In varying ways, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam maintain an important relationship to the story of Moses (Mūsā) and the Exodus which narrates the liberation of the ancient Israelites from Pharaonic Egypt. The main biblical account is provided in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Although there are important differences, the Qurʾān presents a similar narrative in a more condensed fashion. Despite its significance, the rise of modern archaeology and historical criticism since the 19th century has raised a number of difficult questions about the Exodus story. Broadly speaking, we might say that today one encounters a spectrum of positions from maximalist (e.g. most everything about the Exodus in the Bible is accurate) to minimalist (e.g. very little or perhaps nothing in the core Exodus narrative relates to historical events), with a variety of intermediate positions located somewhere in between. Some Muslim scholars hold that the condensed account presented in the Qurʾān evades some of the historical difficulties presented by the longer and more detailed biblical narrative. 

On Saturday, November 9th, I attended a seminar with Professor James Hoffmeier at the Bible Society of Egypt which explored the relationship between archeology and the Exodus. Professor Hoffmeier is a prominent Egyptologist whose books, Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition (1997), Ancient Israel in Sinai (2005), and Akhenaton and the Origins of Monotheism (2014) have made important contributions to archeology and biblical studies.

(Professor Hoffmeier discusses biblical names that have ancient Egyptian origins.)

It would be difficult to do justice to his presentations in a newsletter, but to my mind he succeeded in demonstrating that the Exodus account in the Bible contains considerably more historical information than many modern people may think. I was pleased to attend the seminar with new CAWU intern, Henry Ferrabee, who just completed his undergraduate studies in archeology and ancient history at Oxford University. Henry is considering a project on the German Egyptologist Jan Assman (d.2024) whose many studies on ancient Egyptian religion have also made a significant impact on modern intellectual life. For those interested in Professor Hoffmeier’s work, this might be a good place to start. 

Matthew Anderson