Biblical archaeologist draws listeners, controversy
By Mark I. Pinsky
Posted on Sat, Jan. 20, 2007
The Orlando Sentinel
(MCT)
ORLANDO, Fla. – Bob Cornuke, the evangelical Indiana Jones, admits
he comes to biblical archaeology from an unlikely background. This
controversial researcher and author tells audiences he started his
professional life as a SWAT-team member and crime-scene investigator
for the Costa Mesa, Calif., Police Department.
On second thought, he tells visitors at the Holy Land Experience
theme park in Orlando, Fla., maybe it wasn’t all that unlikely.
"I learned I had a skill – researching and collecting little scraps
of evidence," he says. "God just gave me this ability. It was a gift."
After leaving police work, Cornuke, 55, was drawn into archaeology by
Apollo 15 astronaut Jim Irwin, who asked him to join his High Flight
Foundation and the search for Noah’s Ark.
Connecting with Irwin "changed the direction of my life," he says.
While working with someone who walked – and drove – on the moon,
"the doors would open up."
The notion of a swashbuckling, Bible-believing archaeologist who
"proves" the truth of the Bible is as attractive to many evangelical
Christians as the Indiana Jones movies have been to the general
public. So attractive that Tim LaHaye, co-author of the best-selling
"Left Behind" novels, has launched a successful new series with just
such a fictional character, called Babylon Rising.
The novel’s nonfiction counterpart tells the audiences at Holy
Land’s Shofar Auditorium that he uses the Bible as "a road map and a
compass. We have to go back to the source. The word of God is never
wrong. Archaeology can only reveal truths that are already existing
in the Bible."
Because faith is defined as belief in things unseen, a larger question
is whether it’s possible – or necessary – to integrate science and
Scripture.
"Absolutely," Cornuke says. "Everybody wants a natural explanation
for a supernatural event. That is empowering to them because it can
be measured, and science abhors a mystery."
Cornuke, the author of half a dozen books chronicling his adventures
searching for biblical sites, has sparked controversy along the way,
because his conclusions are often at odds with those of traditional
archaeologists.
Rather than the Sinai peninsula, he thinks the sacred peak of the
Exodus is in Saudi Arabia. Noah’s Ark, he thinks, came to rest on a
mountain in Iran, rather than on Mount Ararat in Turkey. St. Paul’s
boat was wrecked off a reef along the southern shore of the
Mediterranean island of Malta, rather than in a bay on the northern
shore. And he thinks the Ark of the Covenant does exist and might be
in the Ethiopian highlands.
In fact, next week Cornuke will be off on an expedition to Ethiopia,
his tenth trip to the area.
Dan Hayden, director of Holy Land, introduces Cornuke as someone who
"is causing quite a stir" with his claims.
Others, especially researchers with formal academic training in
archaeology – which Cornuke lacks – are more critical of his methods.
William Dever, retired biblical archaeologist at the University of
Arizona and a recognized authority in the field, has called Cornuke a
"charlatan," telling the San Diego Union-Tribune that Cornuke wouldn’t
know Mount Sinai if he "stumbled on it."
Cornuke is not troubled by such criticism or claims by some that
there is no factual basis for biblical stories such as Noah’s Ark.
"Scientists have an anti-supernatural bias, by and large," he says.
"Science is a great tool for understanding these great mysteries,
but science can’t prove God or disprove God. We have finite minds
trying to comprehend an infinite God."
However, criticism also has come from researchers who are evangelicals
and who believe in biblical inerrancy, such as James Hoffmeier,
author of "Ancient Israel in Sinai: the Evidence for the Authenticity
of the Wilderness Tradition."
Hoffmeier, who calls Cornuke a dilettante, says he "wraps himself in
the banner of taking the Bible literally when it’s convenient to his
theory, and in other places he does not take it literally."
Cornuke, who bills himself as an "explorer/apologist" and "The Legend
Chaser," will return to Orlando in February to speak at Holy Land’s
Annual Bible Conference. He is planning to move his ministry, the Base
Archaeology Search and Exploration Institute from Colorado to Orlando,
where he will be a "minister-at-large" with Holy Land.
As he lectures, Cornuke holds a Bible in his hands, citing passages
from Exodus and Kings to bolster his views, and setting it aside only
to hold up an artifact. He also quotes Beach Boys lyrics to make a
point about interpretation and context.
And he clearly strikes a chord with his audience.
"I think it just confirms that the best road map is God’s word," says
Jeff Siegel of Lawrenceville, Ga. "Cornuke used God’s word to find
these places. The word of God showed him where to find these places,
and when he went there the things that he found confirmed that these
were the very places that the Bible talked about."
Ironically, Cornuke never went to church until he was 12, and then
went by himself on his bicycle. But Sunday worship was not a spiritual
experience. It was the search for Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia that
transformed him. In 1988, standing where he believed Moses spoke with
God was also spiritually transforming.
"It changed my life," he recalls. "I had an epiphany at that moment.
I was there – and it changed me."
It also brought Cornuke into the spotlight. He and Montana millionaire
Larry Williams had slipped into the country using forged documents,
claiming a connection with the Saudi royal family. When they were
captured and imprisoned by soldiers, who suspected them of being
Israeli spies, Cornuke pretended to be a doctor.
The adventure was chronicled in the 1997 best-seller, "The Gold of
Exodus: The Discovery of the True Mount Sinai," by New York Times
reporter Howard Blum, and optioned to Hollywood.
But for Cornuke, who wrote his own version of that adventure, the
search for Mount Sinai also had a downside.
"I did cut corners," he admits. "I snuck in. I forged documents. I
regret that more than anything I’ve ever done."
But Cornuke has no regrets about the course he has taken since.
"Scripture is a treasure chest of clues," he says.