The $50 million Institute is expected to restore the connection between the science of exploring the past and the Bible, according to The Jerusalem Post.
According to Professor Aren Maeir, director of the Institute, the primarily-observant Jewish university is trying to walk the golden path between “post-modernist revisionist nihilists” and “ideologically-driven conservatives”.
“The university has made a long-term commitment to place archaeology at the forefront of its priorities at a time when archaeology has been pushed to the wayside,” he said in a statement.
Archaeologists, he said, are becoming increasingly wary of making statements that might be considered politically incorrect – an issue which has led to the diminishing importance of the science in the eyes of the Israeli public.
Maeir said that Israeli archaeologists have “moved into an academic ivory tower” as a result of the political climate, where they prefer to separate themselves from findings that support Biblical texts and Jewish heritage.
He emphasized the importance of using archaeology to study past Jewish history within the context of contemporary culture, as was the case in the period just after the establishment of the State. At that time, he said, the science was used as the backbone of Zionism. Today, he noted, the trend is moving in the opposite direction – a trend he hopes the Institute will help to reverse.
According to Professor Aren Maeir, director of the Institute, the primarily-observant Jewish university is trying to walk the golden path between “post-modernist revisionist nihilists” and “ideologically-driven conservatives”.
“The university has made a long-term commitment to place archaeology at the forefront of its priorities at a time when archaeology has been pushed to the wayside,” he said in a statement.
Archaeologists, he said, are becoming increasingly wary of making statements that might be considered politically incorrect – an issue which has led to the diminishing importance of the science in the eyes of the Israeli public.
Maeir said that Israeli archaeologists have “moved into an academic ivory tower” as a result of the political climate, where they prefer to separate themselves from findings that support Biblical texts and Jewish heritage.
He emphasized the importance of using archaeology to study past Jewish history within the context of contemporary culture, as was the case in the period just after the establishment of the State. At that time, he said, the science was used as the backbone of Zionism. Today, he noted, the trend is moving in the opposite direction – a trend he hopes the Institute will help to reverse.