Lundahl (2022x) Has No Excuse for Defaming Dr. Israel Finkelstein
Kevin R. Henke
November 25, 2022
Mr. Lundahl in Lundahl (2022x) made the following statement:
“Key : has been confirmed. If the people who accepted the book as a piece of history back then had such external evidence, that is good enough for me, even if it is lost. One such major external evidence being at least some prior knowledge to the events of the text. You know, the factor actually lacking with the Book of Mormon, because it isn't and never was as far as we know any normal history, but has been, since first audience both believers and disbelievers, "lost and spectacularily recovered history" - a gold mine for fraudsters, or at best unconscious frauds, like Joseph Smith and Finkelstein.” [my emphasis]
In Henke (2022Lq), I gave the context for Mr. Lundahl’s above statement and replied to most of it. However, I can’t believe that Mr. Lundahl would stoop so low as to libel the eminent archeologist, Dr. Israel Finkelstein, by referring to him as an “unconscious fraud.” Where’s Mr. Lundahl’s evidence for this horrible accusation? How has Dr. Finkelstein committed any fraud? I understand that Finkelstein and Silberman (2001) refute many of the Bible stories that Mr. Lundahl cherishes. However, that is no basis for anyone to label Dr. Finkelstein a “fraud.” As I earlier mentioned in Henke (2022ec), this is not the first time that Mr. Lundahl groundlessly attacked Dr. Finkelstein. Back in 2014, Mr. Lundahl made the following anti-Semitic remark on this webpage, where he baselessly accuses Dr. Finkelstein and Dr. Silberman of being biased against Gentiles and especially Christians:
“Oh, sorry, forgot, they are Jews, they do not argue with Goyim, least of all Christians!”
Considering how Mr. Lundahl has libeled people that disagree with him and how he unquestionably accepts whatever the 19th century Vatican said (e.g., Henke 2022es), how can anyone think that Mr. Lundahl has an objective and rational approach to the Bible, science or history?
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.