Talk:Pierre Benoit (theologian)

Did he ever conduct excavations?

The way Dominicans from the Ecole biblique (and other Catholic monks-cum-researchers) understand humbleness also means that they often do not sign work they do; they prefer to appear as one body, the order before the person. This also means that from all the archaeology-related texts by Benoit I could reach online, one must reach the conclusion that he never conducted a single archaeological excavation. He also never gained a degree in archaeology. He did indeed amass a huge body of knowledge in Biblical Archaeology, was a student (in the deeper sense for sure) of P. Vincent, and at some point ventured into assessing the results of previous archaeological digs undertaken by others, mainly or only fellow canons/monks/friars, with or without a proper education as archaeologists. What is the proper designation of such activity? Researcher in the field of archaeology sounds OK, if (too?) long; but it definitely does not make him a proper "archaeologist" w/o further qualification. Unless, hidden behind the veil of humbleness, he did indeed reopen some older digs or headed some new ones himself, which would at least make him a - practicing archaeologist, if not one with a degree in archaeology. Does anyone know the answer? Thanks, Arminden (talk) 11:03, 10 September 2020 (UTC)

Update: Ronny Reich wrote in 2016 "He also compared them to similar installations known to him at the time in Jerusalem, like the installation excavated by Pierre Benoit and Marie-Émile Boismard at Bethany (1951)..." (Some Notes on the Miqva’ot and Cisterns at Qumran, ch. 17 in Viewing Ancient Jewish Art and Archaeology, Brill 2016). Boismard had an almost identical education, no degree in archaeology, but a thorough education of what was in the 1930s modern Biblical Studies. It seems that both conducted minor excavations on the grounds of Catholic monasteries. Still not a definitive argument in favour of describing P. Benoit as an archaeologist w/o a qualification or caveat. There were many at the time, on Jewish/Israeli side Pessah Bar-Adon (I think he also "learned by doing") and Mendel Nun, respected and often quoted archaeology experts. Bargil Pixner is called by the very strict German Wiki editors an "amateur archaeologist"; some of his favourite theories have never been accepted, while some of his work and interpretations are still quoted. It's up to us, I guess, how to call them, from case to case, based on good sources. Arminden (talk) 13:19, 10 September 2020 (UTC)