RELG 433 - Biblical Archaeology
Note on the Textbook
There is no perfect textbook
Things I look for in a textbook :
- it should be up-to-date, accurate, and as unbiased as possible
- it should be easy to read, and should explain any special terms
- it should be well-illustrated, with colored photos and clear maps
- it should be reasonably priced
Unfortunately, good colored illustrations increase the price of a book, and no author is completely without bias.
In previous semesters I used another textbook for this course, but it has become rather outdated, and is pitched at the level of postgraduate students who are more interested in the "archaeology" part than in the "biblical".
I have not been able to find a really good textbook which balances the "archaeology" and the "biblical" parts. The new textbook is about as good as I can find. I will be adding extra webpages of notes to take care of some topics which the textbook omits or skips over.
The illustrations in the book are of very poor quality - but I have colored photos of most of the artefacts, and will be making them available on the course webpages.
The dates for some events, or for some people, are not known accurately - particularly for the early periods of Biblical history. For instance, there is continuing discussion as to which Pharaoh was ruling Egypt at the time of Moses and the Exodus. The author tends to a view which differs from mine - so that will expose you to the sort of discussion about dating that frequently occurs among archaeologists.
To sum up, this textbook is not perfect, but it is good, easy to read, and reasonably priced.
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