Discover the historical Jesus in a new way through The Jesus Discovery. The book begins with the controversial Talpiot tombs (see “Does the Evidence Add Up?) but then uses that avenue to open up the whole forgotten world of the earliest Jesus movement, combining textual and material/archaeological evidence. As a result…
Those engaged in the academic study of religions, and specifically the origins and development of early Christianity, draw a sharp distinction between what they call the historical Jesus and the “Christ” of Christian faith and devotion. How and when this transformation took place–from Jesus the itinerant messianic Jewish teacher and…
I find it somewhat amazing that so many freely expressing opinions on the controversial Talpiot “Jesus” tomb and/or the “James ossuary” have not kept up with even the most minimum of the latest research on the topic. I find this is the case even with all too many of my…
I am most pleased to see the important research of David Clausen, who did his M.A. work with me and Dr. Shimon Gibson here at UNC Charlotte, highlighted in the latest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. ((David Clausen, “Archaeological Views: Mount Zion’s Upper Room and Tomb of David,” Biblical Archaeology Review…
The extraordinary discoveries of at our Mt Zion site related to the Crusader period have been studied by Prof. Rafi Lewis and were profiled this week in HaAretz: Debris from Crusader Attack on Queen of Jerusalem Found on Mount Zion. Next week he will be a guest lecturer at UNC Charlotte.…
Tomorrow night at Wingate University, 5pm, join us if you are in the area. For those who can not be there you can read some of the ideas I will present here: “What Kind of a Jew Was Jesus?” and download my handout here.
The discovery of a rare gold coin bearing the image of the Roman Emperor Nero at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s archaeological excavations on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, has just been announced by the archaeologists in charge of the project, Drs. Shimon Gibson, James Tabor, and Rafael Lewis.…
It has become almost axiomatic to assume that any responsible “quest for the historical Jesus” will value the Synoptic gospels–particularly Mark–as primary and more historically reliable in contrast to the gospel of John, which is viewed as secondary, and thus much more theological than historical. ((The Jesus Seminar lists this…
The influential Israeli newspaper HaAretz offers a nice profile of our 2016 Mt Zion excavation highlighting some of our new finds and offering a summary of past seasons and what we are concluding. Archaeologists excavating in the heart of ancient Jerusalem have begun to uncover the neighborhood that housed the elite…
According to the Jewish historian Josephus (Jewish War 7:389-406), when the Roman Tenth Legion finally captured the desert fortress of Masada in the spring of 73 CE, bringing a tragic end to the Jewish Revolt, 960 Jewish defenders of Masada–men, women, and children–perished at their own hands the night before…