The Gospels, the first four books of the New Testament, tell the story of the life of Jesus. Yet only one—the Gospel of John—claims to be an eyewitness account, the Read more…
New Testament
The second half of the Christian Bible, including the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles and Revelation. The Books of the New Testament are Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts of the Apostles, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, and Revelation.
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Gospel of John Commentary: Who Wrote the Gospel of John and How Historical Is It?
• 09/01/2018
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Mark and John: A Wedding at Cana—Whose and Where?
• 04/29/2018
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? Read more…
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Does the Gospel of Mark Reveal Jesus’ Anger or His Compassion?
• 04/27/2018
In the fifth-century C.E. Codex Bezae, an early edition of the New Testament written in Greek, the Gospel of Mark describes Jesus’ anger before healing a leper (Mark 1:41). While Read more…
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The Bethesda Pool, Site of One of Jesus’ Miracles
• 04/24/2018
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. As the Read more…
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The “Strange” Ending of the Gospel of Mark and Why It Makes All the Difference
• 04/01/2018
James Tabor presents a fresh look at the original text of the earliest Gospel. Read more…
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How Was Jesus’ Tomb Sealed?
• 03/23/2018
What kind of stone sealed the tomb of Jesus? Was it a round (disk-shaped) stone or a square (cork-shaped) stone? While both kinds of blocking stones are attested in Jerusalem Read more…
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Speaking in Tongues in the Bible
• 02/18/2018
Ben Witherington III addresses what happened at Pentecost in his Biblical Views column “Speaking in the Tongues of Men or Angels?” in the July/August 2015 issue of BAR. Read more…
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Uncovering the Jewish Context of the New Testament
• 02/16/2018
Most Jewish readers approach the New Testament, if they approach it at all, with at best a certain unfamiliarity. This is unfortunate, according to Jewish New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine, Read more…
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The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament
• 01/10/2018
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 Read more…
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Christian Apocrypha: The “Lost Gospels”?
• 12/11/2017
The Christian apocrypha—noncanonical gospels—didn’t make the cut. But were they truly rejected, suppressed and destroyed? Until recent times there was no doubt. But now this “truth” may be unraveling. Many Read more…
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The Hungry Jesus
• 12/07/2017
Andrew McGowan challenges the tradition that Jesus was a welcoming host at meals. Read more…
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How December 25 Became Christmas
• 12/03/2017
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. Read more…
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What Does the Parable of the Talents Mean?
• 11/02/2017
Richard L. Rohrbaugh examines the Parable of the Talents’ meaning in his Biblical Views column “Reading the Bible Through Ancient Eyes” in BAR. Read more…
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Who Was Jesus’ Biological Father?
• 10/24/2017
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 Read more…
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Eunuchs in the Bible
• 06/22/2017
Stephen J. Patterson discusses what Jesus meant when he referred to “eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:11–12). Read more…
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Is the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife a Fake?
• 06/10/2017
When Harvard’s Karen King announced at a 2012 scholarly conference in Rome that a fragment of an authentic fourth-century gospel had come into her hands in which Jesus, speaking in Read more…
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What’s Missing from Codex Sinaiticus, the Oldest New Testament?
• 06/05/2017
Compare differences in the Biblical text between the King James Version and Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest New Testament. Read more…
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Watch on CNN: Finding Jesus
• 03/06/2017
CNN’s Finding Jesus: Faith, Fact, Forgery investigates artifacts that may shed new light on Jesus and his world. Read more…
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Water from a Walking Rock
• 03/05/2017
What does Paul mean in the Bible when he says that the Israelites drank “from the spiritual rock that followed them” during their wanderings in the wilderness? Read more…
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The Origin of Christianity
• 01/07/2017
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. Read more…
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Where Was Jesus Born?
• 11/22/2016
If Jesus was born in Bethlehem, why is he called a Nazorean and a Galilean throughout the New Testament? Philip J. King addresses this question in his Biblical Views column. Read more…
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Mary, Simeon or Anna: Who First Recognized Jesus as Messiah?
• 11/18/2016
Who was the first person to truly recognize Jesus as the messiah and understand the implications? Biblical scholar Ben Witherington III takes a close look at the account given in Read more…
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Witnessing the Divine
• 11/17/2016
The legend of the magi has fired the imagination of Christians since the earliest times. In art, the adoration of the magi appeared earlier and far more frequently than any Read more…
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The Parables of Jesus
• 09/26/2016
Helmut Koester suggests that the parables of Jesus did not communicate a hidden meaning when they were told by Jesus—the parables of Jesus could be understood by all. Read more…
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Ancient Synagogues in Israel and the Diaspora
• 09/03/2016
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 Read more…
