Biblical Archaeology Review Magazine

[Lampo]

What are your opinions on this magazine? My father-in-law, a Lutheran, subscribes to this magazine and told me he would keep the issues for me after he is done with them if I wanted. He and I were talking about Holy Land pilgrimages and this is how it came up. Does the magazine contradict Catholic teaching at all?

 

[Fidelis]

What are your opinions on this magazine? My father-in-law, a Lutheran, subscribes to this magazine and told me he would keep the issues for me after he is done with them if I wanted. He and I were talking about Holy Land pilgrimages and this is how it came up. Does the magazine contradict Catholic teaching at all?

It has an occasional good article in it; I’ll buy it off the rack if there’s something in it I’d like to read, but I don’t subscribe to it. You can read it with profit, BUT bear in mind two important things.

1. It’s not a Catholic magazine, or even a particulary Christian magazine, so don’t expect it to be. Many of the writers take an anti-supernatural premise when presenting their findings and theories. Also, a lot of the ads in the magazine reflect this.
2. Most of the articles deal with newly found or controversial archaeolgical discoveries. When presenting these findings, many of the archaeologists involved do a heavy amount of speculating on what these discoveries might mean. Be extremely wary of accepting their analyses at face value. As in much science that depends on evolving discoveries, today’s speculation is only as good tomorrow’s new discovery.

 

[Lampo]

Thank you for your VERY helpful opinion.