Sunday, August 25, 2013
TGSAT
Although it has taken me nearly three years to complete, I am about to finish the masters phase of Biblical Archaeology at TGSAT; http://www.trinitytheology.org/.
I have 6.7 modules left to complete and I must package up my practical work.
TGSAT is designed to help educate third world country students who would otherwise have no access to such. There are a few of us who are from developed countries. We pay a small fee but no tuition. That fee is then used to sponsor a third world student who cannot pay. Those students' minds are not lost because of poverty!
The quality of the course content is tough but enriching and most interesting. TGSAT is ICAATS accredited (http://icaats.com/).
TGSAT offers a variety of disciplines with a Biblical basis; archaeology, eduation, as well as theology. It also provides a forum website for students and teachers to pose questions and encouage academic discussion. Anyone can view the discussion but enrollment is necessary to join the discussons. http://www.trinitytheology.org/forum/
If you cannot afford to pay a fee talk to Dr Philip,Presdent, he can help. We need to educate Christian leaders in these troubled times.
If you are a retired educator, please consider helping our staff. All the staff and faculty are volunteers with at least one (but most many) advanced degrees.
Many of the volunteers have day jobs so their time with TGSAT is limited. More volunteer educators and ancillary staff means more students can be accomodated. TGSAT enrollment is in the thousands while the staff is limited! If God places it on your heart to help, please contact Dr Johnson Philip through the main TGSAT website...link at my name, Thank you, Deedy
Coursera
www.coursera.org
I just wanted to share this great network of colleges and universities FREE classes online. Many of the class offerings are from ivy league schools! A certificate of completion is available on successful completion of the courses; they are not credit classes in the traditional sense but those certificates will enhance any resume.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Research related to “The Hittite Problem” by Alan Montgomery confirmed something I have been contemplating through several volumes of information; that is, Egyptology is a great deal older than Biblical archaeology so it’s hard to challenge its presuppositions. It started out as a means to loot the riches of ancient civilizations and grew into an academic discipline. That discipline remains hard and fast in its own Egyptologist set chronology.
Apparently it can be academic suicide to question the status quo in archaeology. Many parents tell their children, “I want you to grow up and go to college and do all the other things I couldn’t do.” and then, by their actions (and sometimes inactions), quench the kid’s desire to do so. Academia is often a more grand extension of this faulty philosophy. We tell our students we want them to think outside of the box but when they do we humiliate them. (I use the pronoun “we” meaning academia in general not specifically to any one in particular. I hope I have never done this to my children or to my students.)
Yet no parent, teacher or archaeologist would openly admit to such an idiotic ideology. I have previously mentioned and commented on the childish language archaeologists use when reviewing another archaeologist’s work. It is perfectly all right to critique another’s work but not in a negative way. Doing so presents a paper which anyone with half a brain is going to dismiss on grounds of childish scrapping. The paper might even present some valid information but it’s going to be overlooked because of the foolish loose language.
Since the majority of my career in archaeology will be in my declining years I have no time for such nonsense. Although I may participate in a few more digs, I rather doubt most of my remaining career will be spent in more than research. Reading papers and books with out and out little boy slurs and outright unkind insults to someone’s integrity or academic preparation is more than annoying; it’s a complete turn off. Further, the students who read that trash then learn to propagate it.
Perhaps my first project should be a free book with some guidelines of how to write a paper reviewing another scholar’s work without being obnoxious. If it’s free maybe some of the scholars who are at fault might even read it. Bruce gently approached the subject of modifying the Egyptian chronology while Montgomery pointed out, in great detail, obvious chronological problems. Neither of these authors did any name calling or pronounced any condemnations but others have done so to them. They have good reasoning which has been suggested before and since by the greats of Biblical Archaeology.
Still the Egyptologists refuse to bend. It seems females in the discipline are even less inclined to rock the proverbial boat then males. This is disconcerting since more and more women are entering the field of archaeology. Are we (females) expected to submit to the male Biblical archaeologist when he is wrong? Are students expected to submit to their masters when they know the master is wrong?
Even though the term Biblical archaeologist suggests a God fearing person, it’s rarely the case today. In my studies, I have found more Biblical archaeologists who became such merely to destroy Judeo Christian concepts. They would more aptly be named Anti Biblical archaeologists. Their main goal is to prove the Bible is incorrect; they only need to prove one passage of the Bible is a lie to discount the entire collection of books.
Despite the myriad of discoveries which confirm Biblical passages, these people continue to attack unconfirmed passages and ignore the confirmed verses. They are not dwelling on the confirmed passages in their lectures or their papers. We need many more Judeo Christian Biblical archaeologists. Even worse, Christian colleges and universities are becoming not so Christian and more evolutionary. I fail to see how anyone can profess to be a Jew or a Christian while embracing evolution. Professing Judaism or Christianity implies one believes the Bible, the Word of God, is infallible. There is no room for compromise. So far, archaeological finds have confirmed the Biblical account when adequate investigation has been carried out. Though some excavations have cast doubt, subsequent excavation has confirmed.
Dolores Bernice Davis (Deedy Davis) August 14, 2013
Apparently it can be academic suicide to question the status quo in archaeology. Many parents tell their children, “I want you to grow up and go to college and do all the other things I couldn’t do.” and then, by their actions (and sometimes inactions), quench the kid’s desire to do so. Academia is often a more grand extension of this faulty philosophy. We tell our students we want them to think outside of the box but when they do we humiliate them. (I use the pronoun “we” meaning academia in general not specifically to any one in particular. I hope I have never done this to my children or to my students.)
Yet no parent, teacher or archaeologist would openly admit to such an idiotic ideology. I have previously mentioned and commented on the childish language archaeologists use when reviewing another archaeologist’s work. It is perfectly all right to critique another’s work but not in a negative way. Doing so presents a paper which anyone with half a brain is going to dismiss on grounds of childish scrapping. The paper might even present some valid information but it’s going to be overlooked because of the foolish loose language.
Since the majority of my career in archaeology will be in my declining years I have no time for such nonsense. Although I may participate in a few more digs, I rather doubt most of my remaining career will be spent in more than research. Reading papers and books with out and out little boy slurs and outright unkind insults to someone’s integrity or academic preparation is more than annoying; it’s a complete turn off. Further, the students who read that trash then learn to propagate it.
Perhaps my first project should be a free book with some guidelines of how to write a paper reviewing another scholar’s work without being obnoxious. If it’s free maybe some of the scholars who are at fault might even read it. Bruce gently approached the subject of modifying the Egyptian chronology while Montgomery pointed out, in great detail, obvious chronological problems. Neither of these authors did any name calling or pronounced any condemnations but others have done so to them. They have good reasoning which has been suggested before and since by the greats of Biblical Archaeology.
Still the Egyptologists refuse to bend. It seems females in the discipline are even less inclined to rock the proverbial boat then males. This is disconcerting since more and more women are entering the field of archaeology. Are we (females) expected to submit to the male Biblical archaeologist when he is wrong? Are students expected to submit to their masters when they know the master is wrong?
Even though the term Biblical archaeologist suggests a God fearing person, it’s rarely the case today. In my studies, I have found more Biblical archaeologists who became such merely to destroy Judeo Christian concepts. They would more aptly be named Anti Biblical archaeologists. Their main goal is to prove the Bible is incorrect; they only need to prove one passage of the Bible is a lie to discount the entire collection of books.
Despite the myriad of discoveries which confirm Biblical passages, these people continue to attack unconfirmed passages and ignore the confirmed verses. They are not dwelling on the confirmed passages in their lectures or their papers. We need many more Judeo Christian Biblical archaeologists. Even worse, Christian colleges and universities are becoming not so Christian and more evolutionary. I fail to see how anyone can profess to be a Jew or a Christian while embracing evolution. Professing Judaism or Christianity implies one believes the Bible, the Word of God, is infallible. There is no room for compromise. So far, archaeological finds have confirmed the Biblical account when adequate investigation has been carried out. Though some excavations have cast doubt, subsequent excavation has confirmed.
Dolores Bernice Davis (Deedy Davis) August 14, 2013
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