Metro

Does The Truth

Hurt?

Secular Humanistic colloquium focuses
on the impact of biblical archaeology.

Dr. Israel Finkelstein on location at the

Megiddo excavation in Israel

Don Cohen
Special to the Jewish News

w

Is there an

alternat e His tory

based on

archaeology?

October 13 . 2005

hat? No Moses?" "Did
the Exodus from
Egypt really take
place?" "Who wrote the Torah?"
"Did Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
ever exist?"
These are some of the
provocative questions promoting
"Colloquium '05: Digging for the
Truth: Archaeology and the
Bible" featuring two of the
world's most respected biblical
archaeologists Oct. 21-23 at the
Birmingham Temple in
Farmington Hills
"There has been.an over-
whelming interest in biblical
archaeology, but while there is a
lot of excitement, there has not
been a lot of information:'
explained Rabbi Sherwin T.
Wine, dean of the International
Institute for Secular Humanistic
Judaism (IISHJ) in the United
States and founding rabbi of the
Birmingham Temple.
"What does biblical archaeolo-
gy have to say about the biblical
reliability, about all the basic sto-
ries of Jewish history? Is there an
alternative history based on
archaeology?"
Professors Israel Finkelstein of
Tel Aviv University and Amihai
Mazar of Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, in dialogue and dis-

cussion with a panel of biblical
scholars and a lay audience, will
explore the answers.
Dr. Finkelstein is a professor in
Tel Aviv University's Department

"Best of 2001."
Dr. Mazar is a professor at
Hebrew University's Institute of
Archaeology and has directed
the Survey of the Aqueducts of

Tel Aviv University; Paula

McNutt, professor of religious

studies and dean of arts and sci-
ences at Canisius College,
Buffalo, N.Y.; and Brian B.
Schmidt, professor of Near
Eastern studies at the University
of Michigan.

Bring An Open Mind

Asked about the best way to
prepare for the colloquium, Dr.
Finkelstein says he hopes people
will "come with no pre-concep-
tion.
"They must consider that our
world does not depend on the
question whether every word in
the text is historically accurate
he said. "And, finally, they can
profit from understanding the
exciting world of late-monarchic
Remainder of levels K-6 and K-5 at Megiddo
Jerusalem and Judah (the 8th
and 7th centuries BCE), where
biblical history was born. The
strain and stresses of that time
of Archaeology and Ancient Near Jerusalem and excavations at Tel
and
the extraordinary creativity
Eastern Civilizations. From 1992
Qasile, Tel Batash (biblical
of the people who lived there —
to the present, he has co-directed Timnah), Tel Beth Shean and Tel
the Megiddo (ancient
Rehov. Dr. Mazar is the author of - in a small and remote nation —
are no less exciting than the
Armageddon) Expedition. He is
Archaeology of the Land of the
parting of the sea and the fall of
the author of The Bible
Bible, the award-winning stan-
Unearthed: Archaeology's New
dard text on biblical archaeology. the walls of Jericho.
"Jewish faith does not need
Vision of Ancient Israel and the
The panel of respondents
archaeology' said Dr. Finkelstein,
Origin of Its Sacred Texts, called
includes Rabbi Wine; Harry T.
rejecting the idea that his
"a balanced, thoughtful, bold
Cook, Episcopal minister and
research threatens Judaism. "It is
reconsideration of the historical
rector of St. Andrews Church in
based on the Bible as culture and
period that produced the Hebrew Clawson; Ya'akov Malkin, profes-
Bible" by Amazon.com in its
sor of rhetoric and aesthetics at
The Navigator on page 34

33