceived during the past several years that its content had become less scholarly and increasingly apologetic. I’d been a subscriber for over a decade, and along the way I’d added the now defunct sister publications, Bible Review and Archaeology Odyssey, to my list of subscriptions. In short, more and more of the pieces in the magazine were aimed at readers who wanted to see their show more religious beliefs verified by, and reconciled with, the results of scientific investigation, while too many of the decreasing number of critical articles addressed trivia that offered little for anyone outside the small circle of professional specialists. Now after reading Hector Avalos’s new book, The End of Biblical Studies (Prometheus Books, 2007), I understand why.

Avalos takes on Biblical studies from the inside: He’s an associate professor of Religious Studies at Iowa State University with many books and articles to his credit, and a long-time member of the Society of Biblical Literature. His main points are that (1) using the tools of text criticism, scholars have been unable to discover the original text of the Bible, nor—because of the thousands of widely variant sources—can an original text ever be reconstructed; (2) archaeologists and historians have failed to confirm the Bible’s narrative, even to the point of leaving in doubt the very existence of such crucial characters as Moses, David, and Jesus, as well as the historicity of the principal stories; (3) the culture that produced the Biblical texts is so far removed from modern culture that the Bible is neither understandable by, nor relevant to, people today; (4) scholars, however, prop up the Bible’s public image of relevance to protect their careers, and in doing so, produce work that is largely apologetic, not scientific; (5) the pretense of relevance causes the Bible to overshadow other, more worthy, ancient literature, which is left to languish untranslated and unstudied; (6) society is ill served by a reliance on sacred texts, and we’d all be better off were the Bible to be relegated to the dustbin of history.

Avalos shores up his positions well with numerous solid examples, sometimes going into greater depth than necessary, such as in his chapter on the aesthetics of the Bible. Furthermore, he writes clearly and constructs easy-to-follow arguments. Even though his book is aimed at the general reader, he provides hundreds of endnotes and a substantial bibliography, which are of value to scholars and other readers who want to pursue the matter further.

Because Avalos focuses his book so tightly on Biblical studies, he leaves the impression that there are no related topics worthy of examination. He would have been wise to end with a “going forward” sort of chapter, in lieu of the summary he provides, delineating potentially fruitful avenues of study. For example, even though we have no archaeological or historical evidence for the existence of Jesus, we have a lot of information about ancient Christian movements and sects. Just to set the historical record straight, explaining the emergence of Christianity without the heavy baggage of the Christian foundational myth is an intriguing prospect and a worthy goal. Such Biblical scholars as Burton Mack, Robert M. Price, and Robert Eisenman have made significant strides in that endeavor. But this is a minor oversight in an otherwise well-argued and thorough treatment of the topic. The End of Biblical Studies should be read by everyone with an interest in Biblical archaeology, criticism, or history. show less

This book examines the claims that slavery ended because of Christianity, and traces the biblical verses used to make the claim. The author demonstrates that the Bible is much more pro-slavery than anti-slavery, and supports his thesis with ample argumentation, written lucidly. There is some technical jargon that might send you to the dictionary if you are new to biblical exegesis, but not so much that the book is inaccessible to lay readers. Perhaps more interesting than the way the Bible show more treats slavery is his discussion of how biblical scholars work, giving the reader an inside look at the moving parts of a scholarly field. For someone who is a scientist, that is a fascinating exploration. The way biblical scholars work ties intimately with the view of the Bible and ethics, and it seems difficult to separate the two. This book is highly recommended. show less

As usual, Avalos writes well, lucid and interesting. His thesis is also interesting, but I'm not sure he presented enough evidence to sell it. I'm not averse to the idea that Christianity became popular because it offered a simpler, cheaper approach to healing, but I think it's a stretch when you also have the offer of eternal life, coupled with the offer of burning your enemies in hell for eternity. Still, it's worth a look, and worth giving thought to, though it would be hard to ever reach show more any level of certainty about an event that happened 2000 years ago and left rather spotty records at the time. I recommend it to anyone interested in the history of religion, especially if they are interested in the history of Christianity, though he does also discuss healing in the Jewish and Greco-Roman traditions. I thought that was the most interesting part of the book, myself. show less

The author calls for the end of Biblical studies, citing numerous reasons why he believes this has become irrelevant in the modern world. He feels not just Biblical studies, but the Bible itself, is irrelevant in a 21st century world, and that the main purpose of Biblical studies is to find some way to maintain the relevance of one particular book over all the many manuscripts remaining from the early days of written history that have yet to be even translated, and may offer as good a show more historical guide, and at least as good a moral guide, as the Bible. He writes in lucid prose, though occasionally he lapses into jargon, so keep your dictionary handy (and Google; some of these words are not even in the OED). I probably had to look up no more than 4 words; if you have read heavily in this topic, the book will be easy going. If you are just dipping in your toe, this is much easier than many of the other scholarly works, and the author does not give us untranslated Hebrew, Latin, or Greek, so non-Biblical scholars can read this book without being Left Behind (if you'll forgive the pun). I recommend this book for anyone who thinks the Bible is (1) accurate to the original document; (2) the original words of God/Jesus Christ; and/or (3) an important guide for modern living. Since people who believe those things will not likely accept the arguments herein, I also recommend it to people who don't believe those things but are interested in the scholarly controversies over Biblical history. show less