From Chile to Gibeah Biblical Archaeology -A Methodist Approach-
Based on a 2024 master’s thesis submitted to Ibn Haldun University’s Graduate School of Graduate Studies, this book is an interdisciplinary study of biblical archaeology, which brings together the sciences of archaeology and the history of religions, and the archaeological excavations at Tell el-Fūl/Gibeah of Saul (1922- 23 and 1933) by William Foxwell Albright (d.1971), who gave this field its “golden age” with his important studies, from a Methodist perspective. The aim of the study is to demonstrate how Albright, from a Methodist perspective, utilized the science of archaeology to determine the accuracy of the biblical narrative through the example of his archaeological excavations at Tell el-Fūl/Gibeah of Saul. As a matter of fact, archaeology is one of the sciences from which the discipline of the history of religions makes the most use of its knowledge. Archaeology is a branch of science that investigates, records and tries to interpret the social, cultural and social life and order of human communities that lived in the past by focusing on the material remains that have survived to the present day. In its most general form, the term Bible refers to the books of the Old Testament and the New Testament, which are considered sacred by Jews and Christians. The term biblical archaeology, on the other hand, refers to the study of the peoples, cultures and eras described in the narratives of the Old and New Testaments through archaeological remains. This research, which examines biblical archaeology from a Methodist perspective through the example of the archaeological excavations conducted by W. Foxwell Albright at Tell el- Fūl/Gibeah of Saul, consists of an introduction and two chapters. The introduction deals with the purpose, significance, methodology, limitations, and sources of the study. The first part describes the Albright-centered archaeology of biblical archaeology. In other words, this chapter deals with the theoretical background of biblical archaeology, its historical development centered on Albright, the problem of nomenclature and its important schools. The second part of the book deals with William Foxwel Albrigt’s Methodist religious background, the biblical narrative of Gibeah, Albright’s archaeological excavations in the case of Tell el- Fūl/Gibeah of Saul in order to verify the accuracy of this narrative, and the subsequent criticisms of these archaeological studies.
Keywords: Archaeological Excavation; Gibeah; Biblical Archaeology; Methodist; Tell el-Fūl; William Foxwell Albright