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Course Descriptions

Semester Course Schedule Long-Term Program Dates Short-Term Program Dates Entrance Requirements Course Descriptions

ONLINE ARCH 5/313 Archaeology of Israelite Religion - Credit Hours: 3

Semester normally offered: Fall

Course Description

This course explores the archaeology of Israelite religion from the Iron Age I through the Roman period. It examines the challenges of identifying religious sites, structures, and objects, especially in light of biblical claims about religious practices and beliefs. The course also analyzes specific archaeological features and sites identified as cultic, highlighting their roles in the religious history of ancient Israel.

Special attention is given to the complexity of Israel’s cultic expressions, both in terms of synchronic (at a given time) and diachronic (over time) perspectives. The course emphasizes how major political epochs—from the pre-monarchic to the monarchic and post-monarchic periods—shaped the material expressions of Israelite religion.

Additionally, the transition from Yahwism (or various Yahwisms) to Judaism, and the accompanying changes in material culture, are traced throughout the semester.

Join Drs. Kyle Keimer and Chris McKinny as they investigate the archaeology of Israel’s religion.

Course Equivalencies

Biblical Archaeology
History and Culture of Ancient Israel

Course Objectives

Describe basic principles and methods related to the techniques of archaeological research, including survey and excavation, as well as advanced methods of analytical research that have been integrated into archaeological studies.

  • Describe basic principles and methods of dating archaeological finds related to Israelite/Judaic religion.
  • Describe cultic material culture from each of the major archaeological periods covered and distinguish significant differences between them (from the Iron Age I to the Early Roman Period).
  • Recall the major sites associated with each of the time periods covered and the work of the archaeologists who excavated them.
  • Describe, compare, and contrast significant connections between Israel’s cultic material culture and that of neighboring cultures for each time-period covered.
  • Associate specific archaeological finds with descriptions of events or items mentioned in literary sources, including the Bible.

Field Study