Dr. William G. Dever, distinguished visiting professor of Near Eastern studies at Lycoming College, has been invited to give a one-month short course in the archaeology of Israel and Biblical studies at Beijing University in China as a visiting professor in the department of history. This is the first time that a Western scholar has been invited to teach such subjects in China.
Dever's latest book, "The Lives of Ordinary People in Ancient Israel: Where Archaeology and the Bible Intersect" appeared last April.
He is now completing a history of ancient Israel based largely on archaeological remains as opposed to the texts of the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament. The book, "An Archaeological History of Israel and Judah," is expected to be a unique and highly controversial work, but one that updates all previous histories with new data.
Dever will serve as a visiting professor of archaeology in the department of Near Eastern studies at UCLA during the spring semester of 2013 before he and his wife, Dr. Pamela Gaber, Lycoming professor of archaeology and Judaic studies, return to Cyprus to direct Lycoming's archaeological field school for the summer.
