The question of how the earliest followers of Jesus viewed Jesus as well as the “God of Jesus,”–that is the One God so central to most forms of Judaism, is a complex one that has been explored extensively in the field of New Testament and Christian Origins studies. I highly…
NEW! The Lost Mary: Rediscovering the Mother of Jesus (New York: Knopf, 2025). Kindle and Audio. Also published by HarperCollins UK available on Amazon.co.uk serving United Kingdom, EU, and worldwide A world-renowned historian of early Christianity and ancient Judaism lifts the veil on the life of Mary—revealing her revolutionary role as…
Does the 1980 Talpiot “Jesus Family Tomb” have any likely connection to the historical Jesus of Nazareth and his family? In January of 2008 a group of internationally renowned scholars from a broad range of disciplines met in Jerusalem to discuss that very question. Covering the archaeological facts about the…
Some Oral Remarks by Prof. James Tabor reflection on Qumran down to WacoPlenary Session: When Prophecy Fails Delivered at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, 1997 English translations of the Dead Sea Scroll quotation here are from Geza Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English. Note: As an Amazon…
The treatise attributed to Jesus’ brother James in the New Testament was not even considered “Christian” by many Protestant theologians such as Martin Luther. And yet this James was the leader of the followers of Jesus after the crucifixion–and held that position until his own brutal death in 63 CE…
I am convinced that the historical figure of Jesus began to pore over key prophetic passages in the Hebrew Bible, especially in the Isaiah and the Pslams, where he became convinced that both his identity and his destiny was laid out. After the death of his cousin John the Baptist,…
The on-line magazine, Popular Archaeology, which I highly recommend, recently circulated its “Top Ten” feature stories of the past decade. I was honored and pleased that one of the ten stories that my research on the historical Jesus, as related to material and textual evidence, was chosen as one of…
In the introduction to this this extended interview with Paul Williams, I update viewers a bit on my activities in April and beyond–including my Zoom meeting on April 30th with students in the Mark course. Paul Williams is the YouTube host of #BloggingTheology, we explore Mark’s view of the figure…
If you want to understand ancient ideas of astral immortality–including Jewish “gnostic” and Kabalistic circles, this exposition on how the earliest Christian astrological iconography developed is essential. Wray argues that the mysterious Migdal synagogue stone is far from just a “Temple” representation, but in fact has astrological meanings…and he has…
In this video I narrate the last night of Jesus’ life, critically and historically examined. Quite a few surprises. The Crucifixion was on Thursday, not “Good” Friday; Jesus never ate a Passover meal; he never said “eat my body; drink my blood,” and other significant insights. https://youtu.be/ReSBtcaKNh4 For more on…