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Displaying 1 - 20 of 30 results
This Place Is for the Birds
New Testament tower?
Surely one of the most exciting moments in the life of a Biblical archaeologist is finding something that seems to illuminate the Biblical text. The recent discovery of the Siloam Pool where, according to John 9:1–7, Jesus cured a man who had...
Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 2009
Yes, Virginia, There Is a Q
Eta Linnemann’s article on the Q hypothesisa takes Burton Mack and me to task not only for our scholarship, but also for what she takes to be our attack on traditional Christian beliefs. It’s a clever exercise in apologetics. However, this...
Bible Review, October 1995
A Return to Origins (Again)
The early Christian martyrs were not reading the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas or the hypothetical sayings source that scholars refer to as “Q.” They were reading Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Bible Review, December 1999
Why Doesn’t God Answer Prayers?
How the First Christians Dealt with Divine Silence
We are told that God hears our prayers. Then why doesn’t he listen? The most consoling words in the New Testament are, “Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7 = Luke 11:9). The...
Bible Review, April 2004
Q
The lost gospel
The Lost Gospel. The very concept provokes a flood of questions. If it is lost, how do we know it ever existed? How do we know what was in it? Who lost it? And how was it lost? Perhaps most intriguing of all: Will it ever be found? A new book...
Bible Review, October 1993
The Great Debate
Jesus doesn’t really matter in Britain, but he clearly does in America. Why?
Bible Review, August 1999
Bethlehem…Of Course
Steve Mason has probably made the best case possible that we should adopt an “agnostic” position regarding the birthplace of Jesus. But although Mason has examined the literary data...
Bible Review, February 2000
Village Razed, Rebel Beheaded
How Hadrian Suppressed the Second Jewish Revolt at Horvat ‘Ethri
The second–third-century Roman historian Cassius Dio claimed that the Romans destroyed 985 Jewish villages while suppressing the so-called Bar-Kokhba Revolt, the Second Jewish Revolt. I...
Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October 2007
The Gospel of Thomas
Does it contain authentic sayings of Jesus?
Scholars have long theorized that collections of Jesus’ sayings circulated in the decades following his death and that therefore they would be among the earliest witnesses to his message. Modern critical scholars have even been able to...
Bible Review, April 1990
How Jesus Saw Himself
The quest for the historical Jesus began as a protest against traditional Christian dogma. But when the supposedly “neutral” historians peered into the well, all they saw was a featureless Jesus. Even when these scholars decided that...
Bible Review, June 1996
Jesus Lives!
Looking Back on 20 Years of Jesus Scholarship
Thirty years ago, the historical Jesus was dead. By 1975, it was clear that scholars had very little to say about him. If students were assigned anything to read on the subject, it was usually Gunther Bornkamm’s Jesus of Nazareth from...
Bible Review, Summer 2005
Where Was James Buried?
Making sense of contradictory accounts
Controversy over the burial of James, the brother of Jesus, is nothing new. As early as the fourth century A.D., the location of James’s tomb was disputed. In the words of the church father Jerome, writing in 392 A.D.: “Some monks think James...
Bible Review, June 2003
Prisca and Aquila
Traveling tentmakers and church builders
Aquila and his wife Priscilla are the most prominent couple involved in the first-century expansion of Christianity. They were Paul’s hosts at Corinth (Acts 18:2–3). Subsequently they directed house-churches at Ephesus (1 Corinthians 16:19)...
Bible Review, December 1992
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri
The Remarkable Discovery You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
Discovered in the Egyptian desert over a century ago, the Oxyrhynchus Papyri have provided invaluable insights into the life and times of an early Roman Christian community of the Nile Valley. As our author explains, these priceless documents, which include everything from little-known gospels to revealing personal letters, intimately portray the beliefs and daily lives of ordinary Romans and Christians, making them one of the greatest archaeological finds ever.
Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 2011
What Really Happened at the Transfiguration?
A Literary Critic Deepens Our Understanding
In the Gospel miracle stories, Jesus does wonderful things. But the divine power that he dispenses flows through his person while leaving him untouched. In the Transfiguration episode,...
Bible Review, Fall 1987
Triumph over Temptation
The historical core behind the testing of Jesus
Three gospels tell of the devil testing Jesus in the wilderness, an incident so remarkable as to seem almost certainly unreal. But is it? Our author suggests a historical core to the tale, a substratum reflecting struggles Jesus faced in his lifetime.
Bible Review, August 1999
Fishers of Fish, Fishers of Men
What we know of the first disciples from their profession
What sorts of men were Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John—crude, ignorant laborers or savvy and practical men of the world? The reliability of much of the Gospels rides on the answer.
Bible Review, June 1999
On the Road and on the Sea with St. Paul
Travelling conditions in the first century
In the Acts of the Apostles, we are told that Paul made three missionary journeys. In almost every introduction to the New Testament I have seen, the author discusses St. Paul’s journeys in terms of places and dates; his concern is to...
Bible Review, Summer 1985
What Really Happened at Gethsemane?
The scene has stimulated the imagination of great painters. The light of a full moon accentuates the shadows in a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives. A lonely figure prays in...
Bible Review, April 1998
Judgement and Mercy
For there to be forgiveness or mercy, the truth, no matter how harsh, must be told. That is a lesson to be learned from the God of both testaments.
Bible Review, April 2000