Thomas L. Thompson
Encyclopedia
Thomas L. Thompson is a biblical theologian associated with the movement known as the Copenhagen School
. He was professor of theology
at the University of Copenhagen
from 1993–2009, lives in Denmark and is now a Danish citizen.
from Duquesne University
, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
, USA, in 1962, and his PhD at Temple University
, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
in 1976.
(Instructor in theology, 1964–65), University of Detroit (Assistant Professor: Old Testament, 1967–69), Tübingen Atlas of the Near East (research associate, 1969–76), École Biblique
(visiting professor, 1985–86), Lawrence University
(visiting associate professor, 1988–89), and Marquette University
(associate professor, 1989–93), and was professor of theology at the University of Copenhagen
from 1993-2009. He was named a National Endowment for the Humanities
Fellow in 1988. He is general editor for the Equinox Press monograph series Copenhagen International Seminar and associate editor of the Scandinavian Journal for the Old Testament, and serves on the editorial boards of the journals Holy Land Studies and Dansk Teologisk Tidsskrift.
(1974), was a critique of the then-dominant view that biblical archaeology
had demonstrated the historicity of figures such as Abraham
and other Biblical patriarchs. His The Early History of the Israelite People From the Written and Archaeological Sources (1993) set out his argument that the biblical history was not reliable, and concludes: "The linguistic and literary reality of the biblical tradition is folkloristic in essence. The concept of a benei Israel ... is a reflection of no sociopolitical entity of the historical state of Israel of the Assyrian period...." In The Bible in History: How Writers Create a Past
(US title: The Mythic Past: Biblical Archaeology and the Myth of Israel), he argued that the bible was entirely, or almost entirely, a product of the period between the 5th and 2nd centuries BC.
Thompson is closely associated with the movement dubbed biblical minimalism by detractors (other major figures include Niels Peter Lemche
, Keith Whitelam, and Philip Davies), a loosely-knit group of scholars who hold that the bible's version of history is not supported by any archaeological evidence so far unearthed, indeed undermined by it, and that it therefore cannot be trusted as history.
His formative study is The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives. but the controversy it provoked with conservative American academia prevented him from obtaining a tenured position in any North American university. His later works have been received in a similar fashion in North America, but have been widely accepted in Europe.
In 1992 he published The Early History of the Israelite People, and in 1993 joined the Faculty of Theology at the University of Copenhagen as a full professor. The remainder of the decade of the 1990s was dominated by sometimes harsh fighting between conservative North American scholars (often termed "maximalists"), exemplified in a 2001 exchange between Iain Provan, Thompson and Philip R. Davies
of the University of Sheffield in the "Journal of Biblical Studies".
. Thompson's interpretation of this stele (uncovered in 1993) and other such discoveries are written up in his book The Mythic Past (1999) and other works.
The Copenhagen School (theology)
Biblical minimalism is a term used by its detractors to refer to a tendency in biblical exegesis which stresses a heavily skeptical approach to archaeological evidence when establishing the history of Ancient Israel and Judah...
. He was professor of theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
at the University of Copenhagen
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
from 1993–2009, lives in Denmark and is now a Danish citizen.
Background
Thompson obtained a B.A.Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
from Duquesne University
Duquesne University
Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit is a private Catholic university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne first opened its doors as the Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost in October 1878 with an enrollment of...
, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, USA, in 1962, and his PhD at Temple University
Temple University
Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
in 1976.
Career
Thompson has held positions at the University of DaytonUniversity of Dayton
The University of Dayton is a private Roman Catholic university operated by the Society of Mary located in Dayton, Ohio...
(Instructor in theology, 1964–65), University of Detroit (Assistant Professor: Old Testament, 1967–69), Tübingen Atlas of the Near East (research associate, 1969–76), École Biblique
École Biblique
The École Biblique, strictly the École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem, is a respected French academic establishment in Jerusalem, founded by Dominicans, and specialising in archaeology and Biblical exegesis.-Foundation:...
(visiting professor, 1985–86), Lawrence University
Lawrence University
Lawrence University is a selective, private liberal arts college with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, in Appleton, Wisconsin. Lawrence University is known for its rigorous academic environment. Founded in 1847, the first classes were held on November 12, 1849...
(visiting associate professor, 1988–89), and Marquette University
Marquette University
Marquette University is a private, coeducational, Jesuit, Roman Catholic university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1881, the school is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities...
(associate professor, 1989–93), and was professor of theology at the University of Copenhagen
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
from 1993-2009. He was named a National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
Fellow in 1988. He is general editor for the Equinox Press monograph series Copenhagen International Seminar and associate editor of the Scandinavian Journal for the Old Testament, and serves on the editorial boards of the journals Holy Land Studies and Dansk Teologisk Tidsskrift.
Copenhagen School of theology
The focus of Thompson's writing has been the interface between the Bible (specifically the Old Testament) and archaeology. His The Historicity of the Patriarchal NarrativesThe Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives
The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives is a book by biblical scholar Thomas L. Thompson, Professor of Old Testament Studies at the University of Copenhagen....
(1974), was a critique of the then-dominant view that biblical archaeology
Biblical archaeology
For the movement associated with William F. Albright and also known as biblical archaeology, see Biblical archaeology school. For the interpretation of biblical archaeology in relation to biblical historicity, see The Bible and history....
had demonstrated the historicity of figures such as Abraham
Abraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
and other Biblical patriarchs. His The Early History of the Israelite People From the Written and Archaeological Sources (1993) set out his argument that the biblical history was not reliable, and concludes: "The linguistic and literary reality of the biblical tradition is folkloristic in essence. The concept of a benei Israel ... is a reflection of no sociopolitical entity of the historical state of Israel of the Assyrian period...." In The Bible in History: How Writers Create a Past
The Bible in History: How Writers Create a Past
The Bible in History, subtitled How Writers Create a Past, , is a book by Thomas L. Thompson, Professor of Old Testament at the University of Copenhagen...
(US title: The Mythic Past: Biblical Archaeology and the Myth of Israel), he argued that the bible was entirely, or almost entirely, a product of the period between the 5th and 2nd centuries BC.
Thompson is closely associated with the movement dubbed biblical minimalism by detractors (other major figures include Niels Peter Lemche
Niels Peter Lemche
Niels Peter Lemche is a biblical scholar at the University of Copenhagen.-Biblical minimalism:Lemche is closely identified with the movement known as biblical minimalism, and "has assumed the role of philosophical and methodological spokesperson" for the movement.In common with the general trend...
, Keith Whitelam, and Philip Davies), a loosely-knit group of scholars who hold that the bible's version of history is not supported by any archaeological evidence so far unearthed, indeed undermined by it, and that it therefore cannot be trusted as history.
His formative study is The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives. but the controversy it provoked with conservative American academia prevented him from obtaining a tenured position in any North American university. His later works have been received in a similar fashion in North America, but have been widely accepted in Europe.
In 1992 he published The Early History of the Israelite People, and in 1993 joined the Faculty of Theology at the University of Copenhagen as a full professor. The remainder of the decade of the 1990s was dominated by sometimes harsh fighting between conservative North American scholars (often termed "maximalists"), exemplified in a 2001 exchange between Iain Provan, Thompson and Philip R. Davies
Philip R. Davies
Philip R. Davies is a biblical scholar with interests in Early Judaism, History of Ancient Israel, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Davies has been labeled a biblical minimalist and associated with the Copenhagen School...
of the University of Sheffield in the "Journal of Biblical Studies".
Recent controversies
Some maximalist authors have written that recent archaeological discoveries appear to undermine Thompson's theories. One such discovery is the Tel Dan SteleTel Dan Stele
The Tel Dan Stele is a stele discovered in 1993/94 during excavations at Tel Dan in northern Israel. Its author was a king of Damascus, Hazael or one of his sons, and it contains an Aramaic inscription commemorating victories over local ancient peoples including "Israel" and the "House of...
. Thompson's interpretation of this stele (uncovered in 1993) and other such discoveries are written up in his book The Mythic Past (1999) and other works.
Books
- The Historicity of the Patriarchal NarrativesThe Historicity of the Patriarchal NarrativesThe Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives is a book by biblical scholar Thomas L. Thompson, Professor of Old Testament Studies at the University of Copenhagen....
, (de Gruyter: Berlin, 1974) (reissued in pb: Trinity Intl: Harrisburg, 2002) - The Bronze Age Settlement of the Sinai and the Negev, (Dr. Reichert: Wiesbaden, 1975).
- The Bronze Age Settlement in Palestine, (Dr. Reichert: Wiesbaden, 1979).
- The Origin Tradition of Ancient Israel, (Sheffield Academic PressSheffield Academic PressSheffield Academic Press was an academic imprint, particularly highly regarded for publications in the fields of biblical studies and religious studies, based at the University of Sheffield. It was launched in the mid-1980s, co-founded by biblical scholars Philip R. Davies and David J. A. Clines....
: Sheffield, 1987). - Toponomie Palestinienne, (Peeters: Louvaine la Neuve, 1988).
- The Early History of the Israelite People, (Brill: Leiden, 1992, Arabic: Beirut,1995.
- (with N. Hyldahl, eds.) Dødehavsteksterne og Bibelen (Museum Tusculanum: Copenhagen, 1996)
- (with F. Cryer, eds.), Qumran Between the Old and New Testament (Sheffield Academic Press: Sheffield, 1998)
- The Bible in History: How Writers Create a PastThe Bible in History: How Writers Create a PastThe Bible in History, subtitled How Writers Create a Past, , is a book by Thomas L. Thompson, Professor of Old Testament at the University of Copenhagen...
, (Jonathan Cape: London,1999) = The Mythic Past (Basic Books: New York, 1999), (Arabic: Cadmus: Damascus 2000.), - Jerusalem in Ancient History and Tradition; (London, 2003), (Arabic: Beirut, 2003).
- (With Z. Mouna et alii), What is New in Biblical Archaeology (in Arabic: Cadmus: Damascus, 2004)
- (with H. Tronier, eds.) Frelsens Biografisering (Museum Tusculanum: Copenhagen, 2004)
- (with M. Müller, eds.) Historie og Konstruktion (Museum Tusculanum: Copenhagen, 2005)
- The Messiah Myth: The Near Eastern Roots of Jesus and David, (Basic Books: New York, 2005; Jonathan Cape: London, 2006; pb. Pimlico: London, 2007), (Arabic: Damascus, 2007); (Greek: Athans, 2007).
External links
- Online Curriculum Vitae Thomas L. Thompson, professor. IBE, University of CopenhagenUniversity of CopenhagenThe University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
- Creating Biblical Figures By Thomas L. Thompson, Professor of Old Testament, University of Copenhagen, May 2005
- The Divine Plan of Creation: 1 Cor 11:7 and Gen 2:18-24 by Thomas L. Thompson