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

MEYERS:TEACIII:-:GSECOM)TF..MI'LEJl'DA1S:\tINUGIITOFARCIIAEOLOGY 163

specificwayshowsuchinformationderivedfrommaterialcultureamalter
ortransformtraditionalviews.Inrecentyears,whenmanyscholarshave
becomemorevocalincallingforanC".trlyorlateSecondTempledalingfor
largeportionsoftheHebrewBible,itisespeciallyimportanttounderstand
thesocialseningofthoseperiods. Without archaeology, it isvinually
impossibletocometoany refinednotion about Palestinian societyor
SecondTempleJudaism.
Howoneintroducessuchmaterialintoone'steachingwithouthaVing
todosoina separatecourseiscertainlythemainchallengeformostaca-
demics.I havesuggestedthatMmainstreaming~isthebestwaytodothis.
Inotherwords,ifsomeoneisteaching"IntroductiontoIlebrewBible,"for
example,IwouldurgethatpersontointroducesignifiC<lntarchaeological
materialswhereit altersorsupplementsin a significantwaytheliterdry
materialsbeingused[Qpresenta historicaloverview.Archaeologicalmate-
rials,whenproperlyused,enabletheinstructor[Qavoidthepitfallsofjust
doingstrJighthistoryorpoliticalhistoryandgetsonepointedmoreinthe
directionofsocial-historialreconslruction.oKlInanycase,asa majorbuild-
ingblockforcontextualstudy,archaeologyisthesinequa nonofboth
goodhistorialandgoodexegeticalwork.Passingonthisideatostudents,
whilenoteasy, ISsurely\'onhtheeffon.Thebest way todo this is
throughon-sitestudytoursandfieldwork.Intheabsenceofsucha possi-
bility,theinSlruaormustrelyonhisorherownin~enuityinproviding
newreadings,visualimagesthattellthestory,andinferencesthatarenot
derivedfromtextalone.Ifoneemmakesuchpoints,studentsarebound
tolistenbellerandrememberlonger.

40 C:Jrol l. Meyers :lnd Eric M '\Ierers, "Expanding lhe fromicrs of Biblical
Archat:Ology,"I~'rls,. 20 (1989):14()...47.