The Case For Christ

Herodium, all in Israel, over an eight-year period. He has
studied RoInan archaeological sites in England and Wales,
analyzed digs in Greece, and retraced much of the apostle Paul's
journeys.
At age sixty-six, McRay's hair is turning silvery and his glasses
have become thicker, but he still exudes an air of adventure.
Over the desk in his office-and in fact also over his bed at
home-is a detailed horizontal photograph of Jerusalem. "I live in
the shadow of it, he remarked, a sense of longing in his voice,
as he pointed out specific locations of excavations and
significant findings. His office features the kind of cozy couch
you'd find on the front porch of a country home. I settled into
it while McRay, casually dressed in an open-necked shirt and a
sports jacket that looked comfortably worn, leaned back in his
desk chair.
Seeking to test whether he would overstate the influence of
archaeology, I decided to open our interview by asking him what
it can't tell us about the reliability of the New Testament.
After all, as McRay notes in his textbook, even if archaeology
can establish that the cities of Medina and Mecca existed in
western Arabia during the sixth and seventh centuries, that
doesn't prove that Muhammad lived there or that the Koran is
true.
"Archaeology has made some important contributions," he began,
speaking in a drawl he picked up as a child in southeastern
Oklahoma, "but it certainly can't proved whether the New
Testament is the Word of God. If we dig in Israel and find
ancient sites that are consistent with where the Bible said we'd
find them, that shows that its history and geography are
accurate. However, it doesn't confirm that what Jesus Christ said
is right. Spiritual truths cannot be proved or disproved by
archaeological discoveries."
As an analogy, he offered the story of Heinrich Schliemann, who
searched for Troy in an effort to prove the historical accuracy
of Homer's Iliad. "He did find Troy," McRay observed with a
gentle smile, "but that didn't prove the Iliad was true. It was
merely accurate in a particular geographical reference."
Once we had set some boundaries for what archaeology can't
establish, I was anxious to begin exploring what it can tell us
about the New Testament. I decided to launch into this topic by
making an observation that grew out of my experience as an