Bible Interpretation

By: Megan Sauter

What is the origin of sin and death in the Bible? Who was the first sinner?

By: BAS Staff

BAS editors have hand-selected articles from the BAS Library that cast each of the canonical Gospels in a new light.

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

Was Joseph Jesus’ biological father? If not, who was Jesus’ biological father? Andrew Lincoln examines what early Christians thought about conception and explains how views about this subject have changed over time.

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

Richard L. Rohrbaugh examines the Parable of the Talents’ meaning in his Biblical Views column “Reading the Bible Through Ancient Eyes” in BAR.

By: Ben Witherington III

Over decades of studying the Bible, I’ve noted how much emphasis many scholars place on the adjectives used to describe the biblical God—God is righteous, […]

By: Shawna Dolansky

The serpent in the Garden of Eden is portrayed as just that: a serpent. The story in Genesis 2–3 contains no hint that he embodies the devil, Satan or any other evil power. So where does the devil come into the details of Eden? Biblical scholar Shawna Dolansky examines how the serpent became Satan.

By: James Tabor

James Tabor suggests that in the same way the basic apocalyptic texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls have as their historical reference points the parties and politics of the mid-1st century BCE, the Ur-text of revelation is most likely composed against the backdrop of local events in Judea in the 40s and 50s CE–and has little to do with Rome and its emperors.

By: John Drummond

Does our modern conception of Satan have any resemblance to the devil in the Bible? Just who is Satan?

By: Robin Gallaher Branch

Robin Gallaher Branch on the lighter side of the Bible.

By: Shawna Dolansky

Are the 10 Commandments really a moral code, or did the ancients understand them rather as the constitutional basis of a political theocracy?