ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONFIRMATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT: Resources for Study

There is a mountain of archaeological evidence confirming the historicity of the New Testament. Here are some resources for beginning to explore it:

My Class: "Digging Up The New Testament"
*MP3 Audio (45 minutes)
*PowerPoint Slideshow: When you click on this link, you will note the option at the top to "Open with Google Slides" or you may open with MS PowerPoint or OpenOffice Impress (which is free).
*Class Handout
*I recommend opening the audio and using the PowerPoint Slideshow as you listen (and/or the handout).

REFERENCES FOR THE CLASS:
1. Information on Sir William Mitchell Ramsay's views about Acts before and after his archaeological work can be found at: Sir William M. Ramsay: Archaeologist and New Testament Scholar A Survey of His Contribution to the Study of the New Testament (Baker Studies in Biblical Archaeology) by W. Ward Gasque, p.23-24, 27-28.

• Example of Luke's accuracy in describing Paul's fleeing from Iconium to Lystra and Derbe in Lycaonia: See Sir William M. Ramsay: Archaeologist and New Testament Scholar A Survey of His Contribution to the Study of the New Testament (Baker Studies in Biblical Archaeology) by W. Ward Gasque, p.25-26.

2. Colin J. Hemer & Acts:

• "84 Confirmed Facts in the Last 16 Chapters of the Book of Acts" at Truthbomb Apologetics (based on Colin J. Hemer's book listed below).
• The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History by Colin J. Hemer
• Politarchs in Thessalonica: See "Archaeology and the Book of Acts" by John McRay, p.74-75.

4. A Few More Important Finds:

• 1968: The Ossuary of Yehohanan: See the online article at the Biblical Archaeology Society website.
• 2002: The Ossuary of James, Son of Joseph, Brother of Jesus: See the excellent article by Jospeh M. Holden
• 2009/2015: Two First Century Homes at Nazareth: See "Photos: 1st-Century House from Jesus' Hometown" by Owen Jarus at Live Science AND "Is Jesus' Hometown (Nazareth) a Myth?" by Joseph M. Holden (p.319-322 of The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture by Joseph M. Holden and Norman Geisler).

*For more info about Sir William Mitchell Ramsay (1851-1939). Highly recommended is Ramsay's magnum Opus: St. Paul the Traveler and the Roman Citizen  (1895, 1907) which is FREE at Christian Classics Ethereal Library, where you will also find a nice summary of the book and a short biography of Ramsay. And here is a short article by Don Stewart quoting from this book and showing how Sir William Ramsay is related to settling the question of the historicity of Acts. Sir William M. Ramsay: Archaeologist and New Testament Scholar -- A Survey of His Contribution to the Study of the New Testament by W. Ward Gasque, an excellent 95-page book about Ramsay and his contribution to New Testament study--available in a FREE PDF file. (NOTE: The link for the PDF file of the book is located below the title and publisher's info and immediately above the Table of Contents.) For a list of his later writings, see "The Later Ramsay: A Supplementary Bibliography of the Published Writings of Sir William Mitchell Ramsay" by Colin J. Hemer.

*The entire 16-week course may be found here: "HOW TO HAVE CONFIDENCE IN CHRIST THAT CHANGES THE WORLD (Apologetics 101: A Cumulative Case)"


RESOURCES FOR DIGGING DEEPER....
ONLINE ARTICLES (& BOOK CHAPTERS)
*"Why Doesn’t Archaeology Corroborate Every Detail of the New Testament Accounts?" by J. Warner Wallace
*"The Archaeological Evidence for Jesus" by Craig Evans
*"Archaeology and the Historical Reliability of the New Testament" by Peter S. Williams

*"Archaeology and the New Testament" by Kyle Butt

*TOP 30 NEW TESTAMENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS by Ronald Cram
*"Archaeology Proves the Bible Record" by Paul A. Hughes
*"The Nativity Cave and Gentile Myths" by Craig Keener
*"Photos: 1st-Century House from Jesus' Hometown" by Owen Jarus at Live Science
*"The Nazareth Home of Jesus?" by Larry Hurtado
*"Is Jesus' Hometown (Nazareth) a Myth?" by Joseph M. Holden
*"Has the House of Peter and Andrew Been Discovered in Capernaum?" by Sean McDowell
*"Archaeological Confirmation of the New Testament" by F.F. Bruce
*"Archaeology and the Book of Acts" by John McRay
*"84 Confirmed Facts in the Last 16 Chapters of the Book of Acts" at Truthbomb Apologetics (based on Colin Hemer's book listed below).
*I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist by Norm Geisler and Frank Turek, pages 255-268. Lists and explains the importance of 84 facts confirmed in Acts (from Hemer's book listed below) and 59 facts confirmed in the Gospel of John (from Blomberg's book listed below).
*The Big Book of Christian Apologetics: An A to Z Guide by Norm Geisler. See the article "Archaeology, New Testament."
*Associates for Biblical Research has dozens of articles on the "New Testament Era."
*Last Seminary hosts 4 articles on archaeology and the New Testament that can be download for FREE--with brief abstracts for each.

BOOKS
*The Archaeology of the New Testament: 75 Discoveries That Support the Reliability of the Bible (2020) by David E. Graves

*Excavating the Evidence for Jesus: The Archaeology and History of Christ and the Gospels by Titus Kennedy

*Jesus and Archaeology edited by James H. Charlesworth

*The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the  Bible: Discoveries that Confirm the Reliability of Scripture by Joseph M. Holden, Norman Geisler, and Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.
*The Archaeological Study Bible by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. and Duane Garrett.
*The Stones Cry Out by Randall Price
*The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins by Larry Hurtado
*The Historical Reliability of John's Gospel by Craig Blomberg
*Archaeology and the New Testament by John McRay
*The Kregel Pictorial Guide to Archaeology and the New Testament by John McRay
*Jesus and Archaeology edited by James Charlesworth
*The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History by Colin J. Hemer

*The Archaeology of the New Testament by Jack Finegan
*St. Paul the Traveler and the Roman Citizen  (1895, 1907) by William Ramsay. FREE at Christian Classics Ethereal Library, where you will also find a nice summary of the book and a short biography of Ramsay. And here is a short article by Don Stewart quoting from this book and showing how Sir William Ramsay is related to settling the question of the historicity of Acts.
*Jesus and the Remains of His Day (2015) by Craig Evans
*Jesus and His World: The Archaeological Evidence (2012) by Craig Evans
*The World of Jesus and the Early Church (2011) edited by Craig Evans
*Archaeology and the Bible (1917) by George A. Barton. FREE
*The Biblical Archaeology Society offers several FREE books.

INTERNET RESOURCES FOR RESEARCH
*Collection of links by Dr. Craig Evans for doing archaeological research.
*A substantial bibliography (with links, FREE pdf files and more) by Theology on the Web
*Associates for Biblical Research: tons of resources here

*Bible Archaeology Report: some excellent articles here
*Archaeology and the Bible: Nice Q & A format at ChristianAnswers.net
*BiblicalArchaeology.org.uk: lots of resources here
*"Biblical Archaeology" page at Theopedia
*"Archaeological Confirmations of Scripture": a web page of the Christian Apologetics Alliance
*Articles on Archaeology at Apologetics Press.
*NT Gateway: Links and bibliography on New Testament archaeology maintained by Dr. Mark Goodacre. Part of a large directory of academic internet resources, though sadly lacking in some of the best evangelical scholarship.
*Open Access Archaeology: A search engine for searching open access archaeology journals.
*Biblical Archaeological Links nicely organized at Dig The Bible
*An alphabetical List of 1587 open access journals on the ancient world hosted at AWOL - The Ancient World Online
*Online Resources from Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. An amazing array of FREE resources including a digital library, 3000 free images, online coins of the Roman world, images for 50,000 papyri, an open-source map-making program and more!
*Wabash Center has an annotated list of 44 resources.
*New Testament scholar John Kloppenborg's collection of links on "Archaeology"
*BibleArch
*Guided Biblical Archaeology Tour of the Holy Lands at Dig the Bible

The Arch of Titus (82 AD) depicting the sacking of Jerusalem in 70 AD

Image Source: Institute for the Study of the Ancient World hosted at Flickr's Ancient World Image Bank