Archaeology of the Exodus
with Professor James Hoffmeir

October 21, Saturday, 7 PM at New Jerusalem

Is the Exodus a real event that happened in history, or just a "myth" invented by a biblical author? Professor James Hoffmeir has been doing the archaeology of the Exodus and will present his results - visual and detailed explanation - in a format that all can comprehend. Don't miss this amazing opportunity. (One of our members was on the dig with him several years ago and introduced us to him. We're glad!)

 

James K. Hoffmeier has been Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology and Old Testament at Trinity International University, Divinity School (Deerfield, IL) since 1999.

Born and raised in Egypt, the son of missionaries, Hoffmeier graduated from Wheaton College with a BA in Near Eastern Studies and Archaeology. At the University of Toronto he received his MA in Egyptian Archaeology in 1975. He participated in excavations in Egypt in 1975 & 1977 with the Akhenaten Temple Project directed by Professor Donald Redford. He completed his Ph.D from the University of Toronto in 1982, concentrating on Egyptian Religion. From 1980 to 1999 he was on the faculty of Wheaton College (IL).

Since 1994 Hoffmeier has directed the North Sinai Archaeological Project that was devoted to researching and studying Egypt’s frontier during the New Kingdom, which included investigating Tell el-Borg from 1999 to 2008.

Hoffmeier has authored a number of books, including “Sacred” in the Vocabulary of Ancient Egypt (Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis; Freiburg University Press, 1985), Israel in Egypt: Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition (Oxford University Press, 1997 & 1999), Ancient Israel in Sinai: Evidence for the Authenticity of the Wilderness Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2005/2010), The Archaeology of the Bible (Oxford: Lion Hudson, 2008) is now available in German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Romanian, Norwegian and Arabic. In 2009 he authored The Immigrations Crisis: Immigrants, Aliens and the Bible (Crossway). He edited and contributed to Abortion: A Christian Understanding and Response (Baker, 1987), Faith, Tradition and History: Old Testament Historiography in its Near Eastern Context (Eisenbrauns, 1994, and re-released as a paperback in 2010) and The Future of Biblical Archaeology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), and Do Historical Matters Matter to Faith (Crossway, 2012). The first volume of the final report of the excavations at Tell el-Borg appeared in 2014 Excavations in North Sinai: Tell el-Borg I (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns), and his latest books are Akhenaten, His Religion and the Origins of Monotheism (Oxford University Press, 2015) and Genesis:History, Fiction, or Neither? Three Views on the Bible's Earliest Chapters(Counterpoints: Bible and Theology), with Gordon Wenham & Kenton Sparks (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2015).

Hoffmeier has also appeared in a number of TV programs on Egypt and the Bible for the Discovery Channel, the Learning Channel, the History Channel and National Geographic.

Married in 1974, James and his wife Cathy have two children. Jessica is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University in Near Eastern Studies (BA) and Trinity (MA) in Near Eastern Archaeology, and did work on her PhD in Egyptology at Memphis. Jessica and her husband Paul are the proud parents of Danny (11), Peter (6) and Nate (2). Benjamin is a graduate of Centre College in Kentucky and holds his MA at Trinity in Theological Studies. He coached football at Trinity College for two years and at Wheaton College for four years, and now coaches at Houston Baptist University.

Dr. Hoffmeier is an elder at Crossroads Community Church (Carol Stream), and speaks at various conferences, and teaches and preaches in churches in American and around the world. During the summer of 2015, he taught in Mongolia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and during the spring of 2017 he taught in Egypt and lectured at the University of Liverpool.