Steven Collins (archaeologist)
An editor has nominated this article for deletion. You are welcome to participate in the deletion discussion, which will decide whether or not to retain it. |
Steven Collins (born September 11, 1950) is an American inerrantist biblical archaeologist known for claiming to have discovered the site of the biblical city of Sodom at Tall el-Hammam in Jordan.
Career
Collins is associated with two institutions of higher education: Trinity Southwest University in Albuquerque, New Mexico,[1] which is unaccredited; and Veritas International University, which is accredited by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools.[2] Both institutions have official doctrines committing them to biblical inerrancy and the historicity of the Bible.[3][4]
Tall el-Hammam
Since 2005, Collins has directed excavations at Tall el-Hammam in Jordan, a Bronze Age settlement which he argues was the biblical city of Sodom.[5][6][7] He has written several books on the theory,[8][9] which has been extensively cover in the media.[10][11][12] Other biblical archaeologists have rejected the identification because it is inconsistent with biblical literalist chronology;[13][14][15] according to Christianity Today, "few archaeologists outside of those working on the excavation team believe that Tall el-Hammam is Sodom."[16] Collins' response to these criticisms include a book, The Kikkar Dialogues, which presents conversations he has had with other biblical archaeologists.[17]
Collins and his colleagues claim that Tall el-Hammam was destroyed in a sudden catastrophe, based on the discovery of burnt brick, melted pottery and geophysical signatures of high temperatures.[18][19] In a 2021 paper, they argued that this was a meteor air burst similar to the Tunguska event.[20]
Books
- Collins, Steven (1991). Championing the Faith: A Layman's Guide to Proving Christianity's Claims. Hensley Publishing. ISBN 9781563220302.
- Collins, Steven (2012). Let My People Go!: Using Historical Synchronisms to Identify the Pharaoh of the Exodus. TSU Press. ISBN 9780615687940.
- Kobs, Carroll M.; Collins, Steven; Silvia, Phillip (2013). Tall El-Hammam Excavation Project Field Manual. TSU Press. ISBN 9780615891828.
- Collins, Steven (2013). Christian Discipleship : Fulfilling the Great Commission in the 21st Century. TSU Press. ISBN 9780615874487.
- Collins, Steven (2014). The Search for Sodom and Gomorrah. TSU Press. ISBN 9780615910086.
- Collins, Steven (2014). The Kikkar Dialogues. TSU Press. ISBN 9780615909998.
- Collins, Steven; Kobs, Carroll M.; Luddeni, Michael C. (2015). The Tall Al-Hammam Excavations, Volume 1: An Introduction to Tall al-Hammam: Seven Seasons (2005–2011) of Ceramics and Eight Seasons (2005–2012) of Artifacts from Tall al-Hammam. Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 9781575063690.
- Collins, Steven; Scott, Latayne C. (2016). Discovering the City of Sodom: The Fascinating, True Account of the Discovery of the Old Testament's Most Infamous City. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781451684384.
References
- ^ "Faculty & Administration". Trinity Southwest University. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
- ^ "Graduate/Post Graduate Faculty".
- ^ Doctrinal Position, Trinity Southwest University website, accessed March 10, 2012
- ^ "Accreditation Standards" (PDF). Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools. 2009. Retrieved 2008-12-26. page 80 also see: "Biblical Creation. Special creation of the existing space-time universe and all its basic systems and kinds of organisms in the six literal days of the creation week." on page 81
- ^ "Tall el-Hammam, Jordan". Biblical Archaeology Society. 2021. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
- ^ Collins, Steven (2007). "Sodom: The Discovery of a Lost City". Bible and Spade. 20 (3). Associates for Biblical Research: 72.
- ^ Collins, Steven (2007). "A Response to Bryant G. Wood's Critique of Collins' Northern Sodom Theory" (PDF). Biblical Research Bulletin: The Academic Journal of Trinity Southwest University. 7 (7). TSU Press: 27. ISSN 1938-694X. Archived from the original on August 15, 2009.
- ^ Collins, Steven (2014). The Search for Sodom and Gomorrah. TSU Press. ISBN 9780615910086.
- ^ Collins, Steven; Kobs, Carroll M.; Luddeni, Michael C. (2015). The Tall Al-Hammam Excavations, Volume 1. Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 9781575063690.
- ^ "Archaeologists Return to Excavate Possible Site of Biblical Sodom". Popular Archaeology. June 6, 2012. Archived from the original on October 18, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
- ^ "Archaeologists Excavate Massive Ancient Gateway in Jordan". Popular Archaeology. September 2012. Archived from the original on 16 October 2015. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
- ^ "Possible site of ancient Sodom yields more finds". Popular Archaeology. September 28, 2015. Archived from the original on December 8, 2018. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
- ^ Govier, Gordon (April 2008). "Looking Back: Claims to new Sodom locations are salted with controversy". Christianity Today. 52 (4): 15. Archived from the original on April 18, 2008. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
- ^ Merrill, Eugene H. (2012). "Texts, Talls, and Old Testament Chronology: Tall Hammam as a Case Study" (PDF). ARTIFAX – the Bible Archaeology News Magazine. 27 (4). The Institute for Biblical Archaeology and the Near East Archaeological Society: 20–21.
- ^ Bolen, Todd (February 27, 2013). "Arguments Against Locating Sodom at Tall el-Hammam". Biblical Archaeology Society. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
- ^ Govier, Gordon (2021-09-24). "Sodom Destroyed by Meteor, Scientists Say. Biblical Archaeologists Not Convinced". Christianity Today. Retrieved 2021-09-26.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Collins, Steven (2014). The Kikkar Dialogues. TSU Press. ISBN 9780615909998.
- ^ Gerson, Ian (June 5, 2014). "Making the Case for Sodom". Popular Archaeology. Archived from the original on October 8, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
- ^ Beamon, Cindy (May 11, 2016). "Signs of a Cosmic Blast: Local researchers find evidence of fiery end for Sodom in Bible". The Daly Advance. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
- ^ Bunch, Ted E.; LeCompte, Malcolm A.; Adedeji, A. Victor; Wittke, James H.; Burleigh, T. David; Hermes, Robert E.; Mooney, Charles; Batchelor, Dale; Wolbach, Wendy S.; Kathan, Joel; Kletetschka, Gunther (2021-09-20). "A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 18632. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-97778-3. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 8452666. PMID 34545151.