This series offers an overview of the history, techniques, important sites, discoveries, and future expectations in the field. Our particular interest is in examining how continued discoveries are helping to refine our understanding of sacred literature and the earliest Christian Church. We will include in our discussion the leading personalities of archaeology as well as gauge recent knowledge granted through new developments in genetic and marine archaeology.
The courses will be offered at 7pm on Thursday evenings beginning on February 25th and continuing until March 25th. The outline of our discussions is provided below.
Session #1:
Prophetic Dreams, Bandits, and Mummies
An overview of the science of archaeology, both its traditional techniques and those developed in the technological age. Of course, no study of this field is complete without an appreciation of the original “amateur archaeologists” [aka explorers, soldiers, crooks, thieves, pirates, and con-men] who were the first to appreciate what could be learned about the past with nothing more than the application of a shovel [or firearm]. We will also appreciate the unique, and sometimes controversial, relationship between Biblical archaeology and other disciplines within the field.
Session #2:
Pillars of the Arcane
Much of what we know and understand about scripture, beyond the work of translators and etymologists, is gleaned from the work of Sir Leonard Woolley, Max Mallowan, Kathleen Kenyon, and William F. Albright, who took the discipline away from the treasure hunters of "crypto-archaeology" and coordinated it with the scientific approach developed by the early Egyptologists. We will also view maps and a list of discoveries of Biblical places, not to mention visit the increasingly technological world of diggers and squints.
Session #3:
The Great Discoveries
A review of the major discoveries of the past two hundred years that have either reconciled or challenged Biblical beliefs.
Session #4:
The Recent Discoveries
A review of the latest events and discoveries, including those not yet made as of the writing of this post.