In her first year teaching at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, Leann Pace taught a class called Near Eastern Archaeology. Thirty years ago, the course would probably have been called â??Biblical Archaeologyâ??, as it focuses on regions important in the birth of the major Western religions. One day, a student raised her hand and asked: â??Why do we care about the origins of this small group of people anyway?â??
Pace told me she was shocked. â??It was one of those moments when a student wrings you to the core,â?? she said. She expected students to ask challenging questions. She expected students to feel like the class was undermining their faith, or favouring one religion over another. She was not prepared for students who didnâ??t understand why anyone would focus on the region at all.
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