Looking for some research

[ForgottenToo]

There must be someone here who knows of a good biblical archeology book. I want to read something that focuses on New Testament, not Jesus conspiracies but more like the life of Paul and early Christians. I also want to read something not real technical.
Anyone have any suggestions for a book I could read?
Thanks so much!

 

[bookish12c]

There must be someone here who knows of a good biblical archeology book. I want to read something that focuses on New Testament, not Jesus conspiracies but more like the life of Paul and early Christians. I also want to read something not real technical.
Anyone have any suggestions for a book I could read?
Thanks so much!

Unfortunately most Archaeology books focus on the OT. As far as Paul and the early Christians a good place to start is in Acts. Apart from Acts anything you read about Paul is more or less guess work. Some of the Church Histories give good accounts of the early Christians, the trick is finding one that is not too tedious. Hope this is a small help.

 

[justified]

One good book might be Paul, Apostle of the Heart Set Free by F. F. Bruce. This is probably the best work that focuses on Paul.

There are plenty of NT Archaeology books. There's a whole book called Archaeology and the New Testament by John McRay (I can't vouch for him; I've never read his work). But if Paul is your focus, I'd start with Bruce!

 

[ForgottenToo]

Thanks so much!
I will search my library!

 

[archaeologist]

you can read John McCray's 'Archaeology and the New Testament' or Merrill C. Tenny's 'New Testament Times' or
Charles Page's book, 'Jesus and the Land'

that should keep you busy for awhile.

 

[Traitor1]

If you are dealing with NT writings I'd suggest Bruce Metzger and Bart Ehrham (been reading some of his works lately and they are really readable).

 

[archaeologist]

Bart Ehrham

wasn't Erhman one of the ones interviewed a little while ago by B.A.S. concerning his loss of faith through archaeology?

 

[Traitor1]

wasn't Erhman one of the ones interviewed a little while ago by B.A.S. concerning his loss of faith through archaeology?

Indeed the very one. He gives a little Biography of himself in the introduction to Misquoting Jesus..., very interesting journey he's been on to get to where he is today (a graduate of Moody Bible institute and so forth).

You read B.A.R by any chance?

 

[archaeologist]

You read B.A.R by any chance?

i get their weekly update. subscriptions are hard to manage when you live overseas.

for me part of the problem is the believing of the interpretations of the evidence found not so much of the evidence itself.

dever in one of his books, talks about the polytheism of israel andhow they went from that to monotheism. yet he ignores the fact that the israelites started off as monotheists and strayed to polytheism then returned to their originalways.

it is such thinking that makes it easy to understand why they lost their faith. they do not look at all the evidence in context with scripture reference. they solely look at the physical evidence.

 

[archaeologist]

in doing any research, you have to be very discerning and make sure you are on God's path and not a secular deception.

many decpetions sound very close to the Bible but be wary. ask God for help to lead you to the right books first.

 

[Rudolph Hucker]

i get their weekly update. subscriptions are hard to manage when you live overseas.

for me part of the problem is the believing of the interpretations of the evidence found not so much of the evidence itself.

dever in one of his books, talks about the polytheism of israel andhow they went from that to monotheism. yet he ignores the fact that the israelites started off as monotheists and strayed to polytheism then returned to their originalways.

it is such thinking that makes it easy to understand why they lost their faith. they do not look at all the evidence in context with scripture reference. they solely look at the physical evidence.

Michener wrote a most interesting novel about Israel: The Source if memory serves me well. Although a novel, it described well the early worhsip practice of the inhabitants.

 

[flaja]

There must be someone here who knows of a good biblical archeology book. I want to read something that focuses on New Testament, not Jesus conspiracies but more like the life of Paul and early Christians. I also want to read something not real technical.
Anyone have any suggestions for a book I could read?
Thanks so much!

There is one book you might want to investigate. About a year or so ago my local bookstores started selling Archaeological Study Bible: An Illustrated Walk Through Biblical History and Culture by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. and Duane Garret. I gather that it is meant as a cross reference between the Bible text and the corresponding archaeological work. There may not be much to it once you start studying it since Amazaon.com right now has 61 used ones for sale. I haven’t examined this book since it is not available at my local library and the sale price has always been at least $35 and it uses a Bible translation that I don’t trust. Needless to say it is a massive tome so I haven’t bothered to get it through inter-library loan since I probably couldn’t keep it checked out long enough to fully read it.

At any rate, if you want to study Biblical archaeology I would recommend that you start by researching the methodology of archaeology. You might want to get Archaeology Theory Methods & Practice by Colin Renfrew and P. Bahn, ISBN: 0500281475. I have read this book. While it does address the technical matters related to archaeology, it is very much meant for the layman.