Available here for the first time in paperback, Women in Scripture is a landmark one-volume reference work exploring all the women mentioned in the Bible, named and unnamed, well known and heretofore not known at all. The book comprises more than 800 articles, written by the finest scholars in the field, that examine the numerous women who have often been obscured by the androcentric nature of the biblical record and by centuries of translation and interpretation that have paid little or no attention to them. The women of scripture are remarkably varied-from prophets to prostitutes, military heroines to musicians, deacons to dancers, widows to wet nurses, rulers to slaves. Here are familiar faces, such as Eve, Judith, and Mary, seen anew with the full benefit of the most up-to-date biblical scholarship. But the most innovative aspect of the book is the section devoted to the many women who in the scriptures do not even have names. In both scope and accessibility, Women in Scripture is an exceptional work. Combining rigorous scholarship with engaging prose, these articles on women in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books, and the New Testament will inform, delight, and challenge all readers interested in the Bible.

Four respected scholars of the Hebrew Bible and early Judaism provide a clear portrait of the family in ancient Israel. Important theological and ethical implications are made for the family today.

The Family, Culture, and Religion series offers informed and responsible analyses of the state of the American family from a religious perspective and provides practical assistance for the family's revitalization.

Sepphoris, “the ornament of all Galilee� according to Josephus, was an important Galilean site during the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods and into early Islamic times. It served as Herod Antipas’s capital of Galilee in the late first century B.C.E. and the early first century C.E., and the Sanhedrin (the supreme Jewish judicial authority) was located there for a time in the third century C.E. Extensive excavations on the western acropolis—probably the location of many of the Jewish occupants of this multicultural city—by the Duke University-Hebrew University project in the mid- to late 1980s and the Duke excavations of the 1990s produced a remarkable assemblage of ceramic wares. This book provides an overview of the history and chronology of the site. It then presents a detailed examination of the pottery. Featuring 55 plates with line-drawings as well as some photos of the various ceramic types, this important publication will be essential for all studies of the archaeology of early Judaism and Christianity in the Holy Land.

This collection of essays contextualizes the history and current state of the social science method in the study of the Hebrew Bible. Part 1 traces the rise of social science criticism by reprinting classic essays on the topic; Part 2 provides "case studies," examples of application of the methods to biblical studies.

During 1977 and 1978 the Meiron Excavation Project moved north from its excavations at Khirbet Shema and Meiron, excavating at the site of the synagogue at Gush Halav. With only very limited areas available for excavation, the team nevertheless was able to extract significant information for the history of Galilean synagogues. The synagogue here had a unique form, with spatial elements that have few if any parallels elsewhere. This publication will thus be of great importance for the history of Galilee in the first millennium C.E. and for the development of synagogue architecture and its relationship to the culture of the region in general.