Anthony J. Frendo introduces biblical students and scholars alike to the discipline of archaeology by explaining how the minds of professional archaeologists work, explaining what archaeologists seek, how they go about doing so, and how they interpret their data. Frendo shows those engaged in biblical scholarship how they can properly integrate biblical research with archaeological discoveries in a way that allows the bible and archaeology to be viewed and kept as distinct disciplines, the respective results of which, where relevant, may be integrated in productive discussion. Frendo also examines how the archaeology of the ancient Near East (particularly that of the southern Levant) has an essential bearing on how scholars can better appreciate the text of the bible, including its religious message. Frendo examines such matters as artefacts, stratigraphy and chronology, and archaeological reasoning. He also demonstrates that, whilst generally it is archaeology that casts light on the biblical text, at points biblical interpretation can help archaeologists to understand certain data.

Anthony J. Frendo introduces biblical students and scholars alike to the discipline of archaeology by explaining how the minds of professional archaeologists work, explaining what archaeologists seek, how they go about doing so, and how they interpret their data. Frendo shows those engaged in biblical scholarship how they can properly integrate biblical research with archaeological discoveries in a way that allows the bible and archaeology to be viewed and kept as distinct disciplines, the respective results of which, where relevant, may be integrated in productive discussion. Frendo also examines how the archaeology of the ancient Near East (particularly that of the southern Levant) has an essential bearing on how scholars can better appreciate the text of the bible, including its religious message. Frendo examines such matters as artefacts, stratigraphy and chronology, and archaeological reasoning. He also demonstrates that, whilst generally it is archaeology that casts light on the biblical text, at points biblical interpretation can help archaeologists to understand certain data.

The nature of historical and archaeological research is such that biblical and archaeological evidence should both be taken into account so that we can attain a more reliable reconstruction of ancient Israel. Nowadays we are faced with numerous reconstructions which are very often diametrically opposed to each other owing to the different assumptions of scholars. An examination of certain issues of epistemology in the current climate of postmodernism, shows that the latter is self-defeating when it claims that we cannot attain any true knowledge about the past.
Illustrations are taken from the history of pre-exilic Israel; however, the indissoluble unity of text and artefact is made clearer and more concrete through a detailed case study about the location of the house of Rahab as depicted in Joshua 2: 15, irrespective of whether this text is historical or not. Text and artefact should work hand in hand even when narratives turn out to be fictional, since thus there emerges a clearer picture of the external world which the author would have had in mind.

The nature of historical and archaeological research is such that biblical and archaeological evidence should both be taken into account so that we can attain a more reliable reconstruction of ancient Israel. Nowadays we are faced with numerous reconstructions which are very often diametrically opposed to each other owing to the different assumptions of scholars. An examination of certain issues of epistemology in the current climate of postmodernism, shows that the latter is self-defeating when it claims that we cannot attain any true knowledge about the past. Illustrations are taken from the history of pre-exilic Israel; however, the indissoluble unity of text and artefact is made clearer and more concrete through a detailed case study about the location of the house of Rahab as depicted in Joshua 2: 15, irrespective of whether this text is historical or not. Text and artefact should work hand in hand even when narratives turn out to be fictional, since thus there emerges a clearer picture of the external world which the author would have had in mind.