William G. Dever

William Gwinn Dever (born November 27, 1933, Louisville, Kentucky) is an American archaeologist, specialising in the history of Israel and the Near East in biblical times. He was Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Arizona in Tucson from 1975 to 2002. He is a Distinguished Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology at Lycoming College in Pennsylvania. He is married to Pamela Gaber, professor of Old Testament and Judaic Studies at Lycoming College.

Education

Dever received his BA from Milligan College in 1955, an MA from Butler University in 1959, and a BD from Christian Theological Seminary in 1959. He received his PhD from Harvard University in 1966. He describes himself as "an unreconstructed traditionalist by temperament and training."

Career

Excavations

Dever was director of the Harvard Semitic Museum-Hebrew Union College excavations at Gezer in 1966–71, 1984 and 1990; director of the dig at Khirbet el-Kôm and Jebel Qaaqir (West Bank) 1967–71; principal investigator at Tell el-Hayyat excavations (Jordan) 1981–85, and assistant director, University of Arizona Expedition to Idalion, Cyprus, 1991, among other excavations.

Topics

He used his background in Near Eastern field archaeology to argue, in Did God Have a Wife? Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel (2005), for the persistence of the veneration of Asherah in the everyday religion of 'ordinary people' in ancient Israel and Judah. Discussing extensive archaeological evidence from a range of Israelite sites, largely dated between the 12th and the 8th centuries BCE, Dever argued that this 'folk' religion, with its local altars and cultic objects, amulets and votive offerings, was representative of the outlook of the majority of the population, and that the Jerusalem-centred 'book religion' of the Deuteronomist circle set out in the Hebrew Bible was only ever the preserve of an elite, a 'largely impractical' religious ideal.

Dever's views on the worship of Asherah are based to a significant extent on inscriptions at Khirbet el-Qom and Kuntillet Ajrud (though see also his discussion of the significance of a cultic stand from Taanach), as well as thousands of Asherah figurines that archaeologists have found in various Israel locations, including a dump near the First Temple (a dump he attributes to Josiah's iconoclastic reform efforts). His views on worship of the goddess as expressed in this book have been criticised by some. On his methodological approach more generally, Francesca Stavrakopoulou has suggested that his use of the term 'folk religion' 'ultimately endorses the old stereotype of 'popular' or 'folk' religion as the simplistic practices of rural communities', so perpetuating existing 'derogatory assumptions' that more recent discourses on the topic have sought to counter. Others, however, praise Dever's contributions to understanding the history of Israel and Judah in the Iron Age.

On the historicity of the Bible

In retirement, Dever has become a frequent author on questions relating to the historicity of the Bible. He has been critical of "Biblical minimalists" who deny any historical value to the biblical accounts. However he is far from being a supporter of biblical literalism either. Instead he has written:

I am not reading the Bible as Scripture… I am in fact not even a theist. My view all along—and especially in the recent books—is first that the biblical narratives are indeed 'stories,' often fictional and almost always propagandistic, but that here and there they contain some valid historical information. That hardly makes me a 'maximalist.'

and

Archaeology as it is practiced today must be able to challenge, as well as confirm, the Bible stories. Some things described there really did happen, but others did not. The Biblical narratives about Abraham, Moses, Joshua and Solomon probably reflect some historical memories of people and places, but the 'larger than life' portraits of the Bible are unrealistic and contradicted by the archaeological evidence.

However, Dever is also clear that his historical field should be seen on a much broader canvas than merely how it relates to the Bible:

The most naïve misconception about Syro-Palestinian archaeology is that the rationale and purpose of 'biblical archaeology' (and, by extrapolation, Syro-Palestinian archaeology) is simply to elucidate the Bible, or the lands of the Bible

At Lycoming College (since 2008)

Dever joined the faculty at Lycoming College in autumn 2008. He was appointed Distinguished Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology. Regarding his new position, Dever commented: "For a small college to have so many students majoring in archaeology is unprecedented. To find students who are interested in the discipline and a faculty and administration that are supportive, augurs very well. It was really refreshing to see what a small college with a sense of community, of commitment, and of values was like."

Video lectures

• A 2013 lecture by Dever on the Exodus is available on YouTube. He argues for existence of a historical Israel in the Iron Age, contrary to "revisionists" and "minimalists" such as Niels Peter Lemche. He concludes, however, in this lecture that in the much greater part the Exodus is a myth or "pseudo-history," and that the early Israelites were mostly indigenous Canaanites.
• A 2013 lecture by Dever on whether God had a wife (Asherah) is available on YouTube. In this lecture, he characterizes the Bible as a selective version of Israelite religion told by a right-wing clique of elites, and he argues that the majority of ordinary people were not monotheistic Yahwists and they venerated the "Great Goddess Asherah." He concludes by equating Asherah with the Shekinah in subsequent Judaism.
• A similar 2014 lecture by Dever at Emory is available on YouTube.

Selected publications

• What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It? What Archaeology Can Tell Us about the Reality of Ancient Israel. Eerdmans. 2001. ISBN 0-8028-4794-3.
• Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come from?. Eerdmans. 2003. ISBN 0-8028-0975-8.
• Did God Have a Wife?: Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel. Eerdmans. 2005. ISBN 0-8028-2852-3.
• The Lives of Ordinary People in Ancient Israel: Where Archaeology and the Bible Intersect. Eerdmans. 2012. ISBN 978-0-8028-6701-8.