People & Cultures in the Bible

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: Jonathan Klawans

Every year, Jewish families the world over  celebrate the festival of Hanukkah. And how dramatic it is: Just as the nights are starting earlier and […]

By: Glenn J. Corbett

King Amaziah of Judah (c. 801–783 B.C.E.), after having slain nearly 10,000 Edomites in battle near the southern end of the Dead Sea, is said to have thrown another 10,000 captives from the top of nearby Sela.

By: BAS Staff

Was the apostle Paul an early convert to Christian belief, or did he remain steadfastly committed to the Judaism of his day? Biblical scholar David […]

By: David Christian Clausen

It is self-evident that Paul’s letters were addressed to Gentiles (note: all translations given in this article are my own): “We received … apostleship for […]

By: Nijay Gupta

Ancient religions came in all shapes and sizes, but by and large they had in common association with a particular ethnic group, ties to a […]

By: Ben Witherington III

David Clausen’s article, “Five Myths About the Apostle Paul,” in the Summer 2023 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, strikes some familiar and correct notes about […]

By: Joan E. Taylor

Scholar Joan E. Taylor says that it’s worth remembering that Jesus’ earliest years were, according to the Gospel of Matthew, spent as a refugee in a foreign land.

By: James Tabor

The various types of the heavenly journeys we have reports about can be divided into four basic categories, based upon the fundamental purpose or outcome of the ascent as reported in a given text. Generally speaking, the first two categories are more characteristic of the Ancient Near Eastern, or archaic period, which would include most texts of the Hebrew Bible (OT). The latter two categories are more typical of the Hellenistic period, which reflects the perspective of the NT.

By: Lawrence Mykytiuk

See a visualization of the Herodian family tree and key events in the New Testament related to members of the Herodian family.