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

INSEARCH OFTHE GOODBOOK: A CRITICALSURVEYOF

HANDBOOKSONBIBLICALARCHAEOLOGY

j.P.Dessel

Universitya/Tennessee

Il'ITRODUcnON

ItiswellrecognizedthatthearchaeologyofthesouthernLevantisan
essentialcomponenttothestudyoftheHebrewBible,theNewTestament,
andtheoriginsofJudaismandChristianity.However,due 10 theincreasing
degreeofspecializationinthefieldofbiblicalstudies,ithasbecomemorc
difficultformanyscholarscompetentlytoassessa largerandmorediverse
rangeofsynthetictreatmentsofbiblicalorSyro-Palestinianarchaeology.I
Thesearchaeologic:dh~lOdbooksarenotnculm] vesselsofrawdata h1l1
ratherespousea rangeofinterpretivebiasesandagendasthai,atthevery
least,mustbeacknowledgediftheyare(0beusedproperly.Ofparticular
importanceishowthesevolumesimplicitlytreattherelationshipbetween
scripture,history,andarchaeology.Withoutsomesenseoftheinterplay
betweenthesethreeverydisparatesources,aninformedpresentationofbib-
licalhistoryandarchaeologyisvil1uallyimpossible.
Inordertofacilitateabeuerappreciationofthevarietyofperspec-
tivesandorientationsrepresentedbythesehandbooks,a criticalsurveyis
sorelyneeded.Thissurveywillincludea his!Oryofsuchvolumesbegin-
ningwiththeseminalworkofWilliamFoxwellAlbright,TheArchaeology
ofPalestine.Specialattentionwill begiventotherecentgenerationof
synthetichandbooksaswellasa considenl.tionofsomeoftherecentcon-
troversies in the archaeology ofthe sOllthern Levant.^2 What exactly
constitutesahandbookonbiblicalarchaeology,asthereisanever-growing

I Forancxcellcntconsidemtionoftheseterms,seeZionylevit,11uce])cb:ltesalXlut
BibleandArch;ll:ology,~Bib 83 (2002):1-27.
2 Thisfieldisaltern:llivdyrcferredtoas"biblicalarchaeology"and"Syro-I'alestinian
archaeology';;Ig;lin..>ccZevit.'ThreeDebMesaboutI3iblcandArchaeology."

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