Last night on the Jewish calendar marked the beginning of one of the lessor known festivals in the biblical calendar by our general secular/Christian society. Many non-Jews have heard of Passover, Pentecost (Shavuot), Rosh HaShanah, and Yom Kippur, but the larger culture knows little about Sukkoth–sometimes called the “feast of…
As many of you know I have a new translation of The Book of Genesis now available in print and Kindle editions via Amazon. I have also begun a weekly series working through the book of Genesis, bit by bit, with hosts Jono Vandor and Ross Nichols on the Truth2U.org…
From Mesopotamia to Egypt, women in the ancient world were considered property — valuable property, but property nonetheless. And it’s true of the Bible’s view as well. Yes, there were biblical women who flourished in spite of the patriarchy, women like Ruth, Esther, Lydia and Priscilla. But women in the…
If Genesis 1:1 is the best known verse in the Bible, and I think it well might be–even over John 3:16–isn’t it quite remarkable that it is mistranslated–and thus badly misinterpreted. This goes back centuries. I have a replica of the Geneva Bible, published in 1560, that was the standard…
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…
I am very pleased and excited to announce the inauguration of a new weekly series you can listen to or download on the internet in which I discuss week-by-week the new Transparent English Bible’s “Book of Genesis,”–just released last week. You can get your copy at Amazon, US and International…
I recently came across the photo of Geza Vermes below taken at Qumran, the site of the Dead Sea scrolls community. I was reminded of my time with him in January 2008 in Jerusalem. Here is what I wrote in 2013 upon hearing of his death. Geza Vermes, famed scholar…
Most of us who do academic work on Jesus and early Christianity often refer to what we do as “Christian Origins” or “Christian Beginnings.” It is more specific than just Bible or the history of ancient Mediterranean religions. The operating question seems to be how to account for Jesus himself–i.e.,…
I can hardly believe it has been a year. There is nothing I could say that would improve on what I wrote last year, a week after David’s death. I am posting it again here as I want alll of you to know what an extraordiary person he was and…
I have the first of a two part guest post on Bart Ehrman’s blog. It is about my newly published book on Paul where I lay out why I wrote it and next will write about how my mind has changed on Paul over 35 years. Most of you know…
