Stones, Bones, Texts and Relevance: Or, How I Lost my Fear of Biblical Archaeology and Started Enjoying It

Biblical Archaeology is seen by many as being an outdated and outmoded practice of archaeology, so much so that many have proposed dropping this term altogether. In this brief contribution, while acknowledging some of the past problems of Biblical Archaeology, I attempt to demonstrate how mainstream Biblical Archaeology is still a vibrant, cutting edge and important professional endeavor, one which unabashedly can stand at the forefront of archaeological research, in comparison with any of the other many subsets of the archaeological profession throughout the world today. In fact, I argue that not only should the title Biblical Archaeologist not be abandoned-but rather, as I do-be professed with pride!.