The ABR Staff would like to dedicate this website to our founder, Dr. David Livingston (1925-2013). David's lifetime of work and tireless defense of the inerrancy of God’s Word has been an inspiration to all of us at ABR. David passed into the presence of our Lord on November 25, 2013.
Dr. David Livingston is the founder of the Associates for Biblical Research. He was involved in Christian ministry for over 60 years. David served in the US Navy in the Pacific during WWII. In the early 1950’s, he served as a pastor in the UPUSA church, then went to Korea as a missionary for 12 years, serving as a church planter and founding president of a Christian college for 5 years.
David founded ABR in 1969, primarily in response to the scholarly assertions that the Biblical city of Ai showed no evidence that Joshua conquered and burned it. Through careful investigation, he ascertained that scholars had wrongly identified the location of Ai, and he worked vigorously to correct the error and identify the Lost City of Ai in Israel. Part of this work included correcting another scholarly blunder: the misidentification of Bethel. Properly identifying Bethel was the key to finding Ai. David determined that Ai was at Khirbet Nisya, directing 15 seasons of excavations there.
David’s educational background was extensive. He graduated from Wheaton College with a B.A. in General Science, Pittsburgh Xenia Seminary with an M. Div., Trinity Evangelical Divinity School with an M.A. in OT Studies, took graduate studies at Dropsie University and received his Ph.D. in Archaeology from Andrews University in 1988. His doctoral dissertation topic consisted of six years of his excavation reports from Khirbet Nisya.
David served with Campus Crusade for Christ from 1972-1975. He has also participated in excavations at Jericho, Jerusalem, Jezreel, Bourgata, and Gezer. He has conducted more than 25 tours in Israel, Jordan and Egypt. David served six years as editor of Bible and Spade, and 20 years as the editor of the ABR Newsletter.
