Module description
This module will consider the history of the study of so-called ‘Biblical archaeology’ and the main methodological issues involved. It will trace the history of this discipline, and then focus on the critical topics that have arisen over the past fifty years in terms of the relationship between the Bible and archaeological evidence. The module will be organised chronologically to consider initially how the archaeological discoveries throughout the Near East have impacted on understandings of the Genesis narratives, through to the dating of the Exodus, the discoveries of comparative law codes (for Mosaic Law), the ‘conquest’ of Canaan and features of the beginning of the Iron Age, dating and defining David and the ‘United Kingdom’ (maximalist and minimalist theories), Iron Age II and the Babylonian Conquest, the Persian and Hellenistic periods and later canonical and deutero-canonical/apocryphal literature; Jesus and the emerging church within Second Temple Judaism and the archaeology of first-century Judaea and Galilee; Jewish Diaspora (synagogues/community) and the earliest churches; the media and Biblical archaeology.
Students will be required to give a short seminar on a chosen topic during class time and be expected to prepare for each seminar by reading the Biblical texts relevant to the topics for each week.
[As an optional addition following on from this module, it is hoped that permission will be given by the Israel Antiquities Authority for a small Iron Age II site to be licensed to Dr. Taylor and Israeli archaeologist Professor Shimon Gibson, allowing the opportunity for interested students to participate in a small-scale excavation in Israel (two weeks) as a separate follow-up to this module in the summer term. If this is not available then another excavation opportunity can be easily organised. This will be purely for interest only, for experience, and no credits are awarded for this]
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/trs/modules/level7/7aatc232.aspx
Assessment details
Coursework;presentation/s
one 5,000-word essay (85%) and one seminar presentation (15%)
Teaching pattern
one two-hour class weekly over 10 weeks.