In this 2006 lecture I explore some of the rather remarkable textual readings of the 14th century polemical treatise Even Bochan [Isaiah 28:16] written by Shem-Tob ben-Isaac ben-Shaprut Ibn Shaprut, a Castilian Jewish physician, living later in Aragon. The 12th/ 13th book contains a Hebrew version of the complete text…
I thought some of you might enjoy this lecture I did in 2019 at the Georgia Southern University College of Science and Mathematics to a diverse group of scientists interested in the technical and scientific aspects of some of the archaeological discoveries in which I have been involved. This was…
This video lecture from 2006 covers new textual and archaeological evidence on “Yochanan HaMatvil,” or “John the Dipper,” including the Suba cave west of Jerusalem of which I have written much over the years–in both my books (especially The Jesus Dynasty –which is on sale right now in paperback for $14. If…
Back in 1996 I began to develop a web site called “The Jewish Roman World of Jesus” to which I uploaded all sorts of original sources and handouts related to my my undergraduate and graduate classes. It was initially hosted and developed by my friend Mike McKinney, at CenturyOne.com.…
On this last day of our Spring semester, after 45 years of full-time teaching at Notre Dame (7 years), William & Mary (5 years), and UNC Charlotte (33 years!) I am stepping down to devote myself more fully to research, writing, leading educational tours, and various film and archaeological projects–which…
Ross Nichols, author of the book,The Moses Scroll published last year, offers the best to date overview of the entire 19th century saga of Jerusalem antiquarian and bookseller, William Moses Shapira, and his sixteen leather strips inscribed in paleo-Hebrew purportedly discovered by Bedouin on the east side of the Dead Sea…
This lecture focuses on Jesus and his “band of brothers,” whether members of his own family or apostles or both. Sorting it all out is quite a challenge. I had uploaded a private camera version of this lecture before but this one has the slides–they are not the best quality…
Here is a real “blast from the past.” Ernest Martin had released his theories on the Jewish Temple in the time of Jesus not being located up over where the dome of the Rock is today, but to the south in the “City of David” area. In this lecture, given…
Some might think that the “title” of this lecture has to be incorrect–after all, is not Mary the most prominent woman in history? How could one possibly present her as marginalized? In fact, Mary, the mother of Jesus is at once the “best known” and “least known” woman in human…
I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Chicago, directed by Jonathan Z. Smith, on Paul’s Ascent to Paradise. This singular experience is reported by Paul in the 3rd person initially, but the “boasting” style is well known to us in Greek literature–in which the writer is “modestly” talking about…
