Between Text and Artifact: Integrating Archaeology in Biblical Studies Teaching (Archaeology and Biblical Studies)

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all,ancientNcarEasternarchaeologyisnottheonlyscientificdiscipline
appliedtothescripturaltextthatunearthsepistcmicconflictHigher.md
lowercriticismsraisemanyofthesamequestionsastothehistoricalaccu-
racy of the biblical lext, not to mention the reliability 01 the textual
tradition itself. Likethedisciplineofarchaeology,thesedisciplinesarc
foundeduponanempiricalepistemology.TheChalcedonianhermeneutic
canbe~lppliedtoa rangeofdisciplinesfoundedonempiricalepistemolo-
gies(andhencemutuallyconversantandhierarchicallydependent)and
disciplinesb;lsedonauthoritarianepistemology.
Atthesamerime,theChalcecloni;mhermencuticisbutoneofa variety
ofwaysofrelatingreligionandscience,theologyandarchaeology.Any
genUinelyintegrativeattemptwill,ofcourse,requiremuchofitspractition-
ers. However, todismisseithervoice(orforthat malter,anyvoice) to
obscurityormutesilenceistoallowconceptl/alrealiatoremainhidden,
anuntenableprospect forarchaeologistandtheologian;llikc.Increased
dialoguealongsuchlineswillbenefitn01onlyclassroompractitionersbut
withinthebiblicalandarchaeologicalfieldsaswcll.Fortheologicalcon-
texts,suchdialogueremainsa courageousdesideratum.