The Biblical Archaeology Society seems to have gone after William Dever this week, with its publication of a non-complimentary book review of Did God Have a Wife? in the Sept/Oct issue. And Anson Rainey has a (web-only) column which also skewers Dever:

As Frank Cross, usually considered the dean of paleographers, once said to me, students who could not handle the languages went instead into archaeology. Sad but often true, as in Dever’s case.

The interesting thing is that if Rainey and Dever can’t get along, it really shows just how fragmented the biblical-archaeological studies spectrum is (both claim to stake the “middle ground” as they fight off “minimalists” and “fundamentalists”). Time permitting, I’ll have more to say about this in the future. It really says a lot about the state of the evidence.

BAS has links to some “breaking news” this week, as well as an update of this summer’s archaeological excavations in Israel and Lebanon.