Biblical World

Episode: In this episode, Amy Balogh interviews Prof. Azzan Yadin-Israel (Rutgers University) about his recent book Temptation Transformed: The Story of How the Forbidden Fruit Became an Apple (Univ of Chicago Press, 2023) in which he finally solves the mystery of how the “fruit” of Genesis 2-3 came to be known as an apple. This is the third installment of the “New Perspectives on the Bible and Nature” series.

Guest: Prof. Azzan Yadin-Israel is Professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University. He's the author of four books, the most recent of which we discuss in this episode:

• Temptation Transformed: The Story of How the Forbidden Fruit Became an Apple (Univ of Chicago Press, 2023)
• Scripture and Tradition: Rabbi Akiva and the Triumph of Midrash. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015.
• Intuitive Vocabulary: German. Lingua Press, 2013.
• Scripture as Logos: Rabbi Ishmael and the Origins of Midrash. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.

Extra! The book has a companion site that art/iconography lovers will certainly want to check out: https://treeofknowledgeart.com

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Episode: In this episode, Amy speaks with Prof. Erica Ferg (Regis University) about the impact of geography on the religious history of the Eastern Mediterranean, including the Baal Cycle from Ugarit and the biblical story of Elijah. Erica’s research focuses on the agricultural communities of the Levant and the lived experiences that shaped how people viewed the religious traditions of the biblical world in the pre-modern era, which is the subject of her book Geography, Religion, Gods, and Saints in the Eastern Mediterranean (Routledge, 2020).

Guest: (From the Regis Univ. website) Dr. Erica Ferg is Associate Professor of Liberal Arts and Religious Studies at Regis University. Her research focuses on Mediterranean comparative religion, comparative linguistics, and archaeoastronomy. Prior to academia, Erica was a Persian linguist in the United States Air Force. Erica's first book, Geography, Religion, Gods, and Saints in the Eastern Mediterranean, was published in paperback in January 2022 by Routledge. Erica currently is at work on her second book, entitled Starry Nights: A Celestial History of Religion in the Mediterranean.

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Episode: This episode covers new terrain for Biblical World. Amy speaks with Ron Simkins about the environmental crisis, ancient Israel, and an economy of enough. This is part 1 of our series on "The Bible and Nature". 

Guest: (From the Creighton University website) Ronald Simkins is Professor of Theology and Classical & Near Eastern Studies at Creighton University. He also directs the Kripke Center for the Study of Religion and Society. He completed his graduate studies at Harvard University in Near Eastern Languages and Civilization, with specialties in the history, literature, and religion of ancient Israel, Hebrew, and epigraphy. He regularly teach courses on the Hebrew Bible, archaeology, and history. He's the founding and general editor of the Journal of Religion & Society. He has also produced the digital archaeology project, The Virtual World Project (http://www.virtualworldproject.org), which enables scholars and students to take virtual tours of archaeological sites in Israel and Jordan. He, along with other colleagues, continue to contribute to the project. Simkins is the author of Creator and Creation: Nature in the Worldview of Ancient Israel (Hendrickson, 1994), Yahweh’s Activity in History and Nature in the Book of Joel (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1991), and most recently, Creation and Ecology: The Political Economy of Ancient Israel and the Environmental Crisis (Cascade, 2020).

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

 

Episode: Biblical World co-host Kyle Keimer discusses his research on King Hezekiah's preparations for the Assyrian attack in 701 BCE. How do archaeologists determine the nature and extent of Hezekiah's defensive network? Did the Judeans use fire signals? How did the king prepare for war (and pay for it)? Listen in for a fascinating discussion of Keimer's archaeological, biblical, and geographical thoughts on this crucial event in Judah's history. 

Guest: Kyle Keimer is Senior Research Fellow in the Department of History and Archaeology at Macquarie University, where he was Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, History, and Language of Ancient Israel. He also lectures at Jerusalem University College. For over 20 years he has been excavating in Israel and Cyprus and was co-director of the Khirbet el-Rai excavations. He loves digging as much as he loves working with ancient texts, especially the books of 1-2 Samuel and Isaiah. His research currently focuses on the early Israelite monarchy in text and archaeology. He’s co-edited Registers and Modes of Communication in the Ancient Near East (Routledge) and The Ancient Israelite World (Routledge), and he's published articles in various journals. His UCLA Ph.D. dissertation was on "The Socioeconomic Impact of Hezekiah’s Preparations for Rebellion."

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Episode: In this episode, Kyle and Chris chat with Shlomit Bechar of Haifa University about her recent book Political Change and Material Culture in Middle to Late Bronze Age Canaan (Eisenbrauns 2022). We tackle the topic of how changes in the material culture relate to political events (in particular the expulsion of the Hyksos from Egypt and Thutmose III's campaign to Canaan), the excavations at the mega-site of Hazor, the challenges in defining archaeological periods, literary archives in Hazor, and we even hear about Kyle almost finding the long-sought archive at Hazor. We also hear about Shlomit's new project excavating in the lower city of Hazor.

Guest: (from the Univ. Haifa website) Shlomit Bechar is a senior lecturer at the School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures at the University of Haifa. She is the director of the excavations in the Lower City of Tel Hazor in the Upper Galilee. Shlomit specializes in ceramic analysis to ask questions relating to social differentiation, interconnections between different cultures, trade relations, economic change and challenges, and more recently to identify methods of resilience to climate change. She combines the study of pottery and architecture with geochemical and geophysical aspects, environmental considerations, economic processes and the wider socio-political context, while leading and joining several interdisciplinary research projects. Her current projects examine the interactions between humans and environment in wetlands, focusing on the inland wetland of the Hula Lake, identify the creation of memory and narratives through archaeology, and study the daily life of people in the Middle and Late Bronze Age.

Link to Dr. Bechar's excavation in the Lower City of Hazor https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/dig/tel-hazor-lower-city/#directorsSec  

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Episode: Chris and Kyle chat with Ken Dark about his work in and around Nazareth, which has illuminated our understanding of early Roman-period Nazareth. Ken talks about his survey on the northern outskirts of Nazareth, his re-analysis of the Franciscan excavations at the Church of the Annunciation, and his work at the nearby Sisters of Nazareth Convent.

Guest: Prof. Ken Dark (KCL London) He’s the author of Archaeology of Jesus’ Nazareth (OUP), The Sisters of Nazareth Convent: A Roman-Period Byzantine and Crusader Site in Central Nazareth (Routledge), and Roman Period and Byzantine Nazareth and its Hinterland (Routledge), and he’s the co-author of books like Hagia Sophia in Context, The Landscape of Roman Britain, and Constantinople.

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Image Attribution: Nazareth (1657) By Jansson, Jan, 1588-1664 - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nazareth_1657.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=120977092

Episode: This wide-ranging interview explores the joys, travails, and wonders of archaeology related to the history and context of the Bible. Discussion focuses on Pauline archaeology, especially on Cyprus, but also his excavations in Kazakhstan, Sudan and elsewhere.

Guest: (from the Libscomb University website) has forty years of experience as an archaeologist, working extensively in Cyprus, the Near East, Egypt, Central Asia, and the United States. He started his archaeological career as a professional archaeologist for a private company in the USA from 1991-2003. He next served (2003-2011) as Director of the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute (CAARI) in Nicosia, Cyprus, one of the premier archaeological research centers in the Eastern Mediterranean. Before coming to Lipscomb University, Tom was a Professor of Archaeology from 2011-2020 at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth Texas. Dr. Davis currently directs the Lanier Center excavations at the early Christian site of Kourion (Cyprus). He also serves as Project Co-Director and Field Director, of the Ilyn Balik Expedition, Kazakhstan, as Project Coordinator for the Recordation Project of the West Wall of the Cour de la Cachette in the Temple of Karnak, Luxor Egypt, and as Co-director for the Nuri Pyramid Project in Sudan. Dr. Davis has lectured extensively in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Australia. He's the author of Shifting Sands: The Rise and Fall of Biblical Archaeology.

Image Attribution: On site image from https://www.lipscomb.edu/news/sculpture-young-boy-highlights-lanier-work-kourion-summer

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Episode: This episode is the final installment in the 3-part archaeology of Passion Week discussion. Chris and Kyle take a detailed look at how archaeological finds in Jerusalem can help us better situate and understand the events of this fateful week. Chris and Kyle discuss the location of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial, the Garden Tomb, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and traditions about Jesus’ death and burial. (republished from 2021)

Hosts: Chris and Kyle

Resources: Archaeology of the Passion Week Bibliography; Archaeology of Passion Week Visuals (pt 3).

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Image by DEZALB from Pixabay

Episode: This episode is part two of the three-part series on the archaeology of Passion Week. Chris and Kyle take a detailed look at how archaeological finds in Jerusalem can help us better situate and understand the events of this fateful week. They delve into the Gospel of John, the Last Supper, and Jesus’ trials. (republished from 2021)

Hosts: Chris and Kyle

Summary: Chris and Kyle discuss the following topics:
- Archaeology and the Gospel of John—the pools of Siloam and Bethesda
- The Garden of Gethsemane
- The room of the last supper
- Jesus’ Jewish and Roman trials
- Herod’s palace
- The Praetorium and Gabatha
- The Via Dolorosa.

Resources: Archaeology of the Passion Week Bibliography; Archaeology of Passion Week Visuals (pt 2).

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Image by Heather Truett from Pixabay

Episode: This episode is the first of a three-part series on the archaeology of the Passion week. Chris and Kyle take a detailed look at how archaeological finds in Jerusalem can help us better situate and understand the events of this fateful week. (This episode is republished from 2021).

Hosts: Chris McKinny and Kyle Keimer

Summary: Chris and Kyle discuss the following topics:
– Traditions about the Passion Week
– How we connect the archaeology to the texts
– Dating and timing the events of the Passion Week
– Views of Jerusalem
– Jesus in the Temple
– Pontius Pilate and Archaeology

Resources: Archaeology of the Passion Week Bibliography; Archaeology of Passion Week Visuals (pt 1).

Give: Help support OnScript podcast and the Biblical World podcast as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Image by Anna Sulencka from Pixabay

Episode: What happens when we ignore the physical settings of the Bible? In this episode, Biblical World co-hosts explore the significance of the land for biblical interpretation. We journey to Shechem, Nahal Besor, and the end of the Jordan River to discover the historical and theological significance of geographical locations for biblical interpreters. We also discuss some helpful resources for understanding the geography of the Bible.

Co-hosts: Chris McKinny, Amy Balogh, Kyle Keimer

Mentioned in this episode:
1. The Sacred Bridge: Carta's Atlas of the Biblical World
2. https://www.biblicalbackgrounds.com/

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World HERE. Thanks to all of you who have supported us!

Photo attribution: Jordan River Aerial by W. Robert Moore - The National Geographic Magazine, Dec. 1938, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29624912

Tell Balata/Shechem - By TrickyH, Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48030017

 

Episode: In this episode, we discuss the god Moses. Yes, you heard that right! It's there in Exod 7:1. But what does this mean? How can we make sense of the transformation of Moses from a man of "uncircumcised lips" to a god? What happens if we read this story in its ancient Near Eastern context? How is Moses also like an idol? We explore this and many other intriguing aspects of the character Moses in this episode with new Biblical World co-host Amy Balogh. This ep is cross-listed with the OnScript podcast. 

Guest: Amy L. Balogh, Ph.D., is Lead Lecturer of the Humanities for the Department of Liberal Arts at Regis University’s School for Professional Advancement. She is also founder and co-chair of the new Society of Biblical Literature program unit Comparative Method in Biblical Studies, and Assistant Editor of the forthcoming Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Historical Books (2 vols., Lexham Press). In December 2022, Balogh also became the founding president of the newly formed Religion & Bible Society of the Rocky Mountain Great Plains Region, a 501(c)3 professional organization dedicated to the academic study of the Bible and religion. She's the author of Moses among the Idols: Mediators of the Divine in the Ancient Near East (Lexington Books, 2018). Her forthcoming book uses comparison and myth theory to examine the tension between humankind and nature as expressed in the Hebrew Bible and other ancient Near Eastern literatures. She now joins as a new co-host on the Biblical World podcast!

Hosts: Matt Lynch and Chris McKinny

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World HERE. Thanks to all of you who have supported us!

 

Episode: In this episode of the Egypt and the Bible series, Chris and Mark discuss the Egyptian background and context of the ten plagues from the Book of Exodus, including the details of real-world calamities.

Hosts: Chris and Mark    See Mark's edited book, Five Views on the Exodus (Zondervan, 2021).

 

Egypt Series: Check out our other episodes in the Egypt series:

• Visits of the patriarchs to Egypt
• Egyptian influence and the early chapters of Exodus
• Early and late date of the exodus
• Parts one, two, three, four, and five of the Five Views on the Exodus series.

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World HERE. Thanks to all of you who have supported us!

Episode: Elephantine continues to fascinate scholars of Second Temple Judaism, in part, because it shows that there wasn't just one Jewish temple after the return from exile. In this episode, which is part of longer episode to be released later on OnScript, Collin Cornell discusses this fascinating site and its significance for understanding early Judaism. This is part 1 of a longer interview that will release later on OnScript. 

Guest: Collin Cornell is Office of the Provost-Candler School of Theology Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow at Candler School of Theology (at Emory University). Before returning to Emory, he taught for three years as a visiting assistant professor of biblical studies in the School of Theology at the University of the South (Sewanee). For one year he managed Sewanee’s Center for Religion and Environment, coordinated Sewanee’s Indigenous Engagement initiative, taught Old Testament for Duke Divinity School’s hybrid MDiv program, and served as academic dean of the Stevenson School for Ministry, a local formation project of the Episcopal Church. Collin is author of one book, Divine Aggression in Psalms and Inscriptions (Cambridge University Press, 2020), editor of two, Divine Doppelgängers: YHWH's Ancient Look-Alikes (Penn State University Press, 2020) and The Incomparable God: Readings in Biblical Theology (Eerdmans, 2023), and co-translator of a third, Biblical ABCs: The Basics of Christian Resistance (Lexington Books, 2021). He is currently working on a book entitled, Monotheism and Divine Aggression, for Cambridge University Press. He is also working on The Lords that Never Were: Early Judaism and the Gods of the Hellenistic Levant. He has also written several articles on Elephantine. (adapted from the Candler School of Theology Website)

Image Attribution: "Aswan, Elephantine, west bank, Egypt, Oct 2004." CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=181182

Host: Matt Lynch

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World HERE. Thanks to all of you who have supported us!

Episode: In this episode - Chris and Kyle are joined by Nathan Steinmeyer (Biblical Archaeological Review, Assistant Editor) to discuss BAR’s dig issue - one of the best resources for finding a place to dig! Also, hear about how Kyle got into archaeology. 

To find a dig:  https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/digs/
To find out more about Biblical Archaeology Review:  https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/magazines/

Hosts: Chris and Kyle

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World HERE. Thanks to all of you who have supported us!

Episode: George Pierce joins hosts Kyle Keimer and Chris McKinny to discuss their newly edited volume The Ancient Israelite World (Routledge, 2022). This volume brings together a world-class line-up of scholars and includes a whopping 47 essays on ancient Israelite society, economy, religion, language, culture, history, and more! 

Participants: Kyle, Chris, and George A. Pierce.

Book: The Ancient Israelite World (Routledge, 2022). For a table of contents, see HERE.

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World HERE. Thanks to all of you who have supported us!

Episode: In part 2 of this series, Kyle and Chris discuss additional historical and archaeological aspects associated with the origin stories of Jesus as seen in Matthew and Luke. They discuss the archaeological background and traditions associated with the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. They also explain a number of other historical background elements connected with Matthew’s use of the Old Testament focusing – in particular – on the impact of the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian conquests of Israel and Judah in prophetic literature and how that context still matters for how one reads the origin narrative of Jesus in Matthew. (This is a re-broadcast of a previously published episode)

Relevant Articles
The Accommodations of Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem: Κατάλυμα in Luke 2.7* STEPHEN C. CARLSON

Hosts: Chris McKinny and Kyle Keimer.

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World HERE. Thanks to all of you who have supported us!

Image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay

Episode: Biblical World hosts Chris and Kyle talk about the archaeology and historical context of Christmas. They try not to be Grinches. This is part 1 of a two part series. This is a re-broadcast of an episode from last year.

Hosts: Chris McKinny and Kyle Keimer.

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World HERE. Thanks to all of you who have supported us!

Image by by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Episode: One site in Jerusalem, this episode explores the cultural backgrounds to the book of Ruth. We discuss agriculture, famine, marriage relationships, orphans, widows, geography and much more! 

Hosts: Oliver Hersey (JUC) and Chris McKinny (Geshur Media). Find out more on Jerusalem University College and Geshur Media. 

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to help support the ongoing work of OnScript and Biblical World!

Episode: In this episode, Chris and Kyle interview Koert van Bekkum (ETF Leuven) about his views on Solomon’s Administrative Division in 1 Kings 4 in its Ancient Near Eastern context. What is the purpose of this list? Are there parallels to this list in the ANE? What does this list tell us about the nature of Solomon’s “kingdom”?

Hosts: Kyle and Chris

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to help support the ongoing work of OnScript and Biblical World!

Resource: See Koert's ARTICLE "The Situation is More Complicated: Archaeology and Text in the Historical Reconstruction of the Iron Age IIA Southern Levant."

Episode: Chris McKinny and Mark Janzen discuss the early vs. late date for the date of the exodus, date of the conquest, the emergence of Israel in the land of Canaan, and biblical chronology.

Hosts: Chris McKinny and Mark Janzen

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to help support the ongoing work of OnScript and Biblical World!

Episode: In this episode, Kyle and Chris take a look at giants in the wider literary, cultural, archaeological, and geographical context of the Biblical World. A previous episode discussed giants in connection with Hebron in Judges 1. This episode focuses on the narratives that mention Philistine giants.

For more information see - “Encounters with Fossil Giants”

Giants in the Biblical World graphic, prepared by Chris McKinny

The skull of an Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museumm, National University of Singapore. (See here for link). 

Episode:In this episode, which was recorded during the excavation of the Iron Age II gate at Tel Burna, Chris and Steven Ortiz (Lipscomb University and Lanier Archaeological Center) discuss the following topics:
The Lanier Archaeological Center
The Gezer Archaeological Project
The Tel Burna Archaeological Project
The Necessity of Financial Support from Private Individuals for Archaeological Excavations

Guest: Dr. Steven Ortiz is the Director of the newly established Lanier Center for Archaeology at Lipscomb University where he is also a professor of archaeology and biblical studies. He was the director of the former Tandy Institute for Archaeology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the principal investigator and co-director, along with Sam Wolff, of the Tel Gezer Excavation Project and is one of the directors of the Ilibalyk Project, Kazakhstan, and is the co-director at Tel Burna (Biblical Libnah). He has over 30 years of archaeological experience in Israel as he has been a senior staff member at a variety of major sites.

Ortiz’s research and publications focus on the archaeology of David and Solomon, Iron Age I and II transition, and the border relations between Judah and Philistia. He has served or currently holds leadership positions in several scholarly and academic associations. He currently serves on the board of the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem. He has served ASOR since 2001 as a board member and on various committees.

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to help support the ongoing work of OnScript and Biblical World!

Episode: Our first on site episode ever! That's worth celebrating, right? Chris McKinny is in the field at Tel Burna, where he's been digging for over a decade with site director Itzick Shai, whom he interviews from the top of the Tel.

Guest: Prof. Itzick Shai is VP and Dean for Research and Development at Ariel University. He's an archaeologist and the director of the Tel Burna Archaeological Project. His research focuses on the Bronze and Iron Ages in the Southern Levant. He completed his PhD at Bar Ilan University and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Semitic Museum of Harvard University. Prof. Shai was a research fellow in the School of Advanced Studies at the Hebrew University and taught at Bar-Ilan University and Yellin Education College. He joined Ariel University in 2012 as a senior lecturer and in 2015 established the newest institute of archaeology in Israel. From 2018-2020, Prof. Shai was the Vice Dean of R&D at Ariel University. He is the editor of two books and has published dozens of articles in peer-reviewed journals. Since October 1, 2020, he has been the Vice President and Dean for R&D at Ariel University.  (from the Ariel University website).

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to help support the ongoing work of OnScript and Biblical World!

Episode: Paul Spilsbury knew Josephus personally ... or at least he's spent so much time with him that it's almost as if he did. In this episode we talk about Josephus' writings, identity, and how understanding Josephus helps us understand the New Testament. We also discuss Christianity in Turkey, the book of Acts, and much more! (This episode is cross-listed on the OnScript podcast)

Guest: Dr. Paul Spilsbury (PhD, Cambridge) is Academic Dean and Professor of New Testament at Regent College. Paul’s teaching covers the full range of the New Testament, with a particular focus on Paul and the Book of Revelation. His research has been supported by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Leverhulme Trust (UK) and has resulted in four authored or co-authored books: The Image of the Jew in Flavius Josephus’ Paraphrase of the Bible (Mohr Siebeck, 1998), The Throne, the Lamb and the Dragon: A Reader’s Guide to the Book of Revelation (IVP, 2002), Flavius Josephus, Judean Antiquities 8–10: Translation and Commentary (Brill, 2005—with C. Begg), and Flavius Josephus, Judean Antiquities 11: Translation and Commentary (Brill, 2017—with C. Seeman). He has also published numerous book chapters, articles, and reviews, and has traveled extensively throughout the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries associated with the ancient church. Paul is a frequent speaker at churches, retreats, and conferences. He is also a juried member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, working primarily in watercolours. (adapted from the Regent College website)

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to help support the ongoing work of OnScript and Biblical World!

 

 

Episode: Oliver Hersey (president of Jerusalem University College) speaks with his predecessor Paul Wright, who has lived and breathed the land of the Bible. They discuss Jesus and Jezreel, the Old Testament stories Jesus would've known as he overlooked the Jezreel, and much much more!

Guest: Dr. Paul Wright (Ph.D., Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion) was the 10th President of Jerusalem University College (2002-2021). He was also visiting faculty at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute for Theological Studies (2002-2020). He participated in excavations at Giloh, Ramat Rahel, and Tel Rehov. He's the author of The Holman Illustrated Guide to Biblical Geography: Reading the Land (Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Heart of the Holy Land: 40 Reflections on Scripture and Place (Rose, 2020), Rose Then and Now Bible Map Atlas: With Biblical Background and Culture (Rose, 2013), Atlas of Bible Lands (Quick Source Guide) (B&H Publishing Group, 2003), and other books as well!

Give: Help support the OnScript and Biblical World podcasts as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

 

To learn more about JUC, click HERE.

Episode: In this episode Matt Lynch sits down with Dan Pioske to talk about the way we know about ancient Israel. Most scholars have been so text-based in their assumptions about memory transmission in the ancient world. They assume that texts & docs were the main way knowledge was preserved. Pioske suggests that there's another major way knowledge transmits--through the land. This episode explores the way that the land retains memory and provided biblical writers with a window on the past. We also discuss growing up in Minnesota, archaeology, the Philistines, David's Jerusalem, and much more! (This episode is republished from our other podcast OnScript)

Guest: Dan Pioske grew up on a family farm in southern Minnesota and attended Gustavus Adolphus college. After graduating, he moved east to Princeton Theological Seminary where he received his M.Div. 2007 and his Ph.D. in Biblical Studies in 2012. He taught for two years at Union Theological Seminary, New York, as a Post-Doctoral Fellow and Instructor in Biblical Languages, and he is currently an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Georgia Southern University. He's the author of David’s Jerusalem: Between Memory and History (2015) and Memory in a Time of Prose: Studies in Epistemology, Hebrew Scribalism, and the Biblical Past (2018). He lives in Savannah, Ga, with his wife Suzette and daughters Eve and Esther.

Give: Help support OnScript and Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Episode:  This episode takes you on a wild ride through the land of the Bible, the world of Josephus, into the ER after crashed planes, by the Dead Sea, and includes encounters with Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, and a fire-breathing dragon. Brace yourself! This episode is republished from OnScript podcast.

Guest: Dr. Wave Nunnally is Professor of Early Judaism and Christian Origins at Evangel University in Springfiled, MO. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including The Book of Acts  and Knowing Your Bible.  He leads regular study trips to Israel, which include training materials (see The Bible Unplugged) on-site teaching, and follow-up coaching.  More of Wave's material can be found at http://centralfaithbuilders.com/. To connect with him further, see
www.wavenunnally.com
facebook.com/wavenunnally
youtube.com/wavenunnally

 

Give: Help support OnScript and Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

 

Episode: This is the second in a multi-part series on Egypt and the Bible. Mark and Chris discuss Israel in Egypt, evidence of Egyptian influences in the Bible, Israel in Goshen, the early chapters of exodus, and none other than Moses himself.

Hosts: Mark Janzen and Chris McKinny

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to support the ongoing work of Biblical World.

For more: HERE is part 1 of the Egypt and the Bible series. Also, check out our series “Five Views on the Exodus”. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Episode: For part 1 see here. In this episode, we (Chris and Kyle) get into the biblical and geographical details connected with locating Sodom and the Cities of the Plain. We continue to argue for the traditional position that the cities of the Plain are to be located in the southern basin of the Dead Sea (i.e., inundation view). We also address some of the more problematic issues related to the northern view (the basis for the report in Nature) - specifically the identification of the “Kikkar of the Jordan” and the site of “Zoar.”

Hosts: Chris McKinny (Geshur Media) and Kyle Keimer (Macquarie University)

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to join the big leagues and become a regular donor.

Episode Images: 

#1 - Kikkar

2. Plain of the Jordan

3. View from Bethel

4. Kedorlaomer's Campaign

5. Gen 19

6. Zoar

7. Dead Sea in Onomasticon

8. Medeba Map

9. Southern Basin

 

Episode: This is the first in a multi-part series on Egypt and the Bible. Mark and Chris discuss the visits of the Hebrew patriarchs in Egypt. They focus especially on the presence of Semites in Egypt and the plausibility of the story of Joseph. 

Hosts: Mark Janzen and Chris McKinny

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to support the ongoing work of Biblical World.

For more: Check out our series "Five Views on the Exodus". Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Episode: In this episode - several of the co-hosts (Oliver Hersey, Mark Janzen, Kyle Keimer, and Chris McKinny) discuss the recent announcement of the discovery of a lead tablet from Mount Ebal that potentially dates to the end of the Late Bronze Age and/or Early Iron Age and purportedly mentions the divine name - YHW (i..e, Yahweh). The discussion centers on Adam Zertal’s initial excavations, the significance of the Iron I settlement wave in the highlands of Ephraim and Manasseh (i.e., northern West Bank) for Israelite history, the background of the discovery of the tablet via wet sifting, and the potential significance of this discovery for early Israel. Like everyone else, we eagerly await the publication…

Hosts: Biblical World co-hosts Chris McKinny, Oliver Hersey, Mark Janzen, and Kyle Keimer. 

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to support the ongoing work of Biblical World.

Image: Michael C. Luddeni/Associates for Biblical Research, from the Times of Israel.

Episode: In episode 2 of the series “Geography of Judges,” Chris and Kyle talk about “Giants in Judges” in connection with the giants of Hebron mentioned in Judges 1:8–15. They also discuss the archaeological background of the fortifications of Hebron.

Hosts: Chris McKinny is a Research Fellow with Gesher Media. Passionate about the archaeology, history, and geography of the Biblical world, he has written extensively on these subjects in both academic and popular publications. Chris is a senior staff member at the Tel Burna Archaeological project and regularly leads study tours to the lands of the Bible. He is the author of My People as Your People: A Textual and Archaeological Analysis of the Reign of Jehoshaphat (Peter Lang, 2016), and has co-edited several volumes, including The Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Ages of Southern Canaan (De Gruyter, 2018) and Tell it in Gath: Studies in the History and Archaeology of Israel: Essays in Honor of Aren M. Maeir on the Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday (Zaphon, 2018).

Kyle Keimer is Senior Research Fellow in the Department of History and Archaeology at Macquarie University, where he was Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, History, and Language of Ancient Israel. He has returned to the U.S. to found The Bible in Context, a company that produces educational content for increasing biblical literacy. For over 20 years he has been excavating in Israel and Cyprus and is currently co-director of the Khirbet el-Rai excavations. He loves digging as much as he loves working with ancient texts, especially the books of 1-2 Samuel and Isaiah. His research currently focuses on the early Israelite monarchy in text and archaeology. He’s co-edited Registers and Modes of Communication in the Ancient Near East (Routledge) and published articles in various journals.

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to join the big leagues and become a regular donor.

Image: Top image By Unknown author - The Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41970256. Map from BibleAtlas.org https://bibleatlas.org/hebron.htm

Episode: Dru Johnson talks with Clinton Bailey about how he ended up living with Bedouins in the Negev, their law, gender practices, and poetry. His most recent book, Bedouin Culture in the Bible (Yale University Press, 2019), examines and explains practices, poetry, and laws from the Hebrew Bible's own bedouin roots (according to the stories of Genesis). This is a rebroadcast of an episode recorded in 2021 on the OnScript podcast. 

Guest: Dr. Clinton Bailey is a leading authority on Bedouin culture, and has done fieldwork in Sinai and the Negev for the past 50 years. His B.A. is from the Hebrew University; his M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. He was born and raised in Buffalo, NY, and made Aliya to Israel in 1958. In 1994, he was awarded the Emil Grunzweig Human Rights Award for his efforts to obtain civil rights for Bedouin in Israel. His books include such titles as:

• Bedouin Poetry (Oxford University Press, 1991)
• A Culture of Desert Survival: Bedouin Proverbs (Yale University Press, 2004)
• Bedouin Law from Sinai and the Negev: Justice without Government (Yale University Press, 2010)
• Bedouin Culture in the Bible (Yale University Press, 2018)

Give: Help support Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Episode: Lynn Cohick speaks with Jason Staples about concepts of Israel that emerged in the Second Temple period, and their implications for understanding the early Judaism. Staples challenges prevailing ideas about Jewish identity around the turn of the Common Era.

Guest: Jason Staples is Assistant Professor in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at NC State University. Jason A. Staples is a specialist in Ancient Mediterranean Religions, focusing primarily on Early Judaism and Christian Origins. He is the author of The Idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism: A New Theory of People, Exile, and Israelite Identity​​​​​​​ (Cambridge University Press, 2021). His second book will focus on Israel in the writings of the apostle Paul. (from the NC State University site)

Host: Lynn Cohick

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to join the big leagues and become a regular donor.

 

Episode: Co-hosts Chris McKinny and Mary Buck discuss the discovery of the Lachish Letters (or Lachish Ostraca), and work through several example texts to help you understand their content and significance.

Hosts: Chris McKinny and Mary Buck

Series: STANE – “Special” Texts of the Ancient Near East. See our Amarna Letters, Mesha Stele and Introductory episodes in the same series.

Photo Attribution: By NenyaAleks - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9781106

Episode: A recent report - published in the very prestigious journal Nature - argued that the site of Tall al-Hammam and other sites in its vicinity were destroyed by an "airburst event" around 1650 BCE. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-97778-3 The underlying assumption of the article is that Tall al-Hammam is the site of Sodom and that the "airburst event" relates to the destruction of the cities of the Plain mentioned in Genesis 19. For a number of reasons, this article has been severely criticized for its handling of pictorial evidence, as well disagreements in interpretation regarding the archaeological data. For example, see here https://www.unm.edu/~mbeb/Publications/Boslough_Skeptical_Inquirer_Sodom_2022.pdf. In this episode, Chris and Kyle examine a more fundamental question - is Tall al-Hammam Sodom? This is part one in this series - covering much of the "background" details connected with Sodom and the cities of the Plain. The next part will cover the geographic details in Genesis itself. We have provided several maps for visualizing the discussion.

Hosts: Chris McKinny (Geshur Media) and Kyle Keimer (Macquarie University)

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to join the big leagues and become a regular donor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Episode: What lies beneath Jerusalem? Join Kyle and Chris as they interview Andrew Lawler about his excellent and exciting new book Under Jerusalem: the Buried History of the World’s Most Contested City (also available via Audible.com as an audio book). In this interview, we discuss a variety of issues that Lawler covers in his book - he also gives some personal reflections on the writing and research involved with a book on Jerusalem’s complicated history (and present). 

Guest: (From his website) Andrew Lawler is author of three books, Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World’s Most Contested City (Doubleday, 2021), The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke, a national bestseller, and Why Did the Chicken Cross the World?: The Epic Saga of the Bird that Powers Civilization.  As a journalist, he has written more than a thousand newspaper and magazine articles from more than two dozen countries. His byline has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, Smithsonian, and many others. He is contributing writer for Science and contributing editor for Archaeology. Andrew’s work has appeared several times in The Best of Science and Nature Writing.

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to join the big leagues and become a regular donor.

Photo: Archibald Heinemann, From Dan to Beersheba, p. 257

Episode: In this episode Mark and Chris talk with Dr. K. Lawson Younger (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) about the Contextual Approach and its benefits for interpreting Scripture with caution required to avoid the paradoxical dangers of "parallelomania" and "parallelophobia." Dr. Younger is an Assyriologist who also specializes on the Arameans, so naturally they had to pick his brain for info on the impact of the Assyrians and Arameans on ancient Israel, particularly during the Divided Monarchy. They also discuss the genre of ancient conquest accounts and how the book of Joshua fits that specific genre, an important interpretive aid to understanding Joshua. 

Guest: (From the TIU website) Dr. K. Lawson Younger, Jr. (PhD. Sheffield University) is Professor of Old Testament, Semitic Languages, and Ancient Near Eastern History at Trinity Evangelical Divinity
School of Trinity International University, Deerfield, Illinois. A specialist in Assyriology, Aramaic, and Hebrew Bible, Younger has published numerous works involving ancient Near Eastern texts and their relationship to the Hebrew Bible. He is the author of A Political History of the Arameans: From their Origins to the End of Their Polities (2016), the Winner of the Biblical Archaeology Society 2017 Publication Award for Best Scholarly Book on Archaeology. He is also the author of Ancient Conquest Accounts: A Study of Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical History Writing (1990), and The NIV Application Commentary for Judges, Ruth (2002). He is the associate editor of the three-volume The Context of Scripture: Canonical Compositions, Monumental Inscriptions and Archival Documents from the Biblical World (Brill), the editor of volume 4 of The Context of Scripture: Supplements (2016), editor of Ugarit at Seventy-Five (2007), and the co-editor of The Canon in
Comparative Perspective (1991), Mesopotamia and the Bible: Comparative Explorations (2002) and “An Excellent Fortress for his Armies, a Refuge for the People”: Egyptological, Archaeological and Biblical Studies in Honor of James K. Hoffmeier (2020). He has also contributed to numerous collections of essays, dictionaries and journals. He is a past trustee of the American Schools of Oriental Research, as well as an active member of the American Oriental Society, the International Association of Assyriology, and the Society of Biblical Literature. 

Among his many scholarly papers, he has given lectures at the British Academy, the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University, the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, the Vorderasiatisches Museum (Pergamonmuseum, Berlin), and the Israel Museum (Jerusalem). He was the Seymour Gitin Distinguished Professor at the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, Israel (2012–13). He is presently writing a book on Aramean Religion.

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to join the big leagues and become a regular donor.

 

Episode: Who was Adoni-bezek? (Judges 1:1–7) Geography in Judges is a new series where hosts Kyle and Chris (sometimes with friends) will discuss historical geographical and archaeological issues that arise in the Book of Judges. This weeks discussion is on the enigmatic character of Adoni-bezek (Judges 1:1–7). Who was he? Where was he from? What can geography and archaeology tell us about this character?

We would also like to point our listeners to a new online class at Jerusalem University College - the Archaeology of the Judean Shephelah https://juc.edu/academics/course-descriptions/course/archaeology-judean-shephelah/ co-taught by Chris McKinny and Kyle Keimer along with a whole host of excellent guest lectures from the leading archaeologists in the field. Sign-up today! https://www.juc.edu/juc-online/semester-learning/

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to join the big leagues and become a regular donor.

Images: Top image from https://palopenmaps.org/view, and the bottom image from https://bibleatlas.org/full/bezek.htm

Episode: We discuss the alleged Isaiah Bulla (clay seal impression) with one of the finest epigraphers in the field. The seal was found by the Temple Mount in 2009 by Eilat Mazar, and first announced in Biblical Archaeology Review last month (February, 2018). Matt L. and Dru J. discuss the find with Prof. Christopher Rollston, who urges caution when making bold claims about the seal's link to the biblical prophet Isaiah. We also discuss our desire to make connections between archaeology and the bible, and for a material connection with the past.

Guest: Professor Rollston is Associate Professor of Northwest Semitic languages and literatures at George Washington University. Rollston works in more than a dozen ancient and modern languages, including various ancient Semitic languages (e.g., Hebrew, Phoenician, Aramaic, Palmyrene, Nabataean, Ammonite, Moabite, Edomite, Ugaritic, Akkadian), several ancient and modern Indo-European languages (e.g., Hellenistic Greek, Classical Latin; Modern German, French, Spanish, and Italian), as well as Sahidic Coptic. He is the author of Enemies and Friends of the State: Ancient Prophecy in Context (Eisenbrauns), Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel: Epigraphic Evidence from the Iron Age (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2010), which was selected by the American Schools of Oriental Research (in November 2011) as the recipient of the prestigious “Frank Moore Cross Prize for Northwest Semitic Epigraphy,” a prize named for the late Harvard University Professor Frank Cross. He has also edited several volumes. Needless to say, he's very accomplished in his field! (adapted from the GWU website).

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to join the big leagues and become a regular donor.

Photo: Photo of seal impression, Ouria Tadmor. Copyright Eilat Mazar.

Episode: In part 2 of this series, Kyle and Chris discuss additional historical and archaeological aspects associated with the origin stories of Jesus as seen in Matthew and Luke. They discuss the archaeological background and traditions associated with the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. They also explain a number of other historical background elements connected with Matthew’s use of the Old Testament focusing – in particular – on the impact of the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian conquests of Israel and Judah in prophetic literature and how that context still matters for how one reads the origin narrative of Jesus in Matthew. 

Relevant Articles
The Accommodations of Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem: Κατάλυμα in Luke 2.7* STEPHEN C. CARLSON

Hosts: Chris McKinny and Kyle Keimer.

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World HERE. Thanks to all of you who have supported us!

Image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay 

 

Episode: Chris and Kyle talk about the archaeology and historical context of Christmas. They try not to be Grinches. This is part 1 of a two part series.

Hosts: Chris McKinny and Kyle Keimer.

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World HERE. Thanks to all of you who have supported us!

Image by by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Episode: Cyndi Parker speaks with Lynn Cohick about what it means to understand Jesus in his own cultural, political, social, and religious contexts. 

Guest: Dr. Cyndi Parker, author of Encountering Jesus in the Real World of the Gospels (Hendrickson, 2021). Dr. Parker lived in Jerusalem for five years and currently teaches courses about the geographical, cultural, religious, and political context of the Bible at Jerusalem University College. She has led over forty trips in Israel, and she continues to develop innovative educational trips to Israel, seeking to inspire students of all ages through experiential education. Her research interests include biblical views of Place, Biblical History and Geography, and the correlation between Theology and Ecology (with a particular interest in Food Justice). She is the owner of www.NarrativeofPlace.com, and the host of the Context Matters and Israel Bible podcasts.

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World HERE. Thanks to all of you who have supported us!

Episode: In this episode Chris and Kyle speak with Andrea Berlin about the Hasmonean expansion in the Galilee. The bigger historical picture is discussed, along with how to integrate text and archaeology. Andrea speaks about her work at Tel Anafa and Tel Qedesh and how the results at these two sites have helped to illuminate the “Galilee of the Nations” in the Hellenistic and Roman periods.

Guest: Andrea Berlin (James R. Wiseman Chair in Classical Archaeology, Professor of Archaeology and Religion, Boston University). See her recent book, The Middle Maccabees: Archaeology, History, and the Rise of the Hasmonean Kingdom (edited with Paul J. Kosmin). For more of Andrea’s work, see her Academia.edu page: https://bu.academia.edu/AndreaBerlin

Hosts: Chris and Kyle

Summary: Andrea, Chris, and Kyle discuss the following topics: the “Middle Maccabees” and Hasmonean expansion into the Galilee; relating text and archaeology; the dynamic changes in Hellenistic and Roman period Galilee; Andrea’s excavations at Tel Anafa and Tel Qedesh.

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World HERE. Thanks to all of you who have supported us!

 

 

Episode: Holly Beers and David deSilva discuss life in the first century with Biblical World host Lynn Cohick. Holly and David both wrote novels that explore life on the ground in Ephesus, giving readers a unique opportunity to experience Paul's world in a very personal way. Today we discuss Holly's book A Week in the Life of a Greco-Roman Woman (IVP Academic) and David's book A Week in the Life of Ephesus (IVP Academic).

Guests: Holly Beers (Westmont College) and David deSilva (Ashland Theological Seminary) 

Host: Lynn Cohick

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World HERE. Thanks to all of you who have supported us!

Episode: In this episode, Kyle and Chris interview Erez Ben-Yosef (Tel Aviv University) concerning his work on the 11th through 9th century BC copper industry in the Arabah of Israel and Jordan. The discoveries of the last decade or so - in Timna and in Feinan - have revolutionized our understanding of ancient Edom and its relationship with Israel, Phoenicia, and Egypt. Erez has also argued that archaeologists have tended to reconstruct history with an "architectural bias" when in reality there existed complex societies that did not leave large-scale archaeological remains. This has massive implications for understanding the biblical account - particularly in the early Iron Age.

Resources:
* For the Vetus Testamentum paper on “The Architectural Bias in Current Biblical Archaeology” and other publications of Professor Ben-Yosef: https://telaviv.academia.edu/ErezBenYosef/Papers
* For his most recent edited book, Mining for Ancient Copper: Essays in Memory of Beno Rothenberg (Eisenbrauns 2018): https://www.eisenbrauns.org/books/titles/978-1-57506-964-7.html
* The Timna Valley Expedition website: https://www.tau.ac.il/~ebenyose/CTV/And on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CentralTimnaValleyProjectCtv

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World HERE. Thanks to all of you who have supported us!

Episode: In this special Halloween OnCrypt Biblical World episode Chris and Kyle speak with Matt Suriano about Israelite mortuary belief along with Matt’s work on the Jerusalem necropolis in Silwan (east, southeast of the Old City). Matt discusses elite and royal burial customs in ancient Israel as he articulates why ancestors were important and what this means in biblical literature.  

Guest: Matthew Suriano: https://jewishstudies.umd.edu/directory/matthew-suriano

Hosts: Chris and Kyle 

Topics Covered: Matt, Chris, and Kyle discuss the following topics: monumental burials in Jerusalem; ancestor traditions in the Bible; elite and royal burial customs in ancient Israel 

Resources: Suriano, Matthew 2018 A History of Death in the Hebrew Bible (Oxford University Press).
-- The Politics of Dead Kings: Dynastic Ancestors in the Book of Kings and Ancient Israel (Mohr Siebeck, 2010).

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World HERE. Thanks to all of you who have supported us!

H/T to David Schroder for the OnCrypt idea!

 

Episode: For this episode of the OnScript Biblical World podcast, co-host Mary Buck is joined by Dr. Doug Bookman, Professor of Bible Exegesis at Shepherds Theological Seminary. Though Dr. Bookman's research extends across a variety of topics including the Life of Christ and church perspectives of Israel in his recent book Forsaking Israel, his dissertation was focused on the topic of the Urim and the Thumim. In this episode Dr. Bookman walks through the biblical evidence available for the Urim and the Thumim, the Rabbinic views of what this instrument may have been, and provides his own conclusions about what the Urim and the Thumim were (or "was" in his view) and how it was distinct from the "sacred lot."    Guest: Dr. Douglas Bookman   Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World HERE. Thanks to all of you who have supported us!   Image: By SuperJew - Own work. This panorama was created with Canon PhotoStitch (stitched images may differ from reality)., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6586028    

Episode: In this episode Kyle and Chris discuss Kyle's work on Galilee in the book of Kings, and specifically, the site Cabul mentioned in 1 Kings 9. Kyle discusses fortifications in the Solomonic era, site identification, the historicity of Hiram of Tyre, and much more.

Hosts: Kyle and Chris. 

Give: Help support OnScript's Biblical World HERE. Thanks to all of you who have supported us!

Episode Summary: Arguably one of the greatest textual discoveries from the Ancient Near East, the Amarna Letters provide an unparalleled window into the period of international relations in the Late Bronze Age. Co-hosts Chris McKinny and Mary Buck discuss the discovery of these texts, and work through a selection of letters that showcase how great and lesser kings of the period interacted. 

Series: STANE - “Special” Texts of the Ancient Near East. See our Mesha Stele and Introductory episodes in the same series. 

Hosts: Mary Buck and Chris McKinny

Give: Help support Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Image Attribution: By Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=95958735

Episode Summary: Perhaps one of the most famous texts from the Ancient Near East, the Mesha Stele, also known as the Moabite Stone, provides an important corollary from the Iron Age for the historicity of the Bible. Co-hosts Chris McKinny and Mary Buck discuss the wild discovery of this text in the 1800s, read the text itself, and discuss what we learn about the Bible and about history from one of the longest texts ever discovered in the Levant. This is the second installment of our STANE (Special Texts of the Ancient Near East) series. 

Hosts: Mary Buck and Chris McKinny

Give: Help support Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Image Attribution: By Unknown artist - Mbzt 2012, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22090379

 

 

Episode: In this inaugural episode of a new series entitled “Texts from the Ancient Near East,” co-hosts Mary Buck and Chris McKinny provide an introduction to the languages and writing in the ancient world. This includes a review of some of the most important languages of the Ancient Near East (e.g., Middle Egyptian, Phoenician, Akkadian, Hebrew) and also discuss how writing and textual media developed over time. All this to help you navigate the literature and world of the Ancient Near East!

Hosts: Mary Buck and Chris McKinny

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Image: By Daderot - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40839123.

Episode: In this engaging conversation, Mark and Kyle chat with Eric Cline about his life as an archaeologist and about public archaeology—making scholarship approachable—and why it is important for scholars to engage with the interested public. We draw upon a number of Eric’s recent publications to highlight how this dialogue is possible and how it can be done well.

Guest: Departmental webpage: https://cnelc.columbian.gwu.edu/eric-h-cline

Hosts: Mark and Kyle

Summary: Eric, Mark, and Kyle discuss the following topics: Eric’s academic and public scholarship; how to combat misinformed attempts to explain biblical archaeology/history; the evolution of Eric’s scholarly career and how to make an impact beyond the academy; how/where to find good resources on the archaeology of Israel and the Bible; the importance of dialogue between academics and the interested public.

Books: Check out some of Dr. Cline's recent books!

• 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed (Rev ed., Princeton University Press, 2021)
• Digging Deeper: How Archaeology Works (Princeton University Press, 2020)
• Digging Up Armageddon: The Search for the Lost City of Solomon (Princeton University Press, 2020)
• Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology (Princeton University Press, 2019)

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Episode: We're going back to the dirt in this episode with Cynthia Shafer-Elliott. We talk about bee hives, the Daniel diet, Ezekiel bread, gender & archaeology, and why Cynthia is willing to get up at 4am for weeks at a time each summer. This is a republished episode.

Guest: Cynthia Shafer-Elliott is Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Biblical Studies in the The Faculty of Theology and School of Christian Leadership at William Jessup University. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Sheffield in the UK. Dr. Shafer-Elliott is an experienced field archaeologist in Israel and is currently part of the archaeological excavation team at Tell Halif, Israel. She’s the author of The Five Minute Archaeologist in the Southern Levant which is a user-friendly exploration of basic concepts within archaeology and the techniques and methods used by archaeologists in the field. She’s also written Food in Ancient Judah: Domestic Cooking in the Time of the Hebrew Bible (Equinox).

Give: Help support OnScript's Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

If you like this: Check out our episode with Jonathan Greer about his co-edited book Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament

Episode: For this episode Mary Buck is joined by Dr. Leonard Greenspoon, the Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization at Creighton University. Dr. Greenspoon discusses his recently published book, "Jewish Bible Translations," which represents an important contribution to our understanding of translation and transmission history, especially in Jewish communities from ancient to modern times. Host: Mary Buck Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.  

Episode: In this episode Chris and Kyle speak with Robert (Bob) Cargill about digital humanities—what those are and how they are done in the archaeology of ancient Israel and in biblical studies—technology and the potential for cutting edge research, and his recent book on Melchizedek. Along the way, Bob shares stories of travels in Israel, providing quality resources for people interested in the Bible and archaeology, and meaningful moments in Israel. 

Hosts: Chris and Kyle

Summary: Bob, Chris, and Kyle discuss the following topics: the role of digital humanities in archaeology and Biblical studies; Melchizedek traditions; technology and research; public archaeology. Check out Bob's book The Cities that Built the Bible (HarperOne).

Links: www.bobcargill.com/home.html

Episode: Jonathan Greer joins the show to talk about a big project he just co-edited on the history, context, archaeology, culture, and world of the Old Testament. Jonathan shares from his own work digging at Tel Dan, a very significant site for understanding the Jerusalem Temple and worship in ancient Israel. They discuss major archaeologists, the historicity of events in the Bible, the interaction of faith and critical study, and much more. This episode is republished from our OnScript podcast.

Guest: Jonathan Greer is Associate Professor of Old Testament and Director of the Hesse Memorial Archaeological Laboratory at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. He has written extensively on the history and context of the Bible. He's the author of Dinner at Dan: Biblical and Archaeological Evidence for Sacred Feasts at Iron Age II Tel Dan and Their Significance  (Brill, 2013) and the co-editor with John Hilber and John Walton of Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts (Baker Academic, 2018).

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you’d like to support the Biblical World podcast as we grow and develop.

If you like this episode: Check out our OnScript episodes on the Isaiah Seal Impression, and The Ancient World of the Bible.

Episode: This is part 5 in our look at views on the Exodus from Egypt. In this episode, Chris and Kyle speak with Peter Feinman about the Levite-Hyksos view. Peter Feinman is the author of The Exodus: An Egyptian Story. 

Hosts: Mark Janzen (Louisiana College) and Chris McKinny (Gesher Media)

Summary: In this episode, Mark and Chris interview Peter Feinman about the following:
- The Egyptian evidence for the Israelite Exodus
- The Hyksos and their possible connection to the Exodus
- The importance of the Exodus to Jewish and Christian believes and its connection to Passover and Easter

Additional Resources: 2021 Janzen, Mark (ed.). Five Views of the Exodus. Zondervan

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Episode: Chris McKinny sits down with Kyle Keimer to discuss the Tel Burna Archaeological Project, where he's been digging for over a decade. This important borderland site of biblical Libnah offers some important insights into historical Judah.

They discuss the following topics:
- The identification of Tel Burna with biblical Libnah
- The Canaanite cultic remains found at Tel Burna 
- The Judahite fortress and gate with destructions from the 10th (Shishak?), 8th (Sennacherib), and early 6th centuries (Nebuchadnezzar) BC

Links: Tel Burna Archaeological Project; Itzick Shai’s (Tel Burna director) academia page

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you'd like to support the Biblical World podcast as we grow and develop.

Episode: In this episode Chris and Kyle discuss the archaeology of Khirbet er-Ra‘i/Arai, a small site in the southern part of Israel that dates from the end of the Late Bronze Age into the early Iron Age IIA (ca. 13th-10th c. BC). This site is proving to be exceptional for this time period and appears to be the key site in the region, having taken over this role from the nearby site of Lachish following its destruction in the mid-/late-12th c. BC. Specific finds, including the recent Jerubba’al inscription, as well as the ancient name of the site are also covered. Chris and Kyle discuss whether or not Arai was biblical Ziklag.

Hosts: Kyle Keimer (MacQuarie University) and Chris McKinny (Geshur Media)

Detail: Chris and Kyle discuss the following topics:
- The archaeology of Khirbet Arai; the Iron Age I context of the site
- identity/ethnicity of, and cultural interaction between Canaanites, Philistines, and Israelites
- the early Iron Age chronology debate; Dating the arrival of the Sea Peoples/Philistines
- the recently discovered Jerubba’al inscription
- the ancient name of Khirbet Arai—is it biblical Ziklag?

More information about Khirbet El-Rai.

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Episode: This is Part 4 of our look at Five Views on the Exodus, this time with James Hoffmeier. Hoffmeier makes the case for a 13th century BC exodus from Egypt. In this episode, Mark and Chris interview James Hoffmeier about the following:
- The Egyptian evidence for the Israelite Exodus
- “Egyptianisms” in the Pentateuch
- The historicity of the Exodus events and its importance to the Old Testament as a whole
- The importance of the Exodus to Jewish and Christian believes and its connection to Passover and Easter

Hosts: Mark Janzen (Louisiana College) and Chris McKinny (Gesher Media)

Guest: James K. Hoffmeier

Additional Resources: 2021 Janzen, Mark (ed.). Five Views on the Exodus. Zondervan; (podcast) Thinking Exodus: Egyptology and the Bible (James K. Hoffmeier)

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Episode: This is part 3 of our 5 part look at five views on the exodus from Egypt. In this episode, Gary Rendsburg presents the 12th century BC view.

Hosts: Mark Janzen (Louisiana College) and Chris McKinny (Gesher Media)

Guest: Gary A. Rendsburg (Rutgers University)

Summary: In this episode, Mark and Chris interview Gary Rendsburg about the following: 
- The Egyptian evidence for the Israelite Exodus
- “Egyptianisms” in the Pentateuch
- The historicity of the Exodus events and its importance to the Old Testament as a whole
- The importance of the Exodus to Jewish and Christian believes and its connection to Passover and Easter

Additional Resources: 2021 Janzen, Mark (ed.). Five Views of the Exodus. Zondervan; Gary Rendsburg’s publication page

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

 

Episode: Chris McKinny and Mary Buck discuss the archaeology and architecture of Iron Age Jerusalem. 

Hosts: Mary Buck (Shepherd’s Seminary) and Chris McKinny (Gesher Media)

Summary: In this episode, Mary and Chris discuss the following:
- The topography of ancient Jerusalem.
- The history of research related to the “Millo” in Jerusalem (Judg 9:6, 20; 2 Sam 5:9; 1 Kgs 9:15, 24; 11:27; 2 Kgs 12:20; 1 Chr 11:8; 2 Chr 32:5).
- The archaeology of the City of David and the Spring Tower.
- The identification of the Millo/House of Millo with the Spring Tower fortifications based on a new suggestion by Chris McKinny, Aharon Tavger, Nahshon Szanton, and Joe Uziel.
- The narrative implications of the Gihon Spring (1 Kgs 1:33, 38, 45), ṣinnor (2 Sam 5:8), and the Millo/Spring Tower being the same location.

Additional Resources: Haaretz article on the Radiocarbon project of Uziel and Gadot; BiblePlaces “Warren’s Shaft” 

Photo by Yoav Dothan - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8255891

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Episode: In this episode Jewish scholar Amy-Jill Levine engages some of the hard words of Jesus that followers then and now have found difficult. He instructs disciples to hate members of their own families (Luke 14:26), to act as if they were slaves (Matthew 20:27), and to sell their belongings and give to the poor (Luke 18:22). He restricts his mission (Matthew 10:6); he speaks of damnation (Matthew 8:12); he calls Jews the devil’s children (John 8:44). How did these words sound in their own time, and how might that impact our interpretation of difficult texts? In this episode Biblical World host Lynn Cohick engages these questions with Amy-Jill Levine and her new book The Difficult Words of Jesus: A Beginner's Guide to His Most Perplexing Teachings (Abingdon, 2021). 

Guest: Amy-Jill Levine is University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies, and  Professor of New Testament Studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School, Graduate Department of Religion, and Department of Jewish Studies; she is also Affiliated Professor, Woolf Institute, Centre for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations, Cambridge UK. Holding a B.A. from Smith College, M.A. and Ph.D. from Duke University, and honorary doctorates from the University of Richmond, the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, the University of South Carolina-Upstate, Drury University, Christian Theological Seminary, and Franklin College, Professor Levine has been awarded grants from the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Council of Learned Societies. She has held office in the Society of Biblical Literature, the Catholic Biblical Association, and the Association for Jewish Studies.  She served as Alexander Robertson Fellow (University of Glasgow), and the Catholic Biblical Association Scholar to the Philippines. She has given over 500 lectures on the Bible, Christian-Jewish relations, and Religion, Gender, and Sexuality across the globe.

Her books include The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus (Publisher’s Weekly Best Books of 2007; audio books); Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi (Catholic Book Club; translations: Spanish, Italian; audio books); The Meaning of the Bible: What the Jewish Scriptures and the Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us (with Douglas Knight; translation: Chinese); The New Testament, Methods and Meanings (with Warren Carter); and The Gospel of Luke (with Ben Witherington III -- the first full-length biblical commentary co-authored by a Jew and an Evangelical). Her most recent book is The Bible With and Without Jesus, co-authored with Marc Z. Brettler. With Marc Brettler, she co-edited The Jewish Annotated New Testament; she is also the editor of the 13-volume Feminist Companions to the New Testament and Early Christian Writings, and The Historical Jesus in Context (Princeton Readings in Religion; translation: Japanese). Presently she is editing several volumes in the Wisdom Commentary series, and she is the New Testament editor of the new Oxford Biblical Commentary Series. With Joseph Sievers, she is co-editing a collection of essays on the Pharisees. (from the Vanderbilt website)

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

 

Episode: This episode continues our series on five views on the exodus based on a book by that named that Biblical World host Mark Janzen just edited. Our second guest in this series is Scott Stripling, who presents the early (15th century) exodus view. 

Hosts: Mark Janzen (Louisiana College) and Chris McKinny (Gesher Media)

Guest: Scott Stripling serves as the provost at The Bible Seminary in Katy (Houston), Texas and as the Director of Excavations for the Associates for Biblical Research at Khirbet el-Maqatir and Shiloh, Israel.

Summary: In this episode, Mark and Chris interview Scott about the early date theory, how we read dates and numbers in the Bible, and archaeological evidence for or against the early date.
 
Additional Resources: 2021 Janzen, Mark (ed.). Five Views of the Exodus. Zondervan; Ron Hendel’s Academia page.

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Episode: This begins the first of a series on five views on the exodus based on a book by that named that Biblical World host Mark Janzen just edited. Our first guest in this series is Ron Hendel, who presents the cultural memory view. 

Hosts: Mark Janzen (Louisiana College) and Chris McKinny (Gesher Media)

Guest: Ron Hendel is Norma and Sam Dabby Professor of Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies at the University of Berkeley. Professor Hendel has been a member of the Berkeley faculty since 1999 and has served as chair of Jewish Studies, the Department of Near Eastern Studies, and the Graduate Program in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology. Hendel approaches the Hebrew Bible from a variety of angles – history of religions, textual criticism, linguistics, comparative mythology, literature, and cultural memory. He is the editor-in-chief of The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Edition, a new critical edition of the Hebrew text, whose first volume (Proverbs, by Michael V. Fox) was published in 2015. He is also writing a new commentary on Genesis for the Yale Anchor Bible. In 1999, he received the Frank Moore Cross Publications Award from the American Schools of Oriental Research. His books include The Text of Genesis 1-11: Textual Studies and Critical Edition (Oxford, 1998), Remembering Abraham: Culture, History, and Memory in the Hebrew Bible (Oxford, 2005), Reading Genesis: Ten Methods (editor and contributor; Cambridge, 2010), The Book of Genesis: A Biography (Princeton, 2013), Steps to a New Edition of the Hebrew Bible (SBL Press, 2016), and How Old is the Hebrew Bible? A Linguistic, Textual, and Historical Study (Yale, 2018). (from the University of Berkeley website)

Summary: In this episode, Mark and Chris interview Ron Hendel about the following:
The Egyptian evidence for the Israelite Exodus
“Egyptianisms” in the Pentateuch
The historicity of the Exodus events and its importance to the Old Testament as a whole
The importance of the Exodus to Jewish and Christian believers and its connection to Passover and Easter

Additional Resources: 2021 Janzen, Mark (ed.). Five Views of the Exodus. Zondervan; Ron Hendel’s Academia page.

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Episode: This episode discusses the importance of understanding the cultural backgrounds and context of the Bible for biblical interpretation. We look at examples from Egypt, Mesopotamian law, bedouin ethnography and more!

Hosts: Chris McKinny (Gesher Media) and Oliver Hersey (Jerusalem University College) 

Summary: In this episode, Chris and Oliver discuss the following:
1. The importance of cultural backgrounds for studying the Bible;
2. The example of Yahweh saving Israel with a strong “outstretched hand” as an appropriated motif of New Kingdom Egypt;
3. The example of bedouin ethnography (“the scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures”) for understanding nomadic and semi-nomadic life in ancient Israel;
4. The example of the law of Exodus 21:22–25 regarding the restitution for the death of a pregnant woman or child in comparison with Mesopotamian and Hittite law codes. 

Additional Resources: Jerusalem University College (JUC); JUC Summer Institute; JUC Online; Context of Scripture in Accordance Bible Software; Seti I War Scenes from Hippostyle Hall Project; Mosaic Magazine 2015 Berman, Joshua. “Was there an Exodus?”; OnScript Clinton Bailey – Bedouin Culture in the Bible; TheTorah.com article comparing Biblical and Mesopotamian Law Codes.

Give: Help support OnScript as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Image by Loretta Rossiter from Pixabay 

Episode: This episode is the final installment in the 3-part archaeology of Passion Week discussion. Chris and Kyle take a detailed look at how archaeological finds in Jerusalem can help us better situate and understand the events of this fateful week. Chris and Kyle discuss the location of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial, the Garden Tomb, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and traditions about Jesus’ death and burial.

Hosts: Chris and Kyle

Resources: Archaeology of the Passion Week Bibliography; Archaeology of Passion Week Visuals (pt 3).

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Image by DEZALB from Pixabay 

 

Episode: This episode is part-two of the three-part series on the archaeology of Passion Week. Chris and Kyle take a detailed look at how archaeological finds in Jerusalem can help us better situate and understand the events of this fateful week. They delve into the Gospel of John, the Last Supper, and Jesus’ trials.

Hosts: Chris and Kyle

Summary: Chris and Kyle discuss the following topics:
- Archaeology and the Gospel of John—the pools of Siloam and Bethesda
- The Garden of Gethsemane
- The room of the last supper
- Jesus’ Jewish and Roman trials
- Herod’s palace
- The Praetorium and Gabatha
- The Via Dolorosa.

Resources: Archaeology of the Passion Week Bibliography; Archaeology of Passion Week Visuals (pt 2).

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Image by Heather Truett from Pixabay

Episode: This episode is the first of a three-part series on the archaeology of the Passion week. Chris and Kyle take a detailed look at how archaeological finds in Jerusalem can help us better situate and understand the events of this fateful week.

Hosts: Chris McKinny and Kyle Keimer

Summary: Chris and Kyle discuss the following topics:
- Traditions about the Passion Week
- How we connect the archaeology to the texts
- Dating and timing the events of the Passion Week
- Views of Jerusalem
- Jesus in the Temple
- Pontius Pilate and Archaeology

Resources: Archaeology of the Passion Week Bibliography; Archaeology of Passion Week Visuals (pt 1).

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Episode: After being forgotten for over 3000 years, the ancient city of Ugarit was rediscovered by archaeologists in 1929. Perhaps the greatest find from the site was the stash of over 2500 texts written in the ancient language of Ugaritic, texts which illuminated the history of the ancient world and the life of the local inhabitants.  Join hosts Mary Buck and Chris McKinny as they discuss the ancient site of Ugarit which ruled over the Northern Levant from 1800 BCE to 1200 BCE.

Hosts: Mary Buck (Shepherds Theological Seminary) and Chris McKinny (Gesher Media) 

Summary: In this episode, Chris and Mary discuss the following:
- The accidental discovery of Ugarit (Ras Shamra) and the expedition
- An overview of the city of Ugarit, the finds, and its significance in the 2nd millennium BC
- Potential connections between Ugarit and the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible.

Additional Resources: 2019 - Buck, Mary - Amorite Dynasty of Ugarit; 2019 - Buck, Mary - The Canaanites; Their History and Culture from Texts and Artifacts.

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Episode: This episode discusses whether it's possible to recover scenes from the Israel/Merneptah Stele, as well as cutting edge technology at Karnak, Egypt.

Hosts: Chris McKinny (Gesher Media) and Mark Janzen (Louisiana College)

Summary: In this episode, Chris and Mark discuss the following:
becoming an Egyptologist and the role of Egyptology in biblical studies;
Karnak Temple - the most impressive surviving building of the ancient world;
the Karnak Great Hypostyle Hall Project;
imaging and epigraphy on the exterior of the west wall of the Cour de la Cachette (Merneptah's battle scenes);
the relationship between the wall reliefs of Cour de la Cachette and the Israel/Merneptah Stele (c. 1208 BC)

Additional Resources: Great Hypostyle Hall Project; Discussion of Cour de la Cachette (Merneptah); Digital Karnak UCLA; BiblePlaces Karnak Temple; Israelite Origins article 2020 by Rendsburg; Battle of Kadesh and World’s First Peace Treaty

Give: Help support OnScript’s Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

Episode: This inaugural Biblical World episode takes a deep dive into the archaeological background of King Hezekiah’s religious reform (2 Kgs 18:4).

Hosts: Chris McKinny (Gesher Media) and Oliver Hersey (Jerusalem University College) 

Episode Summary: 

In this episode, Chris and Oliver discuss the following: 

The historical background of Assyrian interactions with Israel and Judah in the late 8th century BC;
The destruction of Israel by the Assyrians;
The campaign of Sennacherib to Judah in 701 BC;
The archaeological evidence at Tel Sheba (decommissioned altar);
The archaeological evidence at Arad (decommissioned shrine).
The archaeological evidence at Tel Moza (reformed “temple”)
The archaeological evidence at the Lachish gate shrine (decommissioned and defiled)

Additional Resources: 

Jerusalem University College (JUC); JUC Summer Institute; JUC Online; Context of Scripture in Accordance Bible Software; BAS Article on Lachish and BASOR article on same subject; Moulis 2019 “Hezekiah’s Cultic Reforms according to the Archaeological Evidence”

Give: Help support OnScript's Biblical World as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

 

OnScript is launching a new podcast focused on the history, archaeology, culture, and geography of the Bible. Hosted by Chris McKinny, Lynn Cohick, Oliver Hersey, Kyle Keimer, Mary Buck, and Mark Janzen, this new podcast will help you enter the biblical world through engaging interviews with archaeologists and scholars who live and breathe scripture's ancient air. Stay tuned!