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Monday, May 25, 2009

Alan R. Millard on Archaeology and the Reliability of the Bible

The following article is now available in both iPaper and PDF:

Alan R. Millard, “Archaeology and the Reliability of the Bible,” Evangel 9:2 (1991): 22-25.

Professor Millard concludes:

To set out to seek to ‘prove’ the Bible from archaeology is a foolish and misconceived task. Archaeology and the Bible are seen to complement each other the more the ancient near east is studied with a positive attitude. Often archaeological discover­ies will add to the overall context of the Bible, some will show that the biblical statements or narratives could be true or correct, without being able to prove that they are so, and a few will relate closely to the biblical text, demonstrating its accuracy in various respects. With regard to the trustworthiness of the Bible, there­fore, archaeology is a useful tool for setting the text in its context and so pointing to a fuller evaluation. The better that context is understood, the more trustworthy the Bible appears as an an­cient book. The claims it makes in the spiritual realm can only be proved trustworthy by the exercise of faith, a situation as true in biblical times as it is today.

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