The Dangers of Dividing Disciplines

I have had a long-standing public disagreement with my friend Bill Dever, one of the United States’ leading archaeologists, concerning the term “Biblical archaeology.” Some years ago Bill argued that Biblical archaeology was not an academic discipline at all and therefore the term should simply be abandoned.a More recently, he has somewhat modified his stand; now he speaks of the “new Biblical archaeology,” which he defines as a dialogue between Syro-Palestinian archaeology, as he prefers to call his field, and Biblical studies.b Until now, the battle has been over the word “Biblical.” But this is dangerous doctrine: We need […]