The Reading Culture of Early Christianity

Edward D. Andrews — EDWARD D. ANDREWS (AS in Criminal Justice, BS in Religion, MA in Biblical Studies, and MDiv in Theology) is CEO and President of Christian Publishing House. He has authored 170+ books. Andrews is the Chief Translator of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV).

Biblical Archaeology is the study of the peoples, places, and events of the Bible through the interesting historical record that has been buried in the earth. The archaeologist painstakingly, methodically digs up and analyzes rock, ruined walls and buildings, and shattered cities. In the process of his scientific investigation, he also uncovers pottery, clay tablets, written inscriptions, tombs, and other ancient remains, or artifacts, from which he gathers information. Such studies as these often improve understanding of the conditions and events under which the Bible was penned and under which ancient men and women of faith lived, as well as the languages they, and the peoples around them, used, illuminating the periods and descriptions in the Bible, be they from the Old Testament or from the New Testament. Biblical archaeologists have expanded our knowledge and understanding of all the regions touched by the Bible: Palestine, Egypt, Persia, Assyria, Babylonia, Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome.

Biblical archaeology is comparatively a new field of study. Interestingly, it only began in 1822 with the decipherment of the Rosetta Stone, unlocking Egyptian hieroglyphics. After that, Assyrian cuneiform was decoded more than 20 years later. There were systematic archaeological excavations that began in Assyria in 1843 and in Egypt in 1850.