Recent archaeological discoveries have exploded the Graf-Wellhausen hypothesis which casts doubt on whether the early books of the Bible truthfully portrayed conditions in the days of the Patriarchs and Moses, according to evidence submitted tonight by Dr. William F. Albright, Professor of Semitics at the Johns Hopkins University, at the opening session of the Institutes of Biblical and Post-Biblical Literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Prof. Albright, who is editor of the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, and former director of the Jerusalem School, said that such discoveries as those at Nuzi, in Northern Mesopotamia and Ugarit in Syria have settled the question of the true antiquity of the Bible story.
More than one hundred scholars from various colleges and universities and theologians from both Christian and Jewish seminaries are attending the Institute. Among those who participated in the public discussion were Dr. E.A. Speiser, Professor of Semitics at the University of Pennsylvania; Dr. Carl Kraeling, Professor of the New Testament at Yale University, and Dr. Alexander Sperber, visiting Professor of Biblical Literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
The Institute was organized as part of the Semi-Centennial Celebration of the Seminary and will continue until June 3.
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