In the final excavation report of ten years of digging at the Philistine site of Tell es-Safi/Gath, excavation director Aren M. Maeir considers the relationship between archaeology and the Biblical text.1
The unfortunately somewhat tarnished image of traditional “Biblical Archaeology” has led to a situation in which many archaeologists are either hesitant to discuss and research any connection between the archaeological remains and the Biblical texts, or, if such connections are made, to do this in a manner that does not take into account the current state of mainstream Biblical research. Similarly, too many of today’s Biblical scholars are paying insufficient attention to the relevance of the archaeological remains for Biblical research … I firmly believe that there is much utility, and in fact necessity, in sustaining and developing the scholarly interface between archaeology and the Bible …
While the multi-layered and multi-sourced character of the Biblical text is given, and any attempts to relate the archaeological evidence to the Biblical texts in a simplistic manner is wrought with problems, the importance of trying to find archaeological evidence of Quellen [source] within the Biblical texts cannot be underestimated. While this is not always possible and/or clearly provable, the utility of such interface between text and artifact is of utmost importance.
In the final excavation report of ten years of digging at the Philistine site of Tell es-Safi/Gath, excavation director Aren M. Maeir considers the relationship between archaeology and the Biblical text.1 The unfortunately somewhat tarnished image of traditional “Biblical Archaeology” has led to a situation in which many archaeologists are either hesitant to discuss and research any connection between the archaeological remains and the Biblical texts, or, if such connections are made, to do this in a manner that does not take into account the current state of mainstream Biblical research. Similarly, too many of today’s Biblical scholars are […]
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