Maybe, Possibly, Perhaps There Really Was a Sodom & Gomorrah

Trinity Southwest University is a fundamentalist Christian school located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. One of its purposes is to uphold the Bible as God's divine word to humans. It believes that the Bible is the final authority on any issue it "touches."

TSW is also into archaeology, big time; TSW seeks to prove "scientifically" that what the Bible says is true. Like a lot of fundamentalist operations, TSW praises the notion of "faith," but actively seeks scientific support for that faith.

Dr. Steven Collins is dean of the college of archaeology and biblical history at TSW. Collins has read Genesis. Collins believes that from his reading of Genesis 13, Sodom can be found at Tall al-Hammam in Jordan. "The Bible makes it very clear," says the dean, "Sodom is the largest Bronze Age city east of the Jordan River, north of the Dead Sea."

The Bible speaks of "Bronze Age" cities? I don't think so.

Collins, naturally, believes in the Bible and also believes that if only he could discover Sodom and Gomorrah, this would provide solid archaeological evidence that the historical information in Genesis is factual.

Well, not really. (See below)

Another archaeologist, Eric Cline from George Washington University, says that Collins is dreaming; that he has provided no "compelling archaeological evidence" regarding the location of Sodom and Gomorrah.

What's funny is that all these fundamentalist archaeologists are studying the biblical material microscopically to try to get some clues as to where these two cities might be found. One said that "the key to locating the Cities of the Plain [Sodom & Gomorrah] is an intricate analysis of the biblical text."

What's sad is that this is all unnecessary. Even if these determined diggers could provide conclusive proof they had discovered the sites that were the Sodom and Gomorrah of the Bible, that would say nothing about the accuracy of the bible. All it would say is that the author of the biblical tale of the two cities used real place names for his setting; kind of like Tom Clancy uses the name of the Washington, D.C., in his political pot-boilers.

More and more biblical scholars are coming to believe that the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses - everything before King David - are essentially legendary. No external evidence has ever been found to support their historicity; none whatsoever! They are legends!

But clowns in khaki still spend their lives climbing up one mountain and down another seeking Noah's god-designed ark. And Dr. Collins will spend a few more years futilely digging around in Jordan for Sodom and Gomorrah.