Rate My Professor William G. Dever

William G. Dever is Professor Emeritus of Judaic Studies and Near Eastern Studies and former Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology and Anthropology at The University of Arizona, where he held the position from 1975 to 2002. Specializing in the history of Israel and the Near East in Biblical times, Dever earned a B.A. cum laude in Religion from Milligan College in 1955, an M.A. summa cum laude in Semitics from Butler University in 1959, a B.D. cum laude in Hebrew and Greek from Christian Theological Seminary in 1959, and a Ph.D. with distinction in Syro-Palestinian Archaeology from Harvard University in 1966. He also received an honorary Ll.D. from Hebrew Union College/Jewish Institute of Religion in 1997. His career included directorships at the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology in Jerusalem (1968-1971) and the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research (1971-1975), as well as heading the Department of Near Eastern Studies at The University of Arizona (1989-1994).

Dever directed prominent excavations such as the Harvard Semitic Museum-Hebrew Union College project at Gezer (1966-1971, 1984, 1990), Khirbet el-Kôm and Jebel Qaʿaqir (1967-1971), and served as Principal Investigator for Tell el-Hayyat in Jordan (1981-1985) and Assistant Director for the University of Arizona Expedition to Idalion, Cyprus (1991). Among his honors are the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship (1981-1982), Percia Schimmel Prize from the Israel Museum (1982), Samuel and Althea Stroum Lectureship (1985), Norton Lectureship of the Archaeological Institute of America (1990-1991), and P.E. MacAllister Award (1997). He contributed extensively to the field through editorial roles, including editor of the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (1978-1984) and Annuals of the American Schools of Oriental Research (1989-1997), and service on boards for the Anchor Bible Dictionary and others. Key publications include Gezer I: Preliminary Report of the 1964-66 Seasons (1970), Archaeology and Biblical Studies: Retrospects and Prospects (1974), What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It? (2001), Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From? (2003), Did God Have a Wife? Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel (2005), and Beyond the Texts: An Archaeological Portrait of Ancient Israel and Judah (2017). In retirement, Dever has authored works addressing the historicity of the Bible, profoundly influencing Syro-Palestinian archaeology and biblical studies.