Biblical stories about the Patriarchs: myths or reality?

• Published in: Volinsʹkij blagovìsnik pp. 173 - 182
• Main Author: Mykhailo Kuchynko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Ukrainian
• Published: EIKΩN, publishing house of the Volyn Orthodox Theological Academy 01.10.2020
• Subjects: archeology; biblical stories; mesopotamia; old testament; palestine; patriarchs
• ISSN: 2519-4348
• DOI: 10.33209/2519-4348-2707-9627-2020-8-79

The article raises the issue of mythicism or historicity of definite stories from the Holy Scriptures by analyzing them and various archeological sources. The urgency of this problem has been determined by both religion and history. It is absolutely necessary to differentiate between the truth and fiction. Taking into consideration the aforementioned information, the views of well-known theologians and archaeologists on the problem of the Patriarchs have been analyzed. It has been noted that researchers have paid considerable attention to the archaeological sites of Mesopotamia and Palestine. This is due to the fact that in the Bible Mesopotamia is considered to be the homeland of the Patriarchs, as well as Palestine after their relocation to the Eastern Mediterranean. One of the tasks of the study of monuments in these areas was and remains the identification of places with the real landscape mentioned in the Bible. This is the first, and in addition, in the second half of the nineteenth century it was need to confirm the historicity of biblical stories in response to criticism of the Bible by its opponents. Biblical scholars, starting from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, actively studied the monuments of Palestine, which were directly connected with the Old Testament, such as Jericho or Shechem. In the 20-30s of the twentieth century American and Western European archaeologists made interesting discoveries in Mesopotamia, which in many cases confirmed the similarity of biblical stories about the Patriarchs with the relevant documents found in the archives of the ancient cities of Marie and Susa in modern Iraq. The last word in finding out the truth or mythical nature of the Patriarchs will be in archeology, and in biblical stories about them are based on a historical tradition that deserves impartial research.