500 - A Century of Biblical Archaeology

A Century of Biblical Archaeology
By P. R. S. Moorey
Louisville, Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992. 189pp. $14.99.

P. R. S. Moorey approaches his topic as an archaeologist rather than a biblical scholar. The result is not merely a survey of a century of biblical archaeology, as the title implies, but a sustained critique of the tradition of biblical archaeology. Moorey treats biblical archaeology as a distinctively American tradition against which he places the great tradition of British archaeology, beginning with General Pitt Rivers and running through Flinders Petrie to Mortimer Wheeler and Kathleen Kenyon.

Although Moorey treads familiar ground, his focus on the history of the complex relationship between archaeology and the Bible, his attention to the British tradition, and his provocative critique of the contributions of W. F. Albright and his students give this work a distinctive place in the literature. For the most part, Moorey provides a balanced, insightful, and judicious assessment, although he may not be completely immune to a charge of provincialism. The book is generally accessible and should be of interest to lay readers as well as scholars.

Harold O. Forshey
Miami University
Oxford, OH.