Violence and the City: On the Yahwist’s Leviathan [PODCAST]

Continuing our look inside the recent special Near Eastern Archaeology issue on crime and punishment in the Bible and the Near East, we spoke with Dr. Robert Kawashima about his article, “Violence and the […]

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Yigael Yadin’s Last Night in America: ASOR and the Biblical Archaeology Movement

In light of the sharp decline in enrollments in the humanities in colleges and universities in the United States and abroad, I thought it might be helpful to share a story about Yigael Yadin’s last […]

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Zodiac Calendars and Angelic Teaching in the Dead Sea Scrolls

Angels are often associated with secret knowledge but not usually with authentic mathematics. In several of the Dead Sea Scrolls there is a complicated network of parallel stories in which angels impart secret knowledge of […]

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The Big Dig Video Roundup

Sites and Finds Deep Time at Tall Hisban, Jordan In Focus: Abel Beth Maacah Bethsaida, Israel—Take a Tour of Current Excavations Illustrated lectures Everyday Life from the Archaeological Record: Prof. Aren Maeir Sarah Parcak: Archeology from space Ashkelon: Seaport of the Philistines, Lecture by Lawrence Stager You can find more videos on the Friends of […]

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Thomas Verenna: History’s ‘The Bible’ in Broader Contexts

By: Thomas Verenna This entry is reblogged from The Musings of Thomas Verenna. You can find the original entry here and his other posts on The Bible series here. In lieu of writing a much longer piece for an online journal, I have thought it useful to open up some to a conversation concerning the History Channel’s […]

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Wil Gafney: History Channel’s Satan and President Obama

By: Wil Gafney, Associate Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. This entry is reblogged from Dr. Wil Gafney’s blog. You can find the original entry here and Dr. Gafney’s other posts on The Bible series here. Many viewers of the History Channel’s Bible mini-series saw and see a resemblance between the character […]

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Mark Goodacre: The Bible Series — Drama and Historical Context

By: Mark Goodacre, Associate Professor of Religion at Duke University This entry is reblogged from NT Blog. You can find the original entry here and Dr. Goodacre’s other posts on The Bible series here. March 21 While I realize that the only thing people seem to want to talk about at the moment in connection […]

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The Talpiot Tomb and the Beatles

EnglishEnglishFrenchPowered by TranslateBy: Mark Goodacre, Dept of Religion, Duke University The current discussion of Talpiot Tomb B, the “patio tomb”, has largely centered on the interpretation of the picture on one of the ossuaries.  But Tabor’s and Jacobovici’s argument that this tomb is linked with Jesus and his disciples is related to their earlier claims […]

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A Reply from Prof. Tabor—A Jonah Fish Image or a Tower Tomb Monument?

James D. Tabor, University of North Carolina at Charlotte  I want to thank ASOR’s executive director Andy Vaughn, guest editors Eric Meyers and Christopher Rollston, and participating colleagues, for devoting time and space to a special consideration of the ideas expressed in the non-specialist book, The Jesus Discovery as well as the more technical paper […]

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Jodi Magness responds to the “New Jesus Discovery”

Professor Jodi Magness Department of Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill As usual, the arrival of the Easter season this year is heralded by a sensational archaeological claim relating to Jesus. In March, we learned from a TV documentary and accompanying book that the tomb of Jesus and his family had […]

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Reflections of an Epigrapher on Talpiyot Tombs A and B: A Detailed Response to the Claims of Professor James Tabor and Filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici

Professor Christopher A. Rollston Professor of Semitic Studies, Emmanuel Christian Seminary I. THE CLAIMS OF TABOR AND JACOBOVICI: THE NEW BOOK[1] Here are the basic claims of James Tabor and Simcha Jacobovici: “Talpiyot Tomb B contained several ossuaries, or bone boxes, two of which were carved with an iconic image and a Greek inscription.  Taken […]

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Brief Reflections of an Epigrapher on Talpiyot Tombs A and B

Professor Christopher A. Rollston, Emmanuel Christian Seminary Much can, and no doubt will, be said about the proposal (and new volume) of Professor James Tabor and Filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici that Jesus of Nazareth was married to a woman of Magdala named Mary, that they had a son named “Judas” and that their tomb has been […]

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NEA 73.1 available online via Atypon Link

Near Eastern Archaeology 73.1 ASOR is pleased to announce that NEA 73.1 (March) has now been posted online at Atypon Link. The issue contains a feature article by A. Burke and K. Lords as well as articles S. Savage, A. Al-Shorman, C. Luckey, and K. Rask. You may access the table of contents here: […]

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Noah’s Ark on Good Morning America

Eric Cline comments on the latest claims that Noah’s Ark has been discovered. His interview begins at about 1:50.

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Chronicle Article on Golb Controversy

Today’s Chronicle of Higher Education features an article entitled The Fall of an Academic Cyberbully by Steve Kolowich. It mentions many ASOR members.

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Secrets of The Bible’s Buried Secrets

Contributed by Tristan Barako, Ph.D., Senior Researcher, Providence Pictures When The Bible’s Buried Secrets premiered on PBS this past November, it was NOVA’s most watched show in the past five years, attesting to the enduring interest that biblical archaeology holds for the general public. The two-hour special was produced by Providence Pictures, where I now […]

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Archaeologists and Journalists: Please Stop Finding the Garden of Eden!

Contributed by Michael M. Homan, Xavier University of Louisiana. I just read that they found the Garden of Eden again. It seems to have moved from its previous locations in Bahrain, Yemen, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Jerusalem. The latest location of chez Adam & Eve is at Gobekli Tepe. While it is truly an amazing […]

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Adrift Again on Noah’s Ark

Contributed by Eric Cline. Mea culpa. For more than a week now, I have remained silent, simply rolling my eyes amid news reports that Randall Price is going in search of Noah’s Ark this coming summer. Eighteen months ago, in Sept, I published an op-ed in the Boston Globe […]

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