This lecture lays out what I believe is the earliest archaeological evidence related to the followers of Jesus. The standard view of many historians–though not all–is that we have nothing from the early Christians until the late 2nd or early 3rd centuries. Here I deal only with materials that are…
I am often asked what I would consider to be my most satisfying discovery related to my study of “Christian Origins” over the years. I have made over 70 trips to the Holy Land over the span of my career–combining textual study with archaeological findings and geographical contexts. If I…
This post from Friday, March 11th is now looking doubtful–as Israel and Turkey are apparently not in agreement. Here is the latest from the Jerusalem Post. We will continue to follow this developing story but the links below to Nichol’s work on the Moses Shapira connections remain as the main point…
Breaking news–many of my readers know of the 1st century synagogue at Migdal or Magdala discovered in 2009 during a salvage dig conducted by Dr. Dina Avshalom-Gorni of the Israel Antiquities Authority at the location of a new hotel at Migdal Beach, the site of ancient Magdala. The breaking news out…
The current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review has a lead feature article titled “New Testament Religious Figures Confirmed” by Lawrence Mykytiuk, as part of his fascinating series on whose identity in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament can be confirmed by extra-biblical sources–whether literary or archaeological. What Mykytiuk has done is…
Excavating Jesus: How New Archaeological Discoveries in the Holy Land are Transforming our understanding of the Historical Jesus I am honored to be presenting this lecture today, Sunday, March 21st via Zoom at 3pm EDT, at the prestigious Anderson Forum for Progressive Theology, joining the scores of distinguished lecturers over…
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…
Some of you perhaps know the richly informative web site Bible and Interpretation with the by-line: “News and Interpretations on the Bible and Ancient Near East History.” If you don’t know it I encourage you to take a look–and be sure to notice the two books featured on the web page–upper…
This is a kind of “last call” as registration ends tonight, Wednesday, October 21st, at midnight. I hope many of my blog readers will join us this weekend for the 23rd Annual Bible and Archaeology Fest sponsored by the Biblical Archaeology Society. It is truly a Who’s Who of engaging speakers…
I am sometimes asked, “what is your greatest discovery or insight in the world of biblical archaeology?” I have been involved in or stumbled upon quite a few things over the past thirty years, including the “Tomb of the Shroud,” with Shimon Gibson, and our ground-breaking DNA and ancient disease…