The ministry of ABR dedicates 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. Livingston founded Associates for Biblical Research in 1969 but was involved in several Christian ministries during his lifetime, serving 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 departed for Korea as a missionary for 12 years, serving as a church planter and founding president of a Christian college for 5 years. His ministry in Korea included serving with Campus Crusade for Christ from 1972-1975.
David founded ABR as a response to the scholarly assertions claiming that there was no evidence for the Conquest of Joshua and that the city identified as Ai was never destroyed at the time or in the way the Bible describes. Through careful original research, he concluded that scholars had misidentified the location of ancient Ai and worked tirelessly to bring about a new paradigm and understanding for the location of this important Conquest city of Joshua. This effort led to many years of archaeological excavation and investigation at Kirbet Nisya, which was David's candidate for Ai. Kirbet Nisya better fit the biblical requirements than the consensus view that placed Ai at the site of Et Tell. An important corollary study to this effort included correcting a related scholarly blunder: the misidentification of Bethel. Properly identifying Bethel was the key to finding Ai. David concluded 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 also participated in excavations at Jericho, Jerusalem, Jezreel, Bourgata, and Gezer. He conducted more than 25 tours in Israel, Jordan and Egypt.
He served six years as editor of ABR's flagship publication, Bible and Spade, and 20 years as the editor of the ABR Newsletter.
