SHIFTING GROUND IN THE HOLY LAND.

BIBLICAL antiquities; ARCHAEOLOGY & religion; JEWISH antiquities; BIBLICAL criticism; ZERTAL, Adam; BIBLE as literature; JEWISH history -- To 1200 B.C.; PALESTINIANS

EBAL, Mount (West Bank); ISRAELReport Available

The article looks at the discoveries, critics, and political implications of biblical archaeology in Israel. Haifa University archaeologist Adam Zertal believes he has found the remains of the altar that the Bible says the prophet Joshua built on Mount Ebal after the Israelites crossed into the promised land of Canaan. Zertal believes that nearly all the events in the early books of the Old Testament actually happened and are supported by material evidence. Biblical minimalists argue the Old Testament is literary rather than historical. A third group accepts the Bible as folk memory and a mixture of fact and fiction. The article also discusses the Palestinian view that biblical archaeology was used to justify illegal settlement policy.