I just finished reading an advance review copy of a fascinating new book by Ross K. Nichols titled The Moses Scroll that will be published in early March. I have known Ross for over 25 years, traveled to Israel with him numerous times, and excavated with him in both Jerusalem…
The question of who killed Jesus has been the subject of countless academic books and articles over the past 100 years. Scholars are largely agreed that despite several passages in the New Testament that appear to collectively blame “the Jews,” the historical fact is that Jesus died by Roman crucifixion,…
What a way to start off my Blog for 2021–I am honored, humbled, and flattered… Popular Archaeology Magazine is pleased to announce the publication of the 10-year Anniversary Issue, featuring the top 10 stories of the magazine’s first 10 years. These stories exemplify the excitement and adventure of archaeological exploration…
Millions around the world viewed the “Great Conjunction” of Jupiter and Saturn in the southwest sky Monday evening as Jupiter “caught up with” and passed Saturn, appearing as one bright star from our earthly vantage point even though their orbits are millions of miles apart. This close a conjunction between…
Here is a nice review by Éliane Bedu (in English as well as French) of my forthcoming book, The Lost Mary (Knopf, 2021), already out in French: Marie: De son enfance juive à la fondation du christianisme (Flamarrion, March 2020–along with my video presentation of the French version when it was published by Flamarrion…
A Preliminary and Expanding Bibliography and Reading List I am beginning to upload all sorts of new materials and resources to my blog–publications, documents, resources, maps, photos, links, and so forth. Here is the first of several between now and the end of the year. I want to share more…
This semester I have a class of 50 in my Religious Studies 1201 course: Introduction to Religion. For our final exam we are doing essays integrating the content of these six programs from the PBS “Closer to Truth” series with Dr. Robert L. Kuhn. You can watch these and many…
I am pleased to report that the weekly podcast “Gleanings from Genesis,” has resumed broadcast with episode six now available. If you missed any so far you can catch up with us easily. We will plan to post new episodes each Thursday or Friday morning. This past week we began…
One of the more intriguing of the Dead Sea Scrolls is a fragment now titled “Messianic Apocalypse” (4Q521). This text contains three rather striking features that are of particular significance for comparing the apocalyptic beliefs and expectations of the Qumran community with the emerging early Christian movement. First, the text…
Josephus (b. 37 C.E.) is our best literary source for the practice of crucifixion in Palestine during the Greco-Roman period. As a general in command of the Jewish forces of Galilee in the Great Revolt against Rome (66-73 C.E.), he reports his attempts to save the lives of three crucified…
