28 BI::TWEENTEXTANDART1FACr
intheBible.Inrecentyears,ilbecameincreasinglycleartomethatIcould
notassumeanygeneralknowledgeoftheHebrewBibleorNewTestament
amongslUdentsinmyclasses.Thereal.soseemstobea decreasinginterest
in historyandthepast,perhapsasa resultofprimary-andsecondary-
schooleducationalcurriculaorsimplyasa resultofourposunodcrnearly
twenty-nrsi-centuryculturalattitudes.
Simultaneously,therearcalsomorcoppOl1uniliesandnewpossibili-
tiesthaneverforbiblicalarchaeologyinitsbroadestmeaning.Aswehave
beenforcedtofacetherealitythatthe;'geniusget1eralisl~doesnotandwill
notexist,arenewedandhealthydialoguebetweenacademicsfromdiverse
subfieldsofbiblicalsrudiesisincreasinglytakingplace.Thecrisisinbibli-
calarchaeologyhasheightenedourawarenessofitsrelevance toanarray
offieldsinbiblicalandNearEasternscholarshipthatcanbeintegratedin
theclassroomsettinginanunendingandcreativevarietyofcontexts.
ThequestionIoftenaskmyselfis:Whoisourstudentaudience,and
howdowereachthem?Thelargestandmostenthusiasticstudentaudi-
enceremainsstudentsofBible,inparticularatevangelicalseminariesand
colleges, andstudentswhofeela personalconnectiontotheStateof
Israel.[nthiscontext,archaeologyiscloselyimegratedintoastudyofthe
biblical texts and is examined through the lens ofthe Bible. When
instructingcoursestailoredfortheneedsofthisaudience,itisimportant
carefullytodelineatetheboundariesandlimitationsofwhatthematerial-
cultureworldcanandcannotdoandwhat itcan sayabouttheBible.
Essentialtoteachingbiblicalarchaeologyinmoretraditionalcontextsis
theneedtoemphasizethmarchaeologycanneverbeusedtoproveor
disprovefaith-archaeologybelongingtothe"earthly"realmand faith
belongingtothe;'heavenly"sphere.
AsecondaudienceisbiblicalarchaeologyinitsbroaderNearEastern
contexts. Herebiblicalarchaeologyisintegr,ltedwiththegener,llhistory
andwrittentextsoftheregionwiththegoalofreconstructingthecultural
andsocialhistotyoftheancientworld,Thevariousdisciplinesarecomple-
mentaty, with each field-text and artifact-making its own unique
contribution.Inthesetypesofcourses,thepastshouldalsobea basisfor
discussingcomemporatypoliticaleventsintheMiddleEastanditsimpact
onthepresent.[n thisframework, it isevenpossibletointroducepost-
processu::t!<lpproachesandconceptsintothecoursecontent.Unfol1unately,
notextbookexistswiththistypeofintegrationoftextandanifacl.
Anthropologystudentsarea thirdtargetaudience.Incourseswherea
majorityoftheparticipantsareanthropologymajors,theemphasismust
shiftfromgaZingthroughthelensofculturehistorytoamarctheoretical
andsociologicalexaminationofthebiblicalpastTheBiblecertainlyplays
a roleaspartofthematerialcultureofbiblicalarchaeology,althoughits
roleisfarlesscentral.Levy'seditedtextbook,'theArchaeologyofSocietyill