What does the following quote from Wikipedia mean with regard to Biblical archaeology:?

Question

"Biblical archaeology has turned up more evidence about Judaism and Christianity than any other middle-eastern religion."

Read one way, that doesn't make any sense:

Biblical archaeology, more than any other religion, has turned up more evidence about Judaism and Christianity.

But read the other way it simply says that Judaism and Christianity have more evidence for them than any other mideast religion. Seems reasonable but the qualifier "more than any other mideast religion" in my paraphrase implies that there may be more archaeological evidence for another religion (not a middle eastern one).

For me this isn't a grammatical question so I'll ask the following:

Can anyone tell me where I can find a summary of archaeological research on a variety of living world religions?

Oh, and I'm not interested in the validity of the Wikipedia quote. It's just a way for me to begin my question.

Arnon: If by "based" you mean that it has as a pretext for a question a short discussion of a Wikipedia quote, you're right.

But if by "based" you mean as a foundation for the underlying inquiry, I wouldn't say that's valid. However, it is true that the quote itself is what triggered the question in my mind, regardless of its accuracy.

Answer 1

Forbidden Archeology:
The Hidden History of the Human Race

Authors: Michael A. Cremo and Richard L. Thompson
Publisher: BBT Science 1996
ISBN #: 0-89213-294-9 Hardbound, 952 pages. 6" x 9"

Also you might find "Answers In Genesis" a decent site on a number of items

Answer 2

The archaeological evidence has proven that many of the people and places mentioned in the Bible did indeed exist.

This is important because skeptics said some of those people were fiction and because many of the cities/civilizations mentioned in the Bible vanished long ago they were doubted by the skeptics as well.

Archeology has also found information about Pagan religions that used to exist in the Middle East, which is of great historical interest

Islam is probably still too recent for cities and civilizations have have been buried under the sands of time although it would be interesting if they could discover an early copy of the Koran so we could compare it to the Korans of today.

Mormonism is a valid candidate for archaeological research given that the Book of Mormon gives a history of the ancient Americas, however not one scrap of archaeological evidence has so far been found that would support Mormon teachings.

No evidence doesn't prove something didn't happen, it just means no evidence has been found for it - so it's neither proven or disproven.

Answer 3

This is mostly regarding bible archeology but you might find his bibliography of some use.
http://www.bibleorigins.net/booksreccomended.html
Other than that you could call your museum curators involved in such studies or the anthropology, archeology and history departments at your local university. University and public libraries often have links to allow referencing materials and it can normally be done over the internet.

As for the quote, I guess you tend to find what you look for. There is an awful mountain of evidence for egyptian and greek religions in the area too. Petra is a lovely example of how religions mixed in the area.

Answer 4

what the heck is "biblical archeology"?? that's got to mean archeology done by people who are actively looking for biblical "evidence". so no surprise when they claim to discover more evidence for the *biblical* religions of Judaism and Christianity, than they do for non-biblical ones!

in other words it's a biased article about a bogus science. what do you think "Qu'ranian archeology" might turn up?

Answer 5

Wikopedia is not a legitimate reference.

Moreover, since Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all trace back to Abraham and were invented by related quasi-historic tribes of illiterate Semitic goat herders, for much of the regions history they were the same people.

Answer 6

Watch the History Channel or the National Geographic channel for lots of info on these and related topics.

Answer 7

An addendum to that could be, "The world doesn't owe us, we owe the world." Having the world at our disposal makes some people think that they can just take. It's crazy.

Answer 8

And yet your question is based on a wikipedia quote which is about as valid a source as a fortune cookie.

Answer 9

Try All religions arch

Answer 10

Maybe if a religion had more followers, it would have more proof. All this research money is coming from the church!