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Conversations with a Bible Scholar

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Conversations with a Bible Scholar FRANK CONVERSATIONS MOORE WITH A BIBLE CROSS SCHOLAR HERSHEL SHANKS Frank Cross of Harvard is America’s leading Bible scholar eretofore, Cross’s views could be gleaned only from arcane Hscholarly articles and abstruse tomes. Now, for the first time, his insights are accessible in clear, informal and easily under- standable language. In the unusual format of an interview, Biblical Archaeology Review and Bible Review editor Hershel Shanks questions Cross about such diverse subjects as the route of the Exodus (through Saudi Arabia!), the development of Israelite religion, the history of the alphabet and its effect on Israelite culture, the significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the importance of ancient Hebrew seals. And all this is illustrated with glorious full-color pictures, as well as explanatory charts and maps. In his customary engaging, sometimes provocative, style, Shanks explores with Cross the nature of the scholar’s vocation, the way he reasons and even anecdotes involving efforts to purchase some of the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the process, a gentle, wise and witty scholar with a warm human face is revealed—a combination of high scholarship and per- sonal testament. No one seriously interested in the Bible can afford to miss this discussion. Never before has biblical scholarship been so enticing. Best of all, it will be a highly enjoyable experience—indeed, one to return to again and again as rereadings open up new layers of schol- arly wisdom. FRANK MOORE CROSS CONVERSATIONS WITH A BIBLE SCHOLAR FRANK MOORE CROSS CONVERSATIONS WITH A BIBLE SCHOLAR HERSHEL SHANKS EDITOR BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY WASHINGTON, DC WWW.BIB-ARCH.ORG The Biblical Archaeology Society would like to thank Carol R. Arenberg, Judith Wohlberg, Laurie Andrews, Sean O’Brien, Steven Feldman, Suzanne Singer and Coleta Aranas-Campanale for preparing this book for publication. The conversations in chapters 1, 2 and 3 took place at the home of Professor Cross in Lexington, Massachusetts, on November 7 and 8, 1991, and were pub- lished in Bible Review 8:4, 8:5 and 8:6 (1992). The conversations in chapters 4 and 5 took place at Professor Cross’s home on April 13, 1993. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cross, Frank Moore. Frank Moore Cross: conversations with a Bible scholar / Hershel Shanks, editor. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 1-880317-18-4 1. Judaism—History—To 70 A.D. 2. Bible. O.T.—History of Biblical events. 3. Alphabet—History. 4. Inscriptions, Ancient—Middle East. 5. Dead Sea Scrolls—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 6. Cross, Frank Moore—Interviews. I. Shanks, Hershel. II. Title. BM165.C76 1994 296-dc20 94-3713 CIP All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions Designed by AURAS Design, Washington, DC ISBN 1-880317-18-4 ©1994 Biblical Archaeology Society 4710 41st Street, NW Washington, DC 20016 CONTENTS Introduction 1 Acknowledgments 3 Opening Conversation 5 I. Israelite Origins 11 II. The Development of Israelite Religion 33 III. How the Alphabet Democratized Civilization 57 IV. Seals and Other Writings 87 V. The History and Significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls 97 Endnotes 173 Glossary 179 List of Illustrations 181 Index 183 INTRODUCTION a My favorite way to learn is by asking questions of a great scholar. That is why I so much enjoyed doing this book. But calling Frank Cross a great scholar is an understatement. Having held the Hancock chair at Harvard (the third oldest endowed chair in the country) for 35 years, he is generally regarded by his colleagues with awe. The breadth of his scholarship, as I suggest in our preliminary conversation, brings to mind a colossus of learning of an earlier generation, William F. Albright. Cross’s scholarly interests extend from the origins of Israel to the Dead Sea Scrolls, from the history of the alphabet to the history of culture, from handwriting typologies to ancient Hebrew seals. Unlike Albright, however, Cross has addressed himself mainly to his scholarly colleagues and students. He has not written much for laypeople. In this collection of interviews—for the first time, I believe— Cross and his ideas are easily accessible to a wide audience. For that reason alone, this little book is a treasure. Here, in distilled, crystal­ line form, the fruits of Frank Cross’s learning are made available to everyone. I initiated these interviews for publication in Bible Review (BR), the only magazine devoted to bringing high­level biblical scholarship to non­scholars. These interviews eventually appeared in three consecutive issues of BR. Our readers found them so stimulating that we decided 1 to publish them as a book (the first three chapters of this volume) and to add to them (the remainder of this book) discussions of subjects not covered in the previous interviews. The later material is published here for the first time. What may not come through in these interviews, I’m afraid, is Frank Cross, the man—gentle, wise, interested, entertaining and calm, even in the face of provocation. I would be derelict if I did not record what a pleasure it has been to interview Professor Cross and to work with him preparing the transcripts for publication. In all candor, he and I have disagreed about something very important to both of us—my role in making the Dead Sea Scrolls available to all scholars. But Professor Cross, always the gentleman, never allowed this deeply felt disagreement to come between us. And I listened to him with unbounded respect, even in the rare instances when I disagreed with him. Now, happily, our disagreement is history. There is no more exciting way to enter the mind and thought of one of the greatest biblical scholars of our time than by reading—and re­reading—this book. I consider it a great personal honor to be the means of presenting Frank Cross’s ideas to students of the Bible. I know readers will find it educational, enriching and inspiring—a fresh appreciation of the unplumbed depths waiting to be explored in the greatest book of all time. Hershel Shanks Editor Bible Review 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS a The beautiful design, the lavish color pictures, the fine paper in this book would not have been possible with- out the generous support of Frank Cross’s friends and admirers. We are pleased to acknowledge with great gratitude their contribution to this publication: Leon Levy and Shelby White Terrence and Ruth Elkes Michael and Judy Steinhardt Richard and Joan Scheuer FRANK MOORE CROSS OPENING CONVERSATION a I BEGAN MY CONVERSATIONS with Professor Cross at his home in Lexington, Massachusetts, by asking him if he recognized the fol- lowing quotation: The whole of the ancient Near East has been his bailiwick— its geography and archaeology, its languages and literature, its history and religion. I suspect that he is the last...generalist with the specialist’s precision in designated areas of Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Anatolian and Syro-Palestinian studies....Each of the great discoveries in the Near East has galvanized [him] with excitement, and he has been found regularly in the fore- front of those who endeavored to interpret the new data and to build new syntheses comprehending the new evidence. He recognized the description immediately as his tribute to the great biblical archaeologist William Foxwell Albright written in 1970.1 I told him his description reminded me of another great scholar— himself—and I went on to describe him. “You are certainly one of the world’s leading epigraphers. You read and decipher an ancient text better than almost anyone else. You can date an inscription by the shape and stance of the letters. You know a dozen ancient languages and dialects. You are a leading historian of the biblical period. You are an expert in the development of the biblical canon. You have ex- plained the creation of the alphabet. You are a historian of religion. You are an authority on ancient cultures. You’re a historical geog- 5 FRANK MOORE CROSS rapher. In your time, you have done archaeology on both land and sea—and under water. You are a leading authority on the Dead Sea Scrolls. In fact, you are an expert in almost everything over a period of 2,000 years. And you hold the third oldest endowed academic chair in the country, the Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages at Harvard.” Cross rejected the comparison to Albright. “You compare me to Albright,” he said, “but I have remarkably narrowed the sphere in which he operated. I work in cuneiform some, but I am not a cunei- formist; he was. I once could read Egyptian. I have not worked in Egyptian for 40 years. If I have to decipher a place name or person in Egyptian, I can do that, but I don’t read Egyptian texts, as Albright did. I don’t read Hittite, as Albright did. I don’t know Sanskrit, as Albright did. My Berber is terrible; Albright’s was excellent. I could go on. I have limited myself to a much more restricted range.” Then Cross deflected the conversation. Had I seen the recent au- tobiographical reflections of Hebrew University professor Benjamin Mazar, the elderly doyen of Israeli archaeology? Cross praised Mazar and explained that Albright and Mazar were his teachers. Mazar had remarked how much Albright had inspired and “galvanized” him, and although Cross was Albright’s student, he wanted me to understand that he regarded himself as a student of Mazar as well. Mazar had inspired him, he said, in ways that Albright had not. “My relationship over the years with Mazar has been very inti- mate, and I have often spoken of him as my teacher.
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