If Mr. Lundahl is Unable to Locate My Recommended References, Then How Can He Debate Me?
Kevin R. Henke
October 4, 2022
In Lundahl (2022r), Mr. Lundahl discusses his efforts to find a copy of Finkelstein and Silberman (2001):
“The possibilities of libraries can be considered as exhausted if I go to Bibliothèque nationale de France, François Mitterand, make a search on Recherche simple : Finkelstein, I. and N.A. Silberman. 2001. The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of its Sacred Texts: The Free Press: New York, USA, 385pp. and find Aucune réponse ne correspond à votre recherche. I tried an advanced search, posing authors and title into separate boxes too, nada. Ah, wait, it actually does say sth on replacing authors (probably "and" was a fault) with date. And that something says, it is in "Tolbiac - Rez-de-jardin - magasin" meaning you need a special reservation of some kind (not sure I could get one) to consult it.
Now, from BnF - the site where this book is - I cannot access most sites on computers, not just FB, but even blogger are out. I'd have to email the references to myself, laboriously handwritten from the consultation, and the very little I could therefore salvage from a short visit is hardly worth it.
Certainly, there are other libraries in Paris, France, besides BnF. Yet, Mr. Lundahl refers to a work by Finkelstein and Silberman back on August 29, 2014 and complains about it at: https://filolohika.blogspot.com/2014/08/imagine-someone-said-apollonius-rhodus.html . Mr. Lundahl even makes the following inappropriate comments about Finkelstein and Silberman’s heritage:
“Alas this reform of Biblical scholarship seems humanly speaking far away. Finkelstein and Silberman are doing archaeology and calling David and Solomon fabled characters. What if they took a cue from Dr. Mark Woolmer? He could for instance tell them Saul was in Tell Amarna letters called Labaya. Oh, sorry, forgot, they are Jews, they do not argue with Goyim, least of all Christians! But I really did see one of them cited in a discussion as "Filkenstein." Considering the liberties this history denier takes with history, well, he nearly deserves it.”
Mr. Lundahl never bothers to identify the Finkelstein and Silberman reference. But, if it wasn’t their most famous book, Finkelstein and Silberman (2001), what was it and why didn’t Mr. Lundahl properly reference it?
If Mr. Lundahl is having so many problems getting my recommended references and the critical information in them, how can we continue this debate? I’m not going to summarize these books and articles for him or make extensive quotations that might violate copyrights. Besides, it would be a mistake for him to comment on any summaries that I might make rather than him reading the original references and seeing exactly what they say. I’ve seen him do this with the questionable summaries in Wikipedia (e.g., Henke 2022s). Also, I hope that Mr. Lundahl in his 2014 essay was not just criticizing Finkelstein and Silberman by simply reading what others said about it on Wikipedia, Thinker Updates or elsewhere on the Internet rather than making an effort to check the reference himself. That would be totally irresponsible. Mr. Lundahl has got to do his own research.
As I stated in Henke (2022gs), by simply searching the Internet, I was able to easily find free pdfs of many of my recommended books and articles, including a complete and free pdf copy of Finkelstein and Silberman (2001). However, because they might violate copyright laws, I’m not going to provide any links and I cannot recommend that people actually download and use them. Use your own conscience.
Lundahl (2022r) continues:
“By contrast, going to wikipedia, I have access to quite a lot of modern archaeology in a much more handy way, and can use far more of what I find. Why should I make things more convenient to my opponents than to myself?”
Why should Mr. Lundahl trust the questionable summaries at Wikipedia instead of checking the original references? Considering the frequently poor referencing and untrustworthy statements at Wikipedia (e.g., Henke 2022s, Henke 2022fq and Henke 2022gq), why should he be using it just because it’s convenient? How can Mr. Lundahl and I produce a decent written debate for our readers, if he can’t properly access the relevant literature?
Reference:
Finkelstein, I. and N.A. Silberman. 2001. The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of its Sacred Texts: The Free Press: New York, USA, 385pp.