Archaeology and the Bible

With the release last week of the summer blockbuster The Odyssey, there seems to be a renewed societal interest in ancient Greco-Roman history, mythology, and archaeology. As a biblical scholar, archaeology provides material evidence that helps both make sense of and complicate biblical texts. This is a topic I’ll be exploring over the next several blog posts, but first, I want to look at a few ideas that will orient us to a helpful perspective when considering ancient material culture.

First, in relation to the Bible, archaeology has been used to “prove” or “disprove” the Bible’s historical validity. The problem with this use (either way) is that it assumes the Bible’s purpose was to present objective history. If we think about Scripture’s purpose instead as identity formation for God’s people, we can allow material evidence to offer us whatever information it might. We might actually learn things rather than just receive confirmation of our own mindset.

Second, archaeological findings show us how different the ancient world is from our own. For example, walking on a Roman road—and understanding what an innovation that was!—helps us better understand the difficulty in travel, commerce, and communication as compared to the relative ease and speed our society conducts these activities. We might skim over certain details or facts in New Testament letters, believing those comments to be unimportant. However, when we understand how different the world was when these documents were written and first circulated, our perspective changes to accommodate those situational differences.

Third, archaeological findings show us how similar the current world is to the ancient on. For example, in places likePompeii and Rome, you can see remains of houses that feature multiple dining rooms! Wealthy Romans could have several dining places to change based on the season, time of day, or even what dish they were eating!

At the same time, economic historians tell us that the Roman Empire eventually imploded due to the enormous gap between the very rich and very poor. This economic disparity is one that we wrestle with even now more and more. Considering the material evidence alongside our own experience offers us insight and hopefully wisdom.

My hope is that over the next several blog posts, we look at various items of ancient material culture and see how they might expand or deepen our perception of the ancient world in general and biblical texts specifically.