At the intersection of an unpaved forest road with the path to Horvat Hani lies an almost invisible rocky mound in the western Bethel foothills. Miriam Feinberg Vamosh suggests this site of a ancient convent is actually the intersection of three traditions remembering a remarkable woman of Scripture: Hannah.
The Mikveh and Ritual Immersion in Jesus’ Day
The complete 2006 lecture is now accessible to JP users. View now!
World’s Oldest Biblical Scroll Discovered?
This past Wednesday evening (21 September, 2016) the BBC reported that a scroll discovered in the ancient synagogue at Ein Gedi “reveals the earliest text ever found of the Old Testament.” Is this startling claim true?
The Recently Discovered Pool of Siloam
In this free sample lecture from the 2006 Jerusalem Perspective Conference, archaeologist and JP contributor Ronny Reich discusses the excavation of the first-century remains of the pool of Siloam discovered in Jerusalem. The complete collection of presentations delivered at the 2006 Jerusalem Perspective Conference is available through the En-Gedi Resource Center.
Character Profile: Pontius Pilate
Helpless pawn or ruthless villain? The Roman prefect of Judea, Pontius Pilate, is famous because of his role in the New Testament Gospels. Pilate’s name is even mentioned in ancient Christian creeds. Yet in many Christian retellings of the story of Jesus’ crucifixion Pilate’s role is often portrayed incorrectly. In this video Marc Turnage reexamines Pilate’s character based on ancient literary sources, including the New Testament, and archaeological finds. In doing so, Turnage offers a new take on a familiar character.
Video Clip: Gabriel Barkay on “Was Jesus Buried in the Garden Tomb?”
In this video Gabriel Barkay, world-renowned archaeologist of the Bar Ilan University, discusses burial customs in the first century, and what archaeology can tell us about the burial site of Jesus.
Herod’s Tomb, Ehud Netzer and a Case of Mistaken Identity
When we first arrived in the Holy Land, my wife and I toured as many sites as we could on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides of the border. The Herodium was a great place to bring people who were exploring the Holy Land for the first time to introduce them to this man, Herod, of whom they have heard so much. I always felt that the site spoke eloquently to visitors of both the brilliance and madness of Herod the Great.
Jesus the Galilean, a Stranger in Judea?
Follow Garcia as he challenges Taylor’s work and brings about the conclusion that “We should attribute any differences between Galileans and Judeans primarily to issues of opposing halakhic opinions.”
A Response to Kilty and Elliott on the Talpiot Tomb
Kevin Kilty and Mark Elliott have written yet another article arguing that the Talpiot tomb is likely to be the tomb of Jesus’ family. Their new article aims to overturn a number of objections made by Jodi Magness in her book Stone and Dung, Oil and Spit: Jewish Daily Life in the Time of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011). As with their earlier work, Kilty and Elliott’s latest effort displays a faulty understanding of the numbers involved in calculating the odds that the Talpiot tomb is the tomb of Jesus’ family.
Evidence of an Editor’s Hand in Two Instances of Mark’s Account of Jesus’ Last Week?
It has been noted that in instances where Mark’s editorial hand restructured his story, Luke has preserved a more primitive form of the account, a form that is independent of Mark’s influence. Gospel scholars need to properly evaluate Mark’s editorial style and acknowledge that frequently a theological agenda influenced his rewriting.
Views That Have Vanished: The Photographs of David Bivin
Forty-five years ago, when I first came to Israel, I was an avid photographer. Throughout the 1960s, I traveled all over the country with my camera in hand, taking pictures of beautiful landscapes, archaeological excavations, and cultural events. About four years ago, I approached Todd Bolen (founder of BiblePlaces.com) with the idea of creating a digital collection from the best of my photographs. Today, I am pleased to announce that the collection is finished and available.
Is Faith Contrary to Empirical Support?
Is faith antithetical to possessing (or seeking) empirical or rational supports for what we believe? If we may (with qualification) speak of believing as a sort of knowing, then does the Bible construe faith-knowing and rational knowing as mutually exclusive?
The Statistics behind “The Tomb”
Rather than being treated as liabilities to a statistical study, conjectured details are turned into historical givens and are even factored in as positive data. Consequently, most of the connections made in the documentary fall under the heading of “special pleading.”
James Tabor Responds to JerusalemPerspective.com Review
Professor James D. Tabor, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, has responded to Dr. Jack Poirier’s critical review of Tabor’s recently published The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006).
Book Review: James Tabor’s The Jesus Dynasty
Tabor has an annoying habit of promoting remote possibilities into even possibilities, and then into probabilities.
What are the names of the settlements of the twenty-four priestly divisions mentioned in 1 Chronicles 24?
The list of the priestly mishmarot (divisions, courses, watches) turned up on an inscription uncovered in the excavations at Caesarea in 1962.
Jesus’ Reference to Folklore and Historical Events
An inherent consequence of our distance from the world of Jesus is that we primarily understand Jesus’ words as they apply within our twenty-first century eschatological and theological framework. However, Jesus’ teachings reflect his cultural background as a Jewish rabbi in first-century Galilee.
Another Look at the “Cleansing of the Temple” Story
Based on archaeological excavations near the southern wall of the temple, the research of Shmuel Safrai, and a nuance of the Hebrew verb that is one of the equivalents for Greek ekballein (drive out, banish; throw out; throw away, reject; cast out of a place, expel; remove, get rid of; put out), it may be necessary to reinterpret the gospel accounts of Jesus’ “cleansing” of the temple, even suggesting a different location for Jesus’ action.