Book review: coming to terms with the Old Testament
(October 1, 2020)A review of “Has Archaeology Buried the Bible?” by William Dever, and an assessment of how this informs a christian understanding of the Old Testament.
Tag: archaeology
Book review: Beyond the Texts
(August 28, 2018)You can find a lot of different views on the internet about the accuracy of Old Testament history and how archaeology does, or doesn’t, support the Old Testament accounts. Minimalist historians, and internet sceptics, will tell you it’s almost all invented myth, while maximalist historians and christian apologists will tell you that archaeology supports the […]
Did the exodus really happen?
(September 12, 2017)The exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and their travel to the Promised Land is one of the key events in Jewish religious history, and, therefore, in christian belief as well. But did it actually happen? Did something like 2 million people cross the Red Sea and through the Sinai, aided and guided by miraculous […]
Joshua & the conquest of Canaan: what's history, what's legend, what's unknown?
(March 31, 2017)I don’t know about you, but when I read the Old Testament accounts of Joshua and the Israelites invading Canaan, I don’t have any picture of the geography or where the cities were located. The matter is complicated by the fact that many people feel a lot is at stake. Believers generally want to find […]
Does archaeology show the Bible is true? Seven facts
(March 16, 2017)I’m sure you will have read, and heard it said, that archaeology confirms the accuracy of the Bible. But you may also have heard from sceptics that the Bible isn’t historically accurate. So which is true? This is a complex matter with a wide variety of conclusions among the experts. I have tried to investigate […]
Myths, legends, history and truth
(September 1, 2016)In my last three posts (plus an earlier post) I have looked at ways that we may see that biological evolution points to God as the creator, perhaps in ways that many would find unexpected. If evolution is true, how can consciousness and free will be explained? No-one knows how human consciousness arises, nor how […]
Who were the first human beings?
(September 3, 2015)Difficult issues series Last post (Why the fuss about evolution?) we looked at how the science of biological evolution impacts on christianity. We saw that the DNA evidence indicates that there was never a single Adam and Eve style couple as the ancestors of the human race. This then raises the interesting question – who […]
Face to face with the Old Testament
(May 22, 2015)The Old Testament presents a number of problems for many christians. We are taught it is the inspired Word of God, yet it contains many things we find difficult – Genesis 1-3 is contradicted by evolution, God commands his people to invade and kill, and there are some strange events that are hard to swallow […]
The Old Testament: an update on a journey (part 2)
(April 7, 2014)Last post I described how I have been on a journey working out what I think is true, or not, about the Old Testament. This post I try to draw some conclusions.
The Old Testament: an update on a journey (part 1)
(April 1, 2014)This post is very much a personal reflection about a journey I am still on. For years I didn’t think much about the Old Testament. I read it sometimes, looked up passages occasionally, appreciated Isaiah and Ezekiel. But I didn’t really spend much time considering what I thought about it. After all, I am a […]