Orientalism in Moab: Biblical Scholarship in Transjordan, 1875-1885

Author

Maya Casillas, University of Richmond

Date of Award

5-2025

Document Type

Restricted Thesis: Campus only access

Degree Name

Associate in Liberal Arts

Department

History

First Advisor

Dr. Yücel Yanıkdağ

Second Advisor

Dr. Nicole Sackley

Third Advisor

Dr. Chris Bischof

Abstract

This study undertakes an analysis of the reports of Royal Engineer Claude R. Conder, a surveyor for the Palestine Exploration Fund, during the survey of the land of Biblical "Moab," known contemporarily as "Eastern Palestine" or "Transjordan." I locate Conder within the discourses of biblical orientalism and comparative religion, and identify where he borrows, applies, and transforms both discourses. These two fields were rarely brought into conversation with each other, reliant on different historical temporalities, methodological premises, and interpretations of the Bible, and Conder's reports are therefore a unique example to witness the affinities and contradictions between the two. I argue that his biblical literalism, which perceives the Bible lands as a living tapestry of biblical history, is wedded to a comparativist taxonomy of primitivism and a positivist evolutionary understanding of human religion to genealogically connect Bedouin Arabs with biblical pagans and idolaters. At the same time, Conder represents the Bedouins as Arab invaders from the Hijaz, without indigenous connection to the land of Transjordan. I argue that this contradictory understanding is held unselfconsciously by Conder, and provides a lens into the points of coexistence and conjunctive reasoning between the discourses of biblical orientalism and comparative religion, ultimately finding common ground in the portrayal of primitive peoples as living vestigial remnants of the past.

Recommended Citation

Casillas, Maya, "Orientalism in Moab: Biblical Scholarship in Transjordan, 1875-1885" (2025). Honors Theses. 1798.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses/1798