Shadows and Solid Things

“With sparkling and surprising insights, Zimmitti’s creative analysis opens a revealing window into the remarkable stakes that archaeology assumed during a period when the viability of faith seemed increasingly in doubt.”—Heath W. Carter, Princeton Theological Seminary

“This interesting and novel approach to the history of archaeology explores the religious influences that shaped it into the discipline it is today. Zimmitti excels at storytelling—a pleasure to read.”—Eric H. Cline, author of Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology

“In this exciting rethinking of Protestant modernity, Zimmitti shows how the new science of archaeology turned Protestant biblical literalism from doctrine into the lived experience of the sacred past in the present.”—Robert A. Orsi, author of History and Presence

“An important reframing of previous North American cultural assumptions of the Bible—and a pleasure to read!”—David D. Grafton, author of An American Biblical Orientalism: The Construction of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Nineteenth-Century American Evangelical Piety

“At once erudite and fun to read, Shadows and Solid Things delivers deep scholarship and literary grace at the same time!”—Heather J. Sharkey, author of A History of Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Middle East