Menahem Mansoor Menahem Mansoor is professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he founded the Department of Hebrew and Semitic Studies and the Madison Biblical Archaeological Society. He is the author of The Thanksgiving Hymns (Brill/Eerdmans, 1961).

Biblical Archaeology's Greatest Achievement

Biblical archaeology has recovered from the sands and caves of the Near East some excit ing discoveries such as Jericho, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Ugarit, Ebla, Akkadian texts and more. The past 100 years have added quite a few centuries to the story of the growth of mankind's Western culture and the Judeo- Christian religious heritage.

Biblical archaeology has greatly enhanced the study of the Biblical texts and its his- tory. Accuracy has been assured by the thor- ough way in which the natural and physi- cal sciences have become essential partners in the excavations and in the interpretation of the finds. Biblical archaeology's greatest significance is that it has corroborated many historical records in the Bible.

Biblical Archaeology's Greatest Failure

Biblical archaeology has failed to deter peo- ple who seek to validate religious concepts by archaeological finds. These people should not confuse fact with faith, history with tradition, or science with religion. As American archaeologist Nelson Glueck put it, "Faith is a personal matter and not subject to scientific inquiry."

Some archaeologists attempt to identify what they find with what they want to find. Take the case of Sir Leonard Wooley who, exca- vating in Mesopotamia in 1929, declared about his findings: "I have found the Flood!"

Biblical archaeology has not restrained some Scholars" approaching the interpretation of texts and artifacts with deliberate and inten- tional religious or political bias, resulting in chaotic and dangerous conclusions, such as the case of the Dead Sea Scrolls, "Noah's Ark," the Jerusalem and Bethlehem in Saudi Arabia" theory, and more.

Biblical Archaeology's Greatest Challenge

1. To discourage "phony" archaeologists and others who misuse Biblical archaeology to promote their own religious beliefs, concepts and rituals. Ron Rosenbaum described them as "scholars, mystics and Messiah freaks who have been driven mad searching for fingerprints of God in the Dead Sea Scrolls. They have generated conspiracy theories and religious fantasies." (Vanity Fair, November 1992)
2. To introduce the science of archaeol- ogy - a technical subject - to a non-techni- cal audience, without sacrificing either objective scholarship or clarity, as in Biblical Archaeology Review.
3. To formulate a code of professional ethics for Biblical archaeology to be adopted by professional archaeological societies asso- ciated with Biblical studies.