For most of history, the Bible stood largely alone as a witness to its own ancient world. That changed dramatically as archaeologists began excavating the lands of the ancient Near East — uncovering inscriptions naming biblical kings, clay tablets confirming biblical events from the enemy's own perspective, and ancient manuscripts that placed copies of the biblical text, some over a thousand years older than previously known, directly into scholars' hands.This book surveys the most significant of these discoveries — from the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Tel Dan Stele confirming King David's dynasty, from the Cyrus Cylinder to the earliest known New Testament papyrus fragments — explaining what was found, how, and what it does and doesn't tell us, honestly distinguishing settled findings from genuinely contested ones.
For most of history, the Bible stood largely alone as a witness to its own ancient world. That changed dramatically as archaeologists began excavating the lands of the ancient Near East — uncovering inscriptions naming biblical kings, clay tablets confirming biblical events from the enemy's own p...