A Major Christian School Just Shut Down Its Biblical Archeology Program

Quick to Listen

Christianity Today

Religion, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.3 • 622 Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2020

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Transcribed highlights of the show can be found in our episode summaries. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has the largest evangelical archeology program. It’s also the only evangelical institution to offer a doctoral degree in the field. But this school year will be its last. “We will no longer offer degrees in archaeology because they are incongruent with our mission to maximize resources in the training of pastors and other ministers of the gospel for the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention,” Southwestern announced in a statement. Southwestern also suggested that its decision was linked to the spread of COVID-19 and the pandemic will curtail some digs this year, says John Monson, associate professor of Old Testament and Semitic languages at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. But ultimately, Monson doesn’t think that the disease is the greatest threat to the discipline. “This is a field that's been around since Napoleon Bonaparte, so about 1799, and it's weathered a lot more than this coronavirus,” said Monson, whose archaeological fieldwork has taken him to Syria, Lebanon, and numerous excavations in Israel. “And there's always been an interest in the Bible and there still is an interest in the Bible in much of the world today….I think the bigger challenge is going to be continued interest on the part of Christians and particularly evangelical institutions.” Monson joined digital media producer Morgan Lee and editorial director Ted Olsen to discuss where Southwestern’s shutdown of their program leaves the state of biblical archeology, how apologetics fits into this discipline, and what happens when what scripture suggests and what is found on the ground doesn’t exactly line up. What is Quick to Listen? Read more Rate Quick to Listen on Apple Podcasts Follow the podcast on Twitter Follow our hosts on Twitter: Morgan Lee and Ted Olsen Music by Sweeps Quick to Listen is produced by Morgan Lee and Matt Linder The transcript is edited by Bunmi Ishola Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show, the podcast that helps you find
0:07.5	clear answers to tough questions about Christianity. Learn to explain your faith with courage and
0:13.3	compassion. Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at Apologeticsky.com.
0:26.6	Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has the largest evangelical archaeology program, also the only evangelical institution to offer a doctoral degree in the field.
0:31.6	But this school year will be its last.
0:34.6	We will no longer offer degrees in archaeology because they are
0:38.1	incongruent with our mission to maximize resources in the training of pastors and other ministers
0:42.7	of the gospel for the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention, Southwestern, announced
0:46.9	in a statement. This change also comes two years after the seminary's former president, Paige Patterson,
0:52.3	was forced out after the board of trustees determined he
0:55.0	had mishandled two cases of seminary students reporting that they had been raped. Patterson, it's
1:00.4	important to note, is the person who brought this program to the school. The following year,
1:04.7	the new president, Adam W. Greenway, said that the school needed to, quote, recalibrate and return to
1:10.6	its core commitments.
1:12.1	We wanted to discuss where Southwestern's shutdown of their program leaves the state of
1:16.9	biblical archaeology. You are listening to Quick to Listen where we go beyond hashtags and hot
1:23.6	takes to discuss a major cultural event. I'm Morgan Lee, digital media producer here at Christianity Today.
1:29.6	And I am Ted Olson.
1:31.2	I'm editorial director at Christianity Today.
1:43.7	And happy to be back with you, Morgan. Happy Easter. Happy Easter to you too. Ted is great to have you here,
1:51.6	and I'm looking forward to the conversation that we're going to be having today. Yeah, me too.
1:56.0	This will be fun. Ted, I think it'd be great to have a gut check and to hear your reactions to this particular news.
	...

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