Digging Through the Bible: Understanding Biblical People, Places, and Controversies through Archaeology
Ebook
Overview
A “masterful and eminently readable” journey through the fascinating insights and revelations of Biblical archeology (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
Many of our religious beliefs are based on faith alone, but archaeology gives us the opportunity to find evidence about what really happened in the distant past—evidence that can have a dramatic impact on what and how we believe. In Digging Through the Bible, archaeologist and rabbi Richard Freund takes readers through digs he has led in the Holy Land, searching for evidence about key biblical characters and events.
Digging Through the Bible presents overviews of the evidence surrounding figures such as Moses, Kings David and Solomon, and Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as new information that can help us more fully understand the life and times in which these people would have lived. Freund also presents new evidence about finding the grave of the Teacher of Righteousness mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and gives a compelling argument about how the Exodus of the Israelites may have taken place in three separate waves over time, rather than in a single event as presented in the Bible.
Chronology of Events
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Search for Sinai: Archaeological Reflections on Moses, the Exodus, and the Revelation at Mount Sinai
Chapter 2 Searching for Kings David and Solomon and the Ancient City of Jerusalem
Chapter 3 Searching for Jesus in Galilee and Babylonia
Chapter 4 Searching Her-Stories: Women in Ancient Israel
Chapter 5 Searching for Synagogues: A Lost Synagogue Ritual Recovered by Archaeology
Chapter 6 Searching for the Mysterious Teacher of Righteousness at Qumran and in the Dead Sea Scrolls
Chapter 7 Seeking Mary: The Mother of Jesus and the Well and Bathhouse of Nazareth
Chapter 8 The Search for Bar Kokhba: One Biblical Character Who Was Found
Appendix: Exploring an Archeological Site
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Richard Freund's Digging Through the Bible is a personal account of excavating the most important sites of the Bible, and it is spellbinding. A provocative and fascinating account of the major controversies of the Bible, Judaism, and Christianity.....
Digging through the Bible does something that no other book on archaeology and the Bible does. It brings the reader in a pedagogical as well as in a very updated and well-learned way from the Hebrew Bible through the New Testament, touching on mostof the major contemporary controversies about Jerusalem, the Exodus, Jesus, and Qumran....
Richard Freund?s extensive knowledge of the literary and archaeological sources, as well as his insights and ability to make connections, make this a must-read for any student of the Bible. His work at numerous excavations in Israel and his experience asa professor and Rabbi make him uniquely qualified to write this lively book, which is comprehensible to both lay reader and scholar alike....
A fascinating, riveting excavation through layers of history (and quite literally, earth and humankind) that will be of tremendous interest to both scholars and a general readers. Richard Freund is remarkable at casting a fresh eye on texts and artifactsthat seem to be well known, but deserve more careful scrutiny....
Richard Freund has produced a very readable and stimulating book that addresses a number of vexing biblical issues. Thanks to his direct involvement in excavations in Israel, he is able to offer new firsthand data to bolster the case he makes.....
After providing a 46-page 'crash course' in biblical archaeology, Freund, professor of Jewish history at the University of Hartford and author of Secrets of the Cave of Letters: A Dead Sea Mystery (2004), uses archaeological finding to draw conclusions about key biblical characters and events.
Product Details
- Title : Digging Through the Bible: Understanding Biblical People, Places, and Controversies through Archaeology
- Author: Freund, Richard A.
- Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
- Publication Date: 2008
- ISBN: 9780742563490