William G. Dever

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William G. Dever is an American archaeologist, specialising in the history of Israel and the Near East in Biblical times, who was Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona from 1975 to 2002.

A frequent author on questions relating to the historicity of the Bible, Dever is scathing in his dismissal of "minimalists" who deny any historical value to the Biblical accounts. However he is far from being a supporter of Biblical literalism either. Instead he has written that

"Archaeology as it is practiced today must be able to challenge, as well as confirm, the Bible stories. Some things described there really did happen, but others did not. The Biblical narratives about Abraham, Moses, Joshua and Solomon probably reflect some historical memories of people and places, but the "larger than life" portraits of the Bible are unrealistic and contradicted by the archaeological evidence".[1]

However, Dever is also clear that his historical field should be seen on a much broader canvas than merely how it relates to the Bible:

"The most naïve [misconception about Syro-Palestinian archaeology] is that the rationale and purpose of "biblical archaeology" (and, by extrapolation, Syro-Palestinian archaeology) is simply to elucidate the Bible, or the lands of the Bible"[2]

[edit] Publications (selected)

  • Dever, William G. (2001), What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It? What Archaeology Can Tell Us about the Reality of Ancient Israel, Eerdmans ISBN 0-8028-4794-3
  • Dever, William G. (2003), Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come from?, Eerdmans ISBN 0-8028-0975-8
  • Dever, William G. (2005), Did God Have a Wife?: Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel, Eerdmans ISBN 0-8028-2852-3

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dever, William G. (March/April 2006). "The Western Cultural Tradition Is at Risk". Biblical Archaeology Review 32, No 2: 26 & 76.
  2. ^ Dever, William G.. “Archaeology”, The Anchor Bible Dictionary, 358.


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