In America, Biblical Archaeology Was—And Still Is—Largely a Protestant Affair

“American archaeological efforts in the Holy Land have been dominated by Protestants,” according to a prominent American Protestant archaeologist, Gus Van Beek. Van Beek is curator of Old World archaeology at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. and for many years was director of excavations at Tell Jemmeh in southern Israel. Van Beek said that since World War I, the Protestant dominance of American archaeological efforts in the Holy Land has been reflected in the participation both of Protestant clergy and of the Protestant laity. It is a dominance which continues today, he said “and the prospects are that it […]