The Stones Cry Out

Good material on the archaeological support of the biblical record has been hard to come by in recent years. Material used to be available for the general public, and we have had video materials available from the work of Harvey Porter through this program for many years, but books on the subject have been hard to come by. The material that has been out there has either been so skeptical that it was unusable, so complicated that the average reader could not understand it, or so full of obvious errors that it was not usable. Randall Price is a professor of archeology at the University of Texas and has his Ph.D. in Middle Eastern Studies. He has participated in archeological digs in Galilee and has worked at Qumran on excavations of the Dead Sea Scrolls. His book is very readable and very understandable even to the reader who does not have extensive background in these disciplines.

The real strength of this book is that is starts out explaining what archaeology can and cannot do, and then it gives data which has a bearing on relevant questions and challenges to the credibility of Christianity. The book has three parts with the following headings: What Archaeology Proves, New Discoveries in Archaeology, and Listening to the Stones Today.

Price takes us on a survey of digs in the past that have been important and what they have told us. He then goes through what is known in archaeology that has a bearing on the Bible--the patriarchs, Sodom and Gomorra, the Exodus, Jericho, David, the Temple, and the Ark of the Covenant. He also does a survey of prophesy, miracles, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and archaeology and Jesus. The interaction of faith and archaeology are discussed from several perspectives. Price understands the challenges of biblical minimalists and provides answers to many of these challenges. The last 90 pages of this 438 page book gives a chronological history of the Bible, a list of relevant museums, a glossary, and a list of suggested readings.

This is a very useful book. It is deep enough to provide meat for those interested in searching out archaeological support for the Bible and answering challenges, and yet it is written in a way that the average person can understand what is being said and how it can be applied. We recommend it highly.

Back to Contents Does God Exist?, JulAug03.