Albert McClure
Albert McClure earned Bachelor's degrees from Oral Roberts University before completing graduate work at Duke University. He earned his Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the Joint Doctoral Program in the Study of Religion from the University of Denver and the Iliff School of Theology in 2020. His dissertation surveyed and analyzed iconoclasm in the Hebrew Bible. He teaches religion courses at Metropolitan State University of Denver and his current research focuses on Necropolitics in biblical literature.
Presenter at
Bible & Archaeology Fest XXVI, November 17 – 19, 2023
Iconoclasm in Yehud: What can the Pentateuch tell us about the Returnees?
In the ancient Near East the destruction of cult materials and cultic sites, called iconoclasm, was common enough and may have begun as early as early as the wars between Umma and Lagash. What does the Hebrew Bible have to say about iconoclasm? Biblical iconoclasm appears in a wide range of biblical texts and is used for various literary purposes. It appears in various genres and is enacted by a host of characters within biblical literature. When we look at iconoclasm in the Hebrew Bible’s legal texts we witness debates about marriage and emigration, for example, how to identify the targets of iconoclasm and legally justify their destruction. Using recent research about the Givati Parking Lot Dig, legal texts that command iconoclasm can be better understood as a debate among Returnees living in Jerusalem about what cultic items had to be destroyed, donated, or could become booty to those who found them.
