Introduction by Thomas Purifoy, Jr, Producer & Teacher
Welcome to the world of Biblical Archaeology! You have an opportunity to learn an extremely fascinating subject from one of the most compelling Christian archeologists in the world.
I first met Dr. Douglas Petrovich when I was filming the documentary Is Genesis History? Dr. Petrovich had done extensive research on the location of the original Tower of Babel, so I asked if he would consider being interviewed for our film. He happily agreed.
He asked to be filmed at the Oriental Institute of Chicago because of some particular artifacts they had on display. Dr. Del Tackett spent many hours with him asking one question after another; we were amazed at his insight and knowledge. (You can watch these interviews in the Creation Science course on this site.)
A few years later, Dr. Petrovich contacted me to say he had developed a class that he wanted to record on video. We were excited to assist him. He came to Nashville and spent a week filming on one of our sets.
That is the class you have before you. Since Dr. Petrovich’s main area of expertise are the events that took place during the Old Testament era, that’s what this class covers. (We hope to add a class on New Testament archeology in the future.)
In order to provide you with more information and perspective, we’ve added a number of things to his 16 lectures.
Video Lectures
Dr. Petrovich’s lectures are a fascinating look into the world of archeology. They include personal stories, archeological history, biblical insight, real artifacts, academic research, and much more. They differ in length, from nearly an hour to only 30 minutes, although most are about 45 minutes.
Please take notes during these lectures. This will help you remember what he is saying, since it can often be fairly complex. You can use these notes during your quizzes (if you parents let you).
We have also included outlines beneath the lectures that provide an overview of Dr. Petrovich’s material. There are timecodes in parenthesis that let you know where to go in the video to find that topic.
Please note: we used AI to create these outlines since it is such a helpful tool. However, AI can make mistakes in spelling and sometimes in content. We checked many places to ensure it was generally right, but it is not perfect. These outlines are just a tool for finding content – make sure to take notes from the actual lectures so you will have correct spellings and dates.
Additional Readings, Books, & Videos
The recommended readings for the class come from a few sources. In some of the lessons, we have provided readings adapted from The New Bible Handbook. These are often the first readings after quizzes.
The next set of readings are from a book that you will need to purchase: The Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archeology by Randall Price and Wayne House. This book follows the Biblical order of people and events matching them to archaeological discoveries. It starts in Genesis and ends in Revelation, and so covers much more material than Dr. Petrovich covers in his lectures. It will provide added perspective on the world of Biblical archeology.
We also have included some optional original source material written by a variety of archeologists that is relevant to Dr. Petrovich’s topics. We hope these provide you additional perspective on how real archeologists pursue archeology. (Please note that not all archaeologists agree with each other; we have added these original readings so you can hear a variety of conservative views.)
Finally, in some places, we have added additional videos of specific dig sites and other archeological artifacts that will give you new insight into the process of archaeology.
Notes, Quizzes, Discussion Questions, & Projects
Dr. Petrovich covers a lot of material in his lectures. We therefore recommend that students take notes during his lectures. They can review the content of their notes with the outlines provided after each video. If there is a topic they need to review, they can find the timecodes included in the outlines and go back to review that section.
We have developed multiple choice quizzes that can be found after each lecture. They also include four short answer questions that are not graded, but instead pass/fail. Discuss this with your parent or teacher, but we think is it helpful for you to consult your notes during these quizzes in order to recall what he says if you don’t remember it. We believe that understanding is more important than grades.
Next, we have developed discussion questions that you can use to talk about these topics with your family or other students. The answers to these questions are included afterward.
Finally, we have created four sets of projects that are placed after lessons 4, 8, 12, and 16. Each project set has four project options within it. These are optional, but may be useful to explore different aspects of archeology. If a parent wants to grade them, we recommend them being at least 50% of the grade of the class.
Final Thoughts
I hope you truly enjoy this class. Dr. Petrovich is an excellent teacher who has an engaging teaching style. He has taught me an enormous amount about archeology and the history of the Biblical world. He loves the Lord and has a deep respect for the authority of the Bible. His brilliance and erudition (a word you should look up if you are unfamiliar with it) are apparent in every lecture. I have no doubt you will walk away from this class with a greater appreciation not only for archeology, but the trustworthiness of the Bible.
I will close with a quote from a famous biblical archeologist to whom Dr. Petrovich will introduce you in the first lecture.
“There can be no doubt that archaeology has confirmed the substantial historicity of Old Testament tradition.” – William F. Albright
