HERE ARE MANY WAYS TO BEGIN THIS story, each of them valid, each of them true. Any story of importance has several possible starting points, depending on how far back in time you want to go to find the right moment.

Some would say that this story begins with an Adventist scholar named Lynn Harper Wood, president more than 80 years ago of what is now Southern Adventist University. His 1937 Ph.D. in archaeology and his subsequent establishment of the first program in archaeology at the Adventist Church's new seminary laid the foundation for decades of research, teaching, and publication.

Others would say that this story begins with a faithful German Adventist family reconstructing their lives in the aftermath of World War II. Their loyalty to principle, the obvious enjoyment they found in learning, and their commitment to serving the church they loved have touched thousands of Adventist lives through three generations.

Some might even trace the tale much further back, to when an unknown Hebrew woman lifted a new-made water jug up to examine the excellence of the potter's craft before she filled it the first time. Three thousand years later, we wonder if her fingerprints are still upon the vessel that rests so lightly in the museum display case.

Begin the story where you will, you must not miss the Friday night tradition in which a world-traveling Old Testament scholar regularly took the time to show his family slides of all his journeys. The dark-haired boy who leaned against the sofa, drinking in his father's images of Palestine, ancient Babylon, Jordan, and Egypt, found his imagination fired and his heart stirred. The world of the Bible, glimpsed in Sabbath school songs and stories, took on tangibility, substance, and perspective. Seeing such things, interpreting these things, would be the tale of his life.

The intersection of these varied stories occurred on a warm and misty Thursday evening in November as dozens of donors, academics, and invited guests gathered on the campus of Southern Adventist University for a remarkable event. Five years of planning, months of heavy construction labor, and the generosity of friends who believe in biblical scholarship came to a climax with a celebratory dinner and ribbon cutting for the new Lynn H. Wood Archaeological Museum, one of only three Adventist archaeological collections in North America, and one of the finest exhibits of any kind the church has ever produced (see "Working on So Many Levels,"
p. 12).

The unique Middle Eastern menu of the dinner, the gracious words from university administrators and invited guests--even the rain that fell lightly over the Collegedale hills--could not mask the realization that all these things had coalesced because of the energy and faith of one gifted man. Thirty-six-year-old professor Michael Hasel, director of the university's Institute of Archaeology and curator of the new museum, modestly pointed to the contributions of patrons and academic colleagues, but all in attendance knew that little of what they saw and experienced would have happened without his efforts.

Hasel, who holds a Ph.D. in archaeology from the University of Arizona and has taught at Southern Adventist University since 1998, will have even more opportunities in the near future to practice being modest. In the summer of 2004 he received word that he had been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant for the 2004-2005 academic year, placing him among only a handful of Adventist academics who have received the prestigious research grants from the United States government for international scholarship. The competitive Fulbright Scholarship Award program selects recipients on the basis of academic or professional achievement, and focuses on those who have demonstrated leadership in their chosen fields. More than 160 countries participate in the collaborative scholarly program.

The Fulbright award will allow Hasel, his wife, Giselle, and their two daughters, 6 and 4, to spend seven months in Cyprus at the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute (CAARI) from January through August 2005. He will be researching and writing a volume that focuses on the worldview of the ancient Egyptians as reflected in the place names they used for other countries and ethnic groups around the Mediterranean basin in what would today be Israel, Syria, Jordan, Cyprus, and Turkey. The project will call upon his training in both Egyptology and Syro-Palestinian archaeology, allowing an interdisciplinary look at materials that interface with the biblical record.

"The effects of postmodernist scholarship on the general public's belief in the historicity of Scripture during the past 20 years have been devastating," Hasel notes. "Many modern scholars are now producing volumes flatly stating that we can have no confidence that the events described in the Old Testament actually occurred-that all that we read in the biblical record from the patriarchs through the exile in Babylon is a brilliant and pious fraud. And many people are simply accepting those claims because they don't have access to better information.

"By looking at actual place names and studying the historical underpinnings obtained through objective research in archaeology, I'm hoping that my work can provide assurance that we do have a reliable record in the biblical story."

The Practical Value of Scholarship
Hasel is insistent that biblical scholarship of the kind he is engaged in must prove itself useful to the wider Adventist and Christian publics as well as to students in classrooms. "If scholars just live in the ivory tower, we're isolating ourselves from our true mission, not only as scholars, but as Christians," he admonishes. "It's important for us to make the things we study applicable to the general public.

"For most of us who have grown up in the Adventist Church, we've read these Bible stories again and again, and we think we know them--and we do, to a certain extent. But archaeology provides such a new and unique dimension, especially in the contemporary world where we want to touch and feel and taste everything. It just brings it to life."

Hasel found that the biblical world came vividly alive to him as a child and teenager through the stories and slides his father shared with the family. Gerhard Hasel, longtime professor of Old Testament at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University, was a much-published scholar of international reputation, and served as dean of the seminary from 1981 to 1988. Michael credits his father's interest in the Old Testament and the trip he shared with his dad to the Middle East as a teenager with sparking his own interest in what he is doing today.

The younger Hasel also felt an enduring call to ministry rising in his life during his teen years in Berrien Springs, fanned by significant conversations with his pastor-grandfather in Germany. He held the two possible career tracks--archaeology and pastoral ministry--in tension through his college experience, during which he completed a bachelor's degree in theology and worked as a volunteer in the university's archaeology museum. Several summers were spent on archaeological digs in Palestine, and Michael was a frequent attendee at specialized lectures occurring on the university campus.

In the summer of 1990, a month spent colporteuring in the New Jersey Conference introduced him to his future wife, Giselle. Though they had both been studying at Andrews University for several years, they had never met. Their courtship stretched over the next two years as she finished a degree in illustration and graphic design and he prepared for a future that he hoped would include both pastoral ministry and scholarship.

A Fruitful Relationship
That same summer Michael also spent a month excavating in Israel at the site of ancient Gezer under the direction of William Dever, then the most prominent American archaeologist working in the Middle East and director of a prestigious academic program in Near Eastern archaeology at the University of Arizona. After he and Giselle were married in 1992, Michael enrolled in Dever's program, and quickly forged a bond with a man at the center of much scholarly debate about biblical archaeology.

Though Dever shared few of Hasel's religious commitments, he earned Michael's admiration for his openness, his honesty, and the respect he showed for Michael's faith.

"I remember him saying right after I arrived in Arizona, 'You know, Michael, I know what background you come from, and I've known your father for many years and have read his books. I just want to let you know that I don't care what you think or how you position yourself theologically, as long as you do good archaeology; that's what's going to count in this program.'"

"I've always respected Dr. Dever as a scholar, as an archaeologist, and as a friend," Michael adds. "It's been a good relationship over the years."

The value of that enduring friendship became apparent to the Southern Adventist University community in January 2000, when Dever placed more than 200 ancient art pieces and objects on the campus under the promise that they would one day be housed in a museum there. Establishing an archaeological museum on the campus had long been the dream of the dean of the School of Religion, Jack Blanco. Hasel's personal and professional relationship with the eminent scholar provided the occasion.

The remarkable collection of complete sequences of juglets, jars, lamps, and bowls as well as stone and metal objects is displayed in the new museum to introduce visitors to the lands and life of ancient Egypt, Babylonia, Persia, Syria-Palestine, Greece, and Anatolia. Experts consider the Dever contribution to the new Lynn H. Wood Archaeological Museum to be one of the finest collections of Near Eastern antiquities in North America.

"Museums--at least good ones--are built around a respect for the real thing, real artifacts," Hasel adds with a smile. "Replicas or even pictures won't do: you have to be able to display the actual items that illustrate how life was lived in the ancient world. The items from the Dever collection are exhibited in a visually stunning display, and they're accompanied by more than 200 photographs, paintings, and maps that focus each case on a different aspect of life in the ancient world."

A Focus on Faith
As excited as he clearly is about the opening of the new museum and the impressive collection it houses, Michael is even more passionate about his role as a teacher and pastor to the dozens of students with whom he interacts each day in his classroom and office. He credits the years he spent pastoring two congregations near Detroit, Michigan, between the completion of his Ph.D. and his employment at Southern Adventist University with sharpening his skills as a listener and guide to students.

"I often say that being a pastor is the highest calling anyone can have," Hasel says solemnly. "All of us here who teach in the School of Religion function in that capacity as well, as we counsel with students and work with them. It may mean talking with them about faith issues, baptizing them when they've made a commitment to faith, or even marrying a couple you've had in classes through the years. Those are all important elements that we're involved with."

"I've had the privilege of attending his Old Testament class," says Rita Vital, an Adventist retiree in Collegedale who used to direct the church's health ministry van outreach in Boston. "I've gotten such a blessing out of his classes that I asked him if I could invite some non-Adventist friends--and they're loving it too!"

"He's the reason I've decided to refocus my career plans," murmurs one admiring student who helped to guide the guests through the new museum on the opening night. "He's a first-rate scholar, respected by people in his profession. He's got the gift of making learning accessible and fun and inspiring all at once. And he's clearly a godly man."

Hasel himself blushes to hear such things, waving away the compliments. "It has really been amazing to see the level of commitment the students in this program bring," he notes, pointing to the seven graduates and 25 students enrolled in the university's bachelor degree program in archaeology. "Last summer, when we were excavating at Hazor (a prominent biblical site in northern Israel), I was so impressed by their performance and their attitude, as were the Hebrew University professors who were running the excavation.

"To me, that speaks for the success of what we're trying to do here," he says. "If the students are excelling and doing well, that matters more than the museum or the professors. We've been fortunate to get a good group of young people here, and not just in archaeology. It's encouraging to me to see these students so eager about faith, so eager about Scripture, so eager to show the world the evidence that undergirds what we believe."

"A man's pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor,"* says the proverb. So long as persons like Michael Hasel continue to invest in Adventist higher education, neither they nor their students will lack for honor, both here and above.

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*Prov. 29:23, NKJV.

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Bill Knott is an associate editor of the Adventist Review.