New Testament

By: Noah Wiener

Geza Vermes explores the origin of Christianity by examining the characteristics of the Jewish Jesus movement to see how it developed into a distinctly gentile religion.

By: Megan Sauter

What do the Dead Sea Scrolls say about Jesus? What do they say about the world in which Jesus lived? In BAR, James C. VanderKam examines the overlap between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament.

By: James Tabor

James Tabor discusses the wedding at Cana from the Gospels of Mark and John. Whose wedding was this and why were Jesus and his family present?

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

The Bethesda Pool, where Jesus heals the paralytic man in the Gospel of John, is a complex site. It appears to have been a mikveh, or ritual bath.

By: Andrew McGowan

Theological scholar Andrew McGowan examines how December 25 came to be associated with the birthday of Jesus and became Christmas, a holiday celebrated by Christians around the world.

By: Megan Sauter

Who were the Galatians in the Bible? The apostle Paul addressed one of his now-canonical letters to the “churches of Galatia” (Galatians 1:2), but where […]

By: Jonathan Laden

Because of the pandemic The Hungarian State Opera could only have one performance of Salome at the Erkel Theatre, so they decided to make it […]

By: Marek Dospěl

Did Jesus use a magic wand when performing his miracles? It seems so—if we are to judge by some of the earliest depictions of Jesus […]

By: Megan Sauter

Were there synagogues before the Romans destroyed the Temple, or did they develop only afterward? Communal structures from the Second Temple period have been discovered, but should they be considered synagogues even though they don’t share the major architectural feature common to post-destruction synagogues?

By: Megan Sauter

Győző Vörös details the restoration work taking place at Machaerus—giving archaeological context to the New Testament episode featuring Princess Salome and John the Baptist.