12 October 1974 A.D. Rev. Dr. Joseph P. Free—Professor of Archaeology
12 October 1974 A.D. Rev. Dr. Joseph P. Free—Professor of Archaeology
Archivist.
“October 12: Dr. Joseph P. Free [1911-1974].” This Day in Presbyterian History. 12 Oct 2015. http://www.thisday.pcahistory.org/2015/10/october-12-3/.
Accessed 12 Oct 2015.
October 12: Dr. Joseph P. Free [1911-1974]
Our
post today is excerpted from the Minutes of the 153rd General Synod of the Reformed
Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod (1975),
p. 176-177:
The
cause of Bible-believing archaeological study today owes more to joseph P. Free
than to any other individual. It is an honor to the Reformed Presbyterian
Church, Evangelical Synod, that for 30 years he has been numbered among our
teaching elders.
Joseph
Free was born in Cleveland, Ohio, October 1, 1911, and entered Stony Brook
School, Long Island, New York, and received the A.B., A.M., and Ph.D. degrees
from Princeton University, New Jersey. In 1935 Dr. Free accepted an invitation
to join the faculty of Wheaton College, Illinois, in the departments of French
and Spanish. For ten years he studied in the field of Near Eastern history and
archaeology at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, and for
nearly 20 years, until 1965, he served as Fred McManus Professor of Biblical
Archaeology at Wheaton. After a brief period of retirement to his home in the
north woods of Minnesota, he resumed his life work in the teaching of
archaeology at Bemidji State College, Minnesota, where he was employed at the
time of his death, on October
12, 1974. He was a member of the Midwestern
Presbytery (RPCES), and was its moderator for two years in the 1940’s. He was
ordained in 1944 to the ministry of the Bible Presbyterian Church. At his death
he was still a member of the Midwestern Presbytery (RPCES).
Dr.
Free is best known as the excavator of ancient Dothan, in northern Israel, the
town near which young Joseph was sold by his brothers (Gen.
37:17
) and where the prophet Elisha performed a miracle
of deliverance (II Kings 6:13
). Professor Free had gained archaeological field
experience as a staff member with the American Schools of Oriental Research in
Jerusalem; and he and Mrs. Free directed ten seasons of excavation at Dothan
between 1953 and 1964. Many field archaeologists and teachers, including
several on the staff of Covenant Theological Seminary, owe their basic training
to his untiring efforts and competent leadership. His vision resulted in the
founding of the Near East Archaeological Society in 1960 and the Near East
School of Archaeological and Biblical Studies in 1962, under which scores of
students were introduced to Bible geography, history, and archaeology. He
authored the widely used textbook Archaeology and Bible History,
plus more than fifty articles on archaeology for both scholarly and popular
Christian journals. He held membership in the Evangelical Theological Society,
the American Schools of Oriental Research, American Oriental Society, Society
of Biblical Literature, and National Society of Arts and Letters, which he
served as National Literature Chairman, 1966-1970.
He
was married to Ruby Aldrich on August 20, 1935. In addition to Mrs. Free, he
was survived by a daughter, a son, three grandchildren, a foster son, and two
sisters. Joseph P. Free was zealous in his defense of the faith and of the
inerrancy of Holy Scripture. The same verse that at Princeton honors the memory
of one of America’s greatest nineteenth century Reformed scholars of the Old
Testament, Dr. William Henry Green, may now with propriety be applied to our
brother Dr. Free:
“They
that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn
many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.”—Deuteronomy
12:3
.
For Further Study:
For more on the life and ministry of Dr. Free, see “Joseph P. Free And The Romance Of Biblical Archaeology.” by Timothy Larsen, in the Westminster Theological Journal, 66.1 (Spring 2004): 97ff. To view a portion of this article, click here.
For more on the life and ministry of Dr. Free, see “Joseph P. Free And The Romance Of Biblical Archaeology.” by Timothy Larsen, in the Westminster Theological Journal, 66.1 (Spring 2004): 97ff. To view a portion of this article, click here.
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