Resurrection of the dead represents one of the more enigmatic beliefs of Western religions to many modern readers. In this volume, C. D. Elledge offers an interpretation of some of the earliest literature within Judaism that exhibits a confident hope in resurrection. He not only aids the study of early Jewish literature itself, but expands contemporary knowledge of some of the earliest expressions of a hope that would become increasingly meaningful in later Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Elledge focuses on resurrection in the latest writings of the Hebrew Bible, the Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as the writings of other Hellenistic Jewish authors. He also incorporates later rabbinic writings, early Christian sources, and inscriptions, as they shed additional light upon select features of the evidence in question. This allows for a deeper look into how particular literary works utilized the discourse of resurrection, while also retaining larger comparative insights into what these materials may teach us about the gradual flourishing of resurrection within its early Jewish environment. Individual chapters balance a more categorical/comparative approach to the problems raised by resurrection (definitions, diverse conceptions, historical origins, strategies of legitimation) with a more specific focus on particular pieces of the early Jewish evidence (1 Enoch, Dead Sea Scrolls, Josephus). Resurrection of the Dead in Early Judaism, 200 BCE-CE 200 provides a treatment of resurrection that informs the study of early Jewish theologies, as well as their later reinterpretations within Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity.

An international team of historians, archaeologists and biblical scholars discuss new perspectives on the archaeology, history and biblical traditions of ancient Jerusalem and examine their ethical, literary, historical and theological relationships. Essays range from a discussion of the Hellenization of Jerusalem in the time of Herod to an examination of its identity and myth on the Internet, while Thomas L. Thompson's informed Introduction queries whether a true history of ancient Jerusalem and Palestine can in fact ever be written. Contributors include: Thomas L. Thompson, Michael Prior, Niels Peter Lemche, Margreet Steiner, Sara Mandell, John Strange, Firas Sawwah, Lester Grabbe, Philip Davies, Thomas M. Bolin, Ingrid Hjelm, David Gunn and Keith Whitelam.

The definitive story of the recent discovery of the first-century ossuary (limestone bone box) with the legend 'James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus', & it's implications for understanding Jesus, his family, his followers, the first Christians and the Jewish Christian movement in Jerusalem that was led by James.

Evidence from ancient records with maps and illustrations. Volume 1 of the Advanced Christian Culture Courses. This book is intended for those readers and students of the Bible and ancient history who are not able to read the inscriptions on the monuments, or to make practical use of the larger technical works. The book is arranged so that it yields readily to a plan of reading and study, covering a period of six months. The table of contents gives the theme of each of the 285 sections, distributed under 25 chapters. Also contains a listing of books for further study.

The recent discovery and exhibition of an ancient Jewish ossuary (a burial box) that bears the inscription "James the son of Joseph, brother of Jesus" has stunned scholars and public alike. Could it really be that this small stone box actually contained the bones of James, the brother of Jesus Christ? While the preliminary scientific and paleographic study suggests that this ossuary may well be authentic (in other words, datable to the 1st century) and may well refer to James, the brother of Jesus, whose leadership to early Christianity in Jerusalem has become public, what is still shrouded in mystery is that this ossuary is only one of several that shed important archaeological light on the historical Jesus and the origins of Christianity.

In Jesus and the Ossuaries, Craig A. Evans helps all readers, expert and layperson alike, understand the importance of this recent find for the quest for the historical Jesus and any historical reconstruction of early Christianity. Evans provides an overview of the most important archaeological discoveries, including those near the Dead Sea, before summarizing archaeological findings relevant to 1st-century Galilee and Judea.

Against this backdrop, Evans then provides a detailed study of nine other inscriptions (six on ossuaries, three on stone slabs) that pertain in one way or another to the historical Jesus and the arguments for and against the authenticity and identification of the recently discovered James Ossuary (the tenth major inscription). Evans concludes his volume with a measured consideration of the historical, exegetical, and apologetic value of the archaeological data afforded by the several inscriptions.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

From ancient times, funerals have been deeply social events characterized by a complex array of social and cultural interactions. This book reveals what took place when the early Jews and Christians in Palestine gathered to bury their dead. Byron McCane, Academic Director of the Sepphoris Excavations, uses the evidence of his archaeological fieldwork to answer fascinating and important questions including: Was Jesus' burial a shameful event in Roman Palestine? What kinds of death rituals did his followers practice? How different were the death rituals of Jews from those of the earliest Christian communities? McCane writes with insight and wit about the typical characteristics of Jewish, Christian, and pagan burial practices between 63 B.C.E. and 135 C.E. He argues that Jews of the period shared cultural ethnicity that led to very similar death rituals. He contends that the Christian communities that handed down the Q traditions were made up of typical Galilean Jews. He examines early Christian stories about Jesus' burial, showing how they are founded in the social context of Palestinian Judaism. Finally, he explores how, in the second century, Jews and Christians begin to part ways in their funerary practices. These changes were driven not only by theological disputes about death and the afterlife, but also by the steady pressure of larger social and cultural forces. Byron R. McCane is Professor of Religion and department chair at Wofford College, Spartanburg, South Carolina. He is Academic Director of the Sepphoris Excavations in Northern Israel.

This volume challenges some common assumptions about the culture of the early Byzantine Near East by examining the architecture and urban design of five cities in that period. The author assesses the various kinds of religious structure found in each city, including cult centres, temples dedicated to the Olympian gods and buildings set aside for mystery religions. He also shows how the effects of these sanctuaries on civic religious life were hugely important and influential, and shaped the way that citizens conceived of their city and of themselves. This book should be of interest to: scholars and students of the New Testament and of the Hellenistic period; scholars and students of Judaic studies; scholars and students of Classical studies; and non-specialists interested in the life and times of the ancient world.

Archaeology seems to have become an active partner in the attempt to prove the historical truth of the Bible. Biblical archaeologists have gone to the field in search of Noah's ark or the walls of Jericho, as if the finding of these artifacts would make the events of scripture somehow more true or real.Thomas Thompson is one of the most vocal contemporary critics of biblical archaeology. His simple but powerful thesis is that archaeology cannot be used in the service of the Bible. Focusing on the patriarchal narratives-the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-he demonstrates that archaeological research simply cannot historically substantiate these stories. Going further, Thompson says that archaeological materials should never be dated or evaluated on the basis of written texts. Looking to the patriarchal narratives in Genesis, he concludes that these stories are neither historical nor were they intended to be historical. Instead, these narratives are written as expressions of Israel's relationship to God. Thomas L. Thompson is Professor of Old Testament, University of Copenhagen. His books include The Mythic Past and The Early History of the Israelite People.

In this short, accessible and readable book, Professor Soggin gives an account of all the features of Israelite and Jewish religion in the biblical period. After a radical assessment of the nature of the sources and the problems of using them historically, he discusses the origin of monotheism and Israel's belief in its one God Yahweh. Then follow accounts of the three most important features in Israelite religion: the Jerusalem temple and its worship, the covenant, and sacrifices. The main festivals are discussed and there are chapters on the sabbath and the new moon, the sabbatical year and the year of jubilee, and the calendar. The book ends with an account of changes brought about after the exile and the development of Middle Judaism, and the collapse of the old Israelite system of worship after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE.Though firmly based on biblical and Near Eastern texts and artefacts, the book wears its learning lightly; there are no footnotes, but a bibliography of books for further reading. Its clarity and straightforward approach make it an ideal introduction to the subject for students.

Recent books about Jesus and early Christianity can be divided into two kinds: those that examine the life and work of the historical Jesus prior to his death and those that reconstruct events between JesusGCO death and the writings of the first Gospels. SawickiGCOs provocative book challenges the results of both kinds of research by using both archaeology and anthropology to situate Jesus clearly in his Galilean cultural context. Sawicki contests recent portraits of Jesus as a Mediterranean peasant, a Cynic sage, or the convener of a fellowship of equals. In addition, she calls into question readings of ancient Galilee that emphasize it as a society marked simply by economic stratification or by an GC honor-shameGCY sociology. Rather, she discovers the Galilean JesusGCO indigenous cultural idiom in its material structures for the negotiation of kinship, the management of labor, the distribution of commodities, and the construction of gender. SawickiGCOs book is the first to balance classical urban archaeology against the more recent archaeology of villages and of local and regional commerce. It frames current issues in Jesus research in terms that can guide both ongoing village excavations in Israel and responsible exegesis of the Gospels in church and academy. Marianne Sawicki is the author of Seeing the Lord: Resurrection and Early Christian Practices. For: Seminarians; graduate students; biblical archaeologists

Over the millennia, the legend of a great deluge has endured in the biblical story of Noah and in such Middle Eastern myths as the epic of Gilgamesh. Now two distinguished geophysicists have discovered a catastrophic event that changed history, a gigantic flood 7,600 years ago in what is today the Black Sea.
Using sound waves and coring devices to probe the sea floor, William Ryan and Walter Pitman revealed clear evidence that this inland body of water had once been a vast freshwater lake lying hundreds of feet below the level of the world's rising oceans. Sophisticated dating techniques confirmed that 7,600 years ago the mounting seas had burst through the narrow Bosporus valley, and the salt water of the Mediterranean had poured into the lake with unimaginable force, racing over beaches and up rivers, destroying or chasing all life before it. The rim of the lake, which had served as an oasis, a Garden of Eden for farms and villages in a vast region of semi-desert, became a sea of death. The people fled, dispersing their languages, genes, and memories.

This is considered to be the most important book left out of the Bible. During the first two hundred years of Christianity it was the most widely read of all texts. This is the best available version because it was originally written in Ethiopic and the translator, R. H. Charles, directly and accurately translated it. It also includes additional research, which Charles added at a later time. He said of this work, The influence of I Enoch on the New Testament has been greater than that of all the other apocryphal and pseudepigraphical books put together. It is referred to in the Hebrew Zohar, The Book of Jubilees, The Epistle of St. Jude, and other ancient texts. Written mostly in the second century BC, it explains how evil came into the world with the arrival of the fallen angels. Enoch was chosen to be a scribe in the judgment process due to his neutral human standing. Many of the ideas adopted by Christianity were first found in this book, including the Final Judgment, the concept of demons, the origins of evil and the Messianic Kingdom. If you wish to go to the source of Christianity, this is a great place to start. This is by far the most complete and accurate version which every serious researcher and student should have.

In 701 B.C. the Assyrian king Sennacherib launched his campaign against, a.o., Judah. This event has been recorded in the Hebrew Bible (Isaiah, the Biblical war narratives) and, as a consequence, has decisively influenced Jewish and Christian thought. The war, though, has remained obscure for modern historians. The author of this latest volume in Brill's monograph series "Studies in the History and Culture of the Ancient Near East" brings together both Biblical and Assyrian sources on the campaign. Part of these abundant Assyrian materials are new, and consequently enable the author to give new insights on the event itself. A second major result of this study lies in the new, carefully supported interpretations of some "Isaiah oracles," and of both the "Assyrian and Biblical narratives" of Sennacherib's campaign. The meticulous attention given to textual criticism, translation problems, historiographical questions and its cautiously applied literary criticism make it a model of the contextual method in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Studies.

The Babylonian and Assyrian Legends Concerning the Creation of the World and of Mankind. The Enuma Elish is one of the oldest stories known to mankind. It is a story first written down by the ancient Sumerians thousands of years ago. As a one time assistant in the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum. L.W. King provides us with a qualified translation of the tables which were originally written in cuneiform script. The Enuma Elish is receiving renewed interest from modern researchers delving into the origins of mankind, the earth, and the solar system. Over the centuries a copy ended up in the library at Nineveh in the 7th century B.C., and was uncovered by archaeologists in the late 1800s. Written to cuneiform text and preserved on seven clay tables, the entire story was called "The Seven Tablets of Creation". After being translated the story revealed how the planets became aligned, how a cosmic catastrophe affected the earth, how mankind came upon the scene, and how the "gods" played a role in all of it. The Seven Tablets of Creation have had many profound implications since they were first discovered and subsequently published. They predate many parts of the Book of Genesis as well as other worldwide creation myths. Volume One includes this epic poem's English translation. It also includes information on parallels in Hebrew literature, the date and origin of the Babylonian creation legends, and more. Volume Two includes other accounts of creation, an Assyrian "Tower of Babel" story, and supplementary texts showing the actual cuneiform tablets.

A popular introduction to archaeology and the methods archaeologists use to reconstruct the history of ancient Israel.

The Babylonian and Assyrian Legends Concerning the Creation of the World and of Mankind. The Enuma Elish is one of the oldest stories known to mankind. It is a story first written down by the ancient Sumerians thousands of years ago. As a one time assistant in the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum, L.W. King provides us with a qualified translation of the tablets which were originally written in cuneiform script. The Enuma Elish is receiving renewed interest from modern researchers delving into the origins of mankind, the earth, and the solar system. Over the centuries a copy ended up in the library at Nineveh in the 7th century B.C., and was uncovered by archaeologists in the late 1800s. Written in cuneiform text and preserved on seven clay tablets, the entire story was called "The Seven Tablets of Creation". After being translated the story revealed how the planets became aligned, how a cosmic catastrophe affected the earth, how mankind came upon the scene, and how the "gods" played a role in all of it. The Seven Tablets of Creation have had many profound implications since they were first discovered and subsequently published. They predate many parts of the Book of Genesis as well as other worldwide creation myths. Volume One includes this epic poem's English translation. It also includes information on parallels in Hebrew literature, the date and origin of the Babylonian creation legends, and more. Volume Two includes other accounts of creation, an Assyrian "Tower of Babel" story, and supplementary texts showing the actual cuneiform tablets.

The incredible discoveries at Qumran are unveiled in this compelling volume by one of the world's foremost experts on biblical archaeology and the ancient Qumran community. Drawing on the best of current research and a thorough knowledge of all the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hartmut Stegemann analyzes the purpose of the Qumran settlement, paints a picture of how daily life was carried on there, explores the relation of the Qumran community to John the Baptist, to Jesus, and to early Christianity, and uncovers the true nature of the Qumran writings, which continue to have a profound impact on biblical studies today

One of the splendours of the Augustan age, the great temple at Jerusalem occupied an area four times larger than the Acropolis. Even before this period the site had already seen much building. Here the authors have created a sourcebook on the cisterns, subterranean chambers and conduits of the Haram al-Sharif. Public and archival sources have been gathered together and original plans and drawings were re-examined, in order to enable other scholars to make use of this rich resource.

Originally published 1961, this volume is being reissued to make the entire series available to students and scholars of biblical and post-biblical Judaism and early Christianity. A companion volume contains the text found in the original one-volume publication.

An illustrated catalogue of small finds from Roman Britain which have inscriptions indicating exposure to Christianity. Ritual objects and furniture, vessels and utensils, personal ornaments, propitiatory and amuletic objects and utilitarian objects are all described and illustrated by line-drawings. Each catalogue entry details provenance, location and bibliographic references. A full description includes consideration of whether the object is an indication of Christian worship or has some more complex history or pagan function. Statistical analysis of accepted, claimed, possible, rejected and falsa' in each class provides a useful guide to distinguishing genuine material indicators of Roman christianity from more ambiguous material.

Jesus and the Land is an attempt to reconstruct the life of Jesus based on insights gained from the land. How did Jesus' ministry begin? What led him from Nazareth and exclusive Judaism to Capernaum and inclusive Hillilian Judaism? What events led to the increase of his popularity, and how did this popularity result in his eventual execution? --from the foreword by the author Key Features: Expands on a successful project, buliding on a proven winner, Focuses on the historical and archeological evidence available to uncover insights into the context of Jesus' ministry, Written in a clear, accessible style Key Benefits: * Helps the reader understand some of the historical background behind the gospel accounts * Assists the reader in learning about the cultural context of Jesus' life and ministry * Makes some of the insights of biblical history and archeology available to a broad audience, without requiring technical knowledge of the fiel

Did a volcano part the Red Sea? Have scientists found Eve? Was the pharaoh of the Oppression a woman? Did the Jordan River really cease flowing the day Jericho fell?

A brilliant author, scientist, and adventurer who has been called "the real Indiana Jones," Dr. Charles Pellegrino takes us on a remarkable journey from the Nile to the Tigris-Euphrates rivers -- crossing time, legend, and ancient lands to explore the unsolved mysteries of the Old Testament. Return to Sodom and Gomorrah is an epic saga of discovery that interweaves science, history, and suspense --the first book ever to bring archaeologists, scientists and theologians together to examine the same evidence. In this enthralling revelatory adventure, Pellegrino introduces us to dedicated pioneers like Benjamin Mazar, Leonard Woolley, and T. E. Lawrence, who retraced the steps of Moses to demystify the Exodus and the Flood. In the process, he enables us to view ancient relics in an extraordinary new light -- as both fascinating windows on the past and vivid signposts to the future.

For over one hundred years archaeologists have explored the land of Israel, investigating such fascinating topics as the migrations of the patriarchs, the Israelites’ conquest of Canaan, and the establishment of the monarchy by David and Solomon. In this book some of Israel’s foremost archaeologists present a thorough and up-to-date survey of this research, providing an assessable introduction to early life in the land of the Bible.   The authors discuss the history of ancient Israel from the Neolithic era (eighth millennium B.C.E.) to the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E. Each chapter describes a different era as seen through relevant archaeological discoveries. The reader is introduced to the first permanent settlements in the land of Israel, the crystallization of the political system of city-states, the nature of Canaanite culture, the Israelite patterns of settlement, and the division of the country into the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. The lavishly illustrated text explores and demonstrates developments in religious practices, architecture, technology, customs, arts and crafts, warfare, writing, cult practices, and trade.   The book will be a delightful and informative resource for anyone who has ever wanted to know more about the religious, scientific, or historical background to the events described in the Bible, or to current developments in the Middle East.