The Babel Bible Dispute

Politics, Theology, and Science around 1900
Event for Friends and Sponsors (in German)

Friedrich Delitzsch (1850-1922) held a momentous lecture in January 1902, which the Museum of the Ancient Near East is now picking up again and summarizing on the basis of historical documents. He represented the then unheard-of thesis that the Jewish religion and the descriptions of the Old Testament were based on Babylonian models.

Past event

Where

Pergamon Museum
Am Kupfergraben 5 Visitor entrance via James Simon Gallery Bodestraße 10117 Berlin

Where, when, what?

Since ancient orientalism scholar Delitzsch insisted on his explanations in two further lectures, a fierce dispute arose between theologians and representatives of the then still young study of ancient orientalism. These sometimes very polemical disputes led to an enormous popularization of German excavations in the Near East and especially in Babylon on the one hand, and on the other, feuilletons and satirical journals drew the educated middle classes into entertaining participation in this academic dispute. The exhibition now enables us to understand this discourse.

Cover picture of the first lecture by Friedrich Delitzsch on the subject of Babel-Bible, 1903; Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum

Where, when, what?

When Thu, 27 Feb 2020, 6 pm
Where Pergamon Museum
Am Kupfergraben 5
Visitor entrance via James Simon Gallery
Bodestraße
10117 Berlin
See location on map

Meeting placeFoyer James Simon Gallery, Bodestraße, 10178 Berlin

Cost18 € per person

Number of participantsUp to 12

Deadline to register20 Feb 2020

Contactfreunde@jmberlin.de