>In a press release issued on Monday, June 5, 2006, the Arutz Sheva Israel Broadcasting Network
has announced that Bar Ilan University is establishing the Institute of Biblical Archaeology. The press release reads as follows:

“Bar Ilan University announced plans on Monday to build an Institute of Biblical Archaeology which will become part of the Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology.”

“The $50 million Institute is expected to restore the connection between the science of exploring the past and the Bible, according to The Jerusalem Post.”

“According to Professor Aren Maeir, director of the Institute, the primarily-observant Jewish university is trying to walk the golden path between ‘post-modernist revisionist nihilists’ and ‘ideologically-driven conservatives.’”

“Maeir said that Israeli archaeologists have ‘moved into an academic ivory tower’ as a result of the political climate, where they prefer to separate themselves from findings that support Biblical texts and Jewish heritage.”

To read the complete press release, click here.

Personally, I believe that a middle ground is necessary between the “post-modernist revisionist nihilists” and the “ideologically-driven conservatives.” Archaeologists today are very reluctant to talk about archaeology as it relates to the land of the Bible .

“Biblical archaeology” should not aim at proving the Bible. Instead, it should help those who are interested in the history of ancient Israel understand what happened in Canaan in the second and first millennium BCE. If the Institute of Biblical Archaeology at Bar Ilan University can do what modern archaeologists are afraid to do, they will deserve our respect and admiration.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tag: Archaeology