Modern biblical scholarship's commitment to the historical-critical method in its efforts to write a history of Israel has created the central and unavoidable problem of writing an objective and critical history of Palestine through the biblical literature with the methods of Biblical Archaeology. 'Biblical Narrative and Palestine's History' brings together key essays on historical method and the archaeology and history of Palestine. The essays employ comparative and formalistic techniques to illuminate the allegorical and mythical in Old Testament narrative traditions from Genesis to Nehemiah. In so doing, the volume presents a detailed review of central and radical changes in both our understanding of biblical traditions and the archaeology and history of Palestine. The study offers an analysis of Biblical narrative as rooted in ancient Near Eastern literature since the Bronze Age.

Examine the Evidence Surrounding Jesus No other figure has impacted history like Jesus. Yet today, he's often seen as a mythical character whose legend increased over time. So what does the historical and archaeological evidence say about Jesus? Archaeologist Dr. Titus Kennedy has investigated firsthand the discoveries connected to Jesus' birth, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection. He has visited and excavated where Jesus walked, and examined the artifacts connected to Jesus' life. Here, he presents an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of the research and findings that illuminate the historicity of Christ as presented in the Bible. Excavating the Evidence for Jesus progresses chronologically through the Gospels, noting the many relevant archaeological, historical, geographic, and literary findings. As you read, you'll be able to decide for yourself whether the evidence confirms the existence and story of Jesus, and determine whether the Gospels are worthy of being approached not as legends, but as history. Further, you'll gain a deeper understanding of the historic basis of Christianity, a richer knowledge of the ancient world, and an evidence-based perspective on the reliability of the Bible.

Over the past several years, a number of Levantine archaeologists working on the Iron Age (ca. 1200 - 586 BCE) have begun to employ high precision radiocarbon dating to solve a wide range of chronological, historical and social issues. The incorporation of high precision radiocarbon dating methods and statistical modelling into the archaeological 'tool box' of the 'Biblical archaeologist' is revolutionizing the field. In fact, Biblical archaeology is leading the field of world archaeology in how archaeologists must deal with history, historical texts, and material culture. A great deal of debate has been generated by this new research direction in southern Levantine (Israel, Jordan, Palestinian territories, southern Lebanon & Syria, the Sinai) archaeology.

Over the past several years, a number of Levantine archaeologists working on the Iron Age (ca. 1200 - 586 BCE) have begun to employ high precision radiocarbon dating to solve a wide range of chronological, historical and social issues. The incorporation of high precision radiocarbon dating methods and statistical modelling into the archaeological 'tool box' of the 'Biblical archaeologist' is revolutionizing the field. In fact, Biblical archaeology is leading the field of world archaeology in how archaeologists must deal with history, historical texts, and material culture. A great deal of debate has been generated by this new research direction in southern Levantine (Israel, Jordan, Palestinian territories, southern Lebanon & Syria, the Sinai) archaeology. This book takes the pulse of how archaeology, science-based research methods and the Bible interface at the beginning of the 21st century and brings together a leading team of archaeologists, Egyptologists, Biblical scholars, radiocarbon dating specialists and other researchers who have embraced radiocarbon dating as a significant tool to test hypotheses concerning the historicity of aspects of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible. As this book "raises the bar" in how archaeologists tackle historical issues as manifest in the interplay between the archaeological record and text, its interest will go well beyond the 'Holy Land.'

Esther is the most visual book of the Hebrew Bible and was largely crafted in the Fourth Century BCE by an author who was clearly au fait with the rarefied world of the Achaemenid court. It therefore provides an unusual melange of information which can enlighten scholars of Ancient Iranian Studies whilst offering Biblical scholars access into the Persian world from which the text emerged. In this book, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones unlocks the text of Esther by reading it against the rich iconographic world of ancient Persia and of the Near East. Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther is a cultural and iconographic exploration of an important, but often undervalued, biblical book, and Llewellyn-Jones presents the book of Esther as a rich source for the study of life and thought in the Persian Empire. The author reveals answers to important questions, such as the role of the King's courtiers in influencing policy, the way concubines at court were recruited, the structure of the harem in shifting the power of royal women, the function of feasting and drinking in the articulation of courtly power, and the meaning of gift-giving and patronage at the Achaemenid court.

Best-selling book on the Scrolls, updated to reflect current scholarship and recent debates The premier Dead Sea Scrolls primer ever since its original publication in 1994, James VanderKam's Dead Sea Scrolls Today won the Biblical Archaeology Society's Publication Award in 1995 for the Best Popular Book on Biblical Archaeology. In this expanded and updated edition the book will continue to illuminate the greatest archaeological find in modern times. While retaining the format, style, and aims of the first edition, the second edition of The Dead Sea Scrolls Today takes into account the full publication of the texts from the caves and the post-1994 debates about the Qumran site, and it contains an additional section regarding information that the Scrolls provide about Second Temple Judaism and the groups prominent at the time. Further, VanderKam has enlarged the bibliographies throughout and changed the phrasing in many places. Finally, quotations of the Scrolls are from the fifth edition of Geza Vermes's translation, The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Penguin, 1997).

The links between archaeology and the Bible have fascinated generations of archaeologists and biblical scholars who seek documentation of events narrated in the Bible. The British Museum's collections include numerous inscribed objects, scripts and pictorial reliefs which provide such evidence. There is, for example, a Babylonian clay tablet which records Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Jerusalem in 597 BC, as narrated in the book of Jeremiah. For this book the author has selected over seventy such 'documents', mainly from Western Asia, with some examples included from Greece, Egypt and Asia Minor, dating from the period of the Patriarchs to the New Testament times, c. 2000 BC to c. AD 100. He transliterates and translates the ancient texts, which include Cuneiform, Aramaic and Hebrew, and discusses the contribution they make to our knowledge of the culture and history of biblical times. Each object is illustrated in black and white.

Originally published between 1920-70, the aim of the general editor, C.K. Ogden, was to summarize the most up-to-date findings and theories of historians, anthropologists, archaeologists and sociologists. This reprinted material is available as a set or in the following groupings: "Prehistory and Historical Ethnography" set of 12: 0-415-15611-4 (u800); "Greek Civilization" set of 7: 0-415-15612-2 (u450); "Roman Civilization" set of 6: 0-415-15613-0 (u400); "Eastern Civilizations" set of 10: 0-415-15614-9 (u650); "Judaeo-Christian Civilization" set of 4: 0-415-15615-7: (u250); "European Civilization" set of 11: 0-415-15616-5 (u700).

In this book, Sabine R. Huebner explores the world of the protagonists of the New Testament and the early Christians using the rich papyrological evidence from Roman Egypt. This gives us unparalleled insights into the everyday lives of the non-elite population in an area quite similar to neighboring Judaea-Palestine. What were the daily concerns and difficulties experienced by a carpenter's family or by a shepherd looking after his flocks? How did the average man or woman experience a Roman census? What obstacles did women living in a patriarchal society face in private, in public, and in the early Church? Given the flight of Jesus' family into Egypt, how mobile were the lower classes, what was their understanding of geography, and what costs and dangers were associated with travel? This volume gives a better understanding of the structural, social, and cultural conditions under which figures from the New Testament lived.

Ever since the first scrolls were found in the Judaean desert in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls have been the subject of passionate speculation and controversy. The possibility that they might challenge assumptions about ancient Judaism and the origins of Christianity, coupled with the extremely limited access imposed for many years, only fueled debate on their meanings. With all the scrolls now available in translation, conclusions can be drawn as to the authorship and origins, their implications for Christianity and Judaism, and their link with the ancient site of Qumran. This book, written by three noted scholars in the field, draws together all the evidence to present a fully illustrated survey of every major manuscript. With numerous factfiles, reconstructions, scroll photographs, and a wealth of other illustrations, it is the most comprehensive and accessible account available on the Dead Sea Scrolls.

"In Stone and Dung, Oil and Spit Jodi Magness unearths 'footprints' buried in both archaeological and literary evidence to shed new light on Jewish daily life in Palestine from the mid-first century b.c.e. to 70 c.e. the time and place of Jesus' life and ministry. Magness analyzes recent archaeological discoveries from such sites as Qumran and Masada together with a host of period texts, including the New Testament, the works of Josephus, and rabbinic teachings. Layering all these sources together, she reconstructs in detail a fascinating variety of everyday activities dining customs, Sabbath observance, fasting, toilet habits, burial customs, and more" -- BACK COVER.

Originally published in 1916, this book was written by the renowned British biblical scholar, archaeologist and manuscript specialist J. Rendel Harris (1852-1941). The text is composed of nine loosely connected essays following the theme of Boanerges, a 1913 work by Harris. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in mythology and the works of Harris.

Steve D. Fraade offers a new translation, with notes, and detailed commentary to the Dead Sea Scroll most commonly called the Damascus Document, based on both ancient manuscripts from caves along the western shore of the Dead Sea, and medieval manuscripts from the Cairo Geniza. The text is one of the longest and most important of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Its importance derives from several aspects of its contents: its extensive collections of laws, both for the sectarian community that authored it and for the rest of Israel; some of the oldest examples of scriptural interpretation, both legal and narrative, both implicit and explicit, with important implications for our understanding of the evolving status of the Hebrew canon; some of the clearest expressions, often in hortatory form, of the community's self-understanding as an elect remnant of Israel that understands itself in dualistic opposition to the rest of Israel, its practices, and its leaders; important expressions of the community's self-understanding as a priestly alternative to the sacrificial worship in the Jerusalem Temple; expressions of an apocalyptic, eschatological understanding of living as the true Israel in the "end of days;" important expressions of attitudes toward woman, sexual activity, and marriage; importance for our understanding of ancient modes of teaching and of ritual practice; importance for the study of the history of the Hebrew language and its scribal practices. The volume contains a substantial introduction, dealing with these aspects of the Damascus Document and locating its place within the Dead Sea Scrolls more broadly as well as the historical context of ancient Judaism that gave rise to this text.

Gottlieb Schumacher (1857 1925) was an American-born German civil engineer, architect and archaeologist who was influential in the early archaeological explorations of Palestine. His parents were members of the Temple Association, a Protestant group who emigrated to Haifa in 1869. After studying engineering in Stuttgart between 1876 and 1881, Schumacher returned to Haifa and assumed a leading role in surveying and construction in the region. This volume, first published in 1888 for the Palestine Exploration Fund, contains the results of Schumacher's survey of the Jaul n region of Syria, now known as the Golan Heights. Schumacher provides an engaging and detailed description of the geography and archaeological remains of the region, with the culture, society and customs of both the settled inhabitants and nomadic Bedouin also described. The book is richly illustrated with over 140 figures of ancient artefacts and remains, together with a detailed map of the region.

This book is an attempt to explain, in lay terms, the world that Jesus took as his reference point. The kinds of houses in which he dwelt; the education he received; the clothes he would have worn; the language he spoke; the terrain and climate; the agricultural methods; the cultural assumptions; the religious customs; the festivals; the Temple; the synagogue; the scriptures; the opposition and the political currents - all of these formed the soil in which Jesus the man was nurtured. Each chapter covers a distinct aspect, and opens a whole new range of understanding which we are likely to miss. For instance, a rich symbolism concerned with water and light, and linked with the Feast of Tabernacles, underlies John 7 and 8, but much of this will probably escape us. Previously published by Monarch and then Moody, this classic reference work has been unavailable for several years.

This important volume focuses on the contribution of excavated material to the interpretation of biblical texts. Here, both practicing archaeologists and biblical scholars who have been active in field work demonstrate through their work that archaeological data and biblical accounts are complementary in the study of ancient Israel, early Judaism, and Christianity. Illustrations.

Modern biblical scholarship's commitment to the historical-critical method in its efforts to write a history of Israel has created the central and unavoidable problem of writing an objective and critical history of Palestine through the biblical literature with the methods of Biblical Archaeology. 'Biblical Narrative and Palestine's History' brings together key essays on historical method and the archaeology and history of Palestine. The essays employ comparative and formalistic techniques to illuminate the allegorical and mythical in Old Testament narrative traditions from Genesis to Nehemiah. In so doing, the volume presents a detailed review of central and radical changes in both our understanding of biblical traditions and the archaeology and history of Palestine. The study offers an analysis of Biblical narrative as rooted in ancient Near Eastern literature since the Bronze Age.

Syria-Palestine in the Late Bronze Age presents an explicitly anthropological perspective on politics and social relationships. An anthropological reading of the textual and epigraphic remains of the time allows us to see how power was constructed and political subordination was practised and expressed. Syria-Palestine in the Late Bronze Age identifies a particular political ontology, native to ancient Syro-Palestinian societies, which informs and constitutes their social worlds. This political ontology, based on patronage relationships, provides a way of understanding the political culture and the social dynamics of ancient Levantine peoples. It also illuminates the historical processes taking place in the region, processes based on patrimonial social structures and articulated through patron-client bonds.

A vivid portrait of the early years of biblical archaeology from the acclaimed author of 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed In 1925, James Henry Breasted, famed Egyptologist and director of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, sent a team of archaeologists to the Holy Land to excavate the ancient site of Megiddo-Armageddon in the New Testament-which the Bible says was fortified by King Solomon. Their excavations made headlines around the world and shed light on one of the most legendary cities of biblical times, yet little has been written about what happened behind the scenes. Digging Up Armageddon brings to life one of the most important archaeological expeditions ever undertaken, describing the site and what was found there, including discoveries of gold and ivory, and providing an up-close look at the internal workings of a dig in the early years of biblical archaeology. The Chicago team left behind a trove of writings and correspondence spanning more than three decades, from letters and cablegrams to cards, notes, and diaries. Eric Cline draws on these materials to paint a compelling portrait of a bygone age of archaeology. He masterfully sets the expedition against the backdrop of the Great Depression in America and the growing troubles and tensions in British Mandate Palestine. He gives readers an insider's perspective on the debates over what was uncovered at Megiddo, the infighting that roiled the expedition, and the stunning discoveries that transformed our understanding of the ancient world. Digging Up Armageddon is the enthralling story of an archaeological site in the interwar years and its remarkable place at the crossroads of history.

What is biblical archaeology? How does it help scholars with biblical interpretation? After all this time, are there still artifacts and literary documents being uncovered? These are just some of the questions that this handy little book will answer. When busy people want to know more about the Bible and the Christian faith, the Zondervan Quick-Reference Library offers an instant information alternative in a manageable length. Covering the basics of the faith and Bible knowledge in an easy-to-use format, this series helps new Christians and seasoned believers alike find answers to their questions about Christianity and the Bible. The information in Biblical Archaeology is presented in units of one or two pages, so that each section can be read in a few minutes, covering the topic of archaeology as it pertains to: Early Genesis and the creation account. The patriarchs. The exodus. The united monarchy. The divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The exilic and post-exilic period. The Gospels. The early church. The Zondervan Quick-Reference Library makes important knowledge affordable, accessible, and easy to understand for busy people who don't have a lot of time to read or study.

In this book, Sabine R. Huebner explores the world of the protagonists of the New Testament and the early Christians using the rich papyrological evidence from Roman Egypt. This gives us unparalleled insights into the everyday lives of the non-elite population in an area quite similar to neighboring Judaea-Palestine. What were the daily concerns and difficulties experienced by a carpenter's family or by a shepherd looking after his flocks? How did the average man or woman experience a Roman census? What obstacles did women living in a patriarchal society face in private, in public, and in the early Church? Given the flight of Jesus' family into Egypt, how mobile were the lower classes, what was their understanding of geography, and what costs and dangers were associated with travel? This volume gives a better understanding of the structural, social, and cultural conditions under which figures from the New Testament lived.

Syria-Palestine in the Late Bronze Age presents an explicitly anthropological perspective on politics and social relationships. An anthropological reading of the textual and epigraphic remains of the time allows us to see how power was constructed and political subordination was practised and expressed. Syria-Palestine in the Late Bronze Age identifies a particular political ontology, native to ancient Syro-Palestinian societies, which informs and constitutes their social worlds. This political ontology, based on patronage relationships, provides a way of understanding the political culture and the social dynamics of ancient Levantine peoples. It also illuminates the historical processes taking place in the region, processes based on patrimonial social structures and articulated through patron-client bonds.

The history of David's Jerusalem remains one of the most contentious topics of the ancient world. This study engages with debates about the nature of this location by examining the most recent archaeological data from the site and by exploring the relationship of these remains to claims made about David's royal center in biblical narrative. Daniel Pioske provides a detailed reconstruction of the landscape and lifeways of early 10th century BCE Jerusalem, connected in biblical tradition to the figure of David. He further explores how late Iron Age (the Book of Samuel-Kings) and late Persian/early Hellenistic (the Book of Chronicles) Hebrew literary cultures remembered David's Jerusalem within their texts, and how the remains and ruins of this site influenced the memories of those later inhabitants who depicted David's Jerusalem within the biblical narrative. By drawing on both archaeological data and biblical writings, Pioske calls attention to the breaks and ruptures between a remembered past and a historical one, and invites the reader to understand David's Jerusalem as more than a physical location, but also as a place of memory.

Archaeological discovery of documents from the Near East has fuelled the debate as to the Hebrew Bible's relationship with the world. The biblical view that Israel "dwells apart" is belied by the Israelites' vulnerability to worldly attractions and cultural similarities with their neighbours.

"A much-needed resource for those serious about biblical studies." -Mark M. Yarbrough, president, Dallas Theological Seminary The Bible is often dismissed as a book of myths, legends, fairy tales, and propaganda. Yet when we examine the archaeological evidence, its accuracy comes to light. In Unearthing the Bible, Dr. Titus M. Kennedy presents 101 objects that provide compelling evidence for the historical reliability of Scripture from the dawn of civilization through the early church. Gathered from more than 50 museums, private collections, and archaeological sites, these pieces not only reinforce the reliability of the biblical narratives, but also provide rich cultural insights into the ancient world. Using this visual guide, you can find context for your faith as you make your way through the Bible. Dr. Kennedy's photographs and detailed descriptions enable you to examine each piece of fascinating evidence for yourself. From the earliest tablets of creation to artifacts connected with the life and resurrection of Jesus, Unearthing the Bible shows you can be confident there is an abundance of archaeological support for the history told in the Scriptures.