Tudor Parfitt

I really wanted to like this book. I had seen an article referencing Parfitt's book on Black Jews and when I went to get it from the library, my search also turned up this work. After reading his first, much more scholarly work, I was excited to see how an academic would approach the search for a holy relic that may or may not be findable. Unfortunately, this book has very little academics to it and entirely too much puffery. At some point, Parfitt decides the the Ark is the same thing as another African artifact that was photographed in the 1940s but not correctly identified as the Ark. This would be such a remarkable discovery that you would think you would have heard about it, right? Except for two small issues: 1) the relic he finds is nowhere near old enough (he "solves" this by deeming it a successor Ark) and 2) I, and I suspect many others, remain unconvinced that the drum-like relic he found and the true Ark are in fact the same thing. The first point could have been surmountable, and perhaps even the second, if the book itself were compelling enough. Parfitt spends too much time describing his meals, his disaster of a romantic relationship and drinking wine to really pull you in, though, which combined with the rather disappointing climax leads to a book that just wasn't a fun read on any level.… (más)

Tudor Parfitt's The Lost Ark of the Covenant is an exploration of the history and varied theories surrounding the Ark of the Covenant. Parfitt traced the ark for years, trying to figure out just what exactly it was and where it might have eventually ended up: his travels take him from Jerusalem to Yemen, Egypt to Ethiopia, even Papua New Guinea as he grasps at every straw of ark-tradition presented to him.

While it gets ominously close at times to outright silliness, the book mostly keeps just this side of the line, although some of the straws really are extremely flimsy. Eventually Parfitt comes to believe that a wooden chest in a Zimbabwe museum may be not the Ark itself (since it was carbon-dated to 1350 AD) but a "lineal descendant" of the original Ark, created as a successor. I can't say I'm entirely convinced, but the find is certainly notable in any event (the chest was determined to be one of the oldest wooden artifacts from sub-Saharan Africa).

What's intriguing about Parfitt's research is the strands of tradition about the Ark's nature and powers, like its ability to shoot fire and destroy its enemies, and how those traditions are espoused by cultures in very different parts of the world. Even at the Papua New Guinea location Parfitt visits, the people have endowed their local "Ark" with similar powers.

Parfitt's version of conversations can be slightly grating, and there were definitely a few times that I rolled my eyes at his antics and musings, but I also found much in this book that was interesting.… (más)