BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Setting the BAR

The Story of Biblical Archaeology Review

The story of Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR) begins in the early 1970s. Hershel Shanks, a partner in a Washington, D.C., law firm, decided to take his wife and two young daughters to Israel for a year’s sabbatical. He knew hardly anyone in Israel and had never had a course in archaeology or the Bible. Yet he spent his time visiting digs, meeting archaeologists, and writing a small armchair guide to Jerusalem’s City of David.

An acquaintance from a previous trip, William Dever, then director of the Albright Institute, introduced him to the archaeological community. While Hershel and his family were wandering around the biblical site of Hazor, his six-year-old daughter Elizabeth picked up an ancient jar handle. Recognizing it as possibly important, Hershel and Elizabeth took it to Hazor’s eminent project director, Yigael Yadin. Yadin helped Hershel write an article about the find. It was later published in the Israel Exploration Journal. An archaeology journalist was born!

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When his sabbatical ended, Hershel wanted a reason to return to Israel as something other than a tourist. After some false starts, he settled on writing a small publication on biblical archaeology. BAR was named in the living room of scholars Eric and Carol Meyers. Hershel was leaning toward calling it Biblical Archaeology Newsletter. Carol objected to the acronym BAN and suggested instead Biblical Archaeology Review or BAR—the perfect acronym for a lawyer!

By the end of 1974, Hershel received 501(c)(3) nonprofit status for the Biblical Archaeology Society, his newly created organization to publish BAR. He put $2,500 in the society’s bank account to fund the project (money he took back after a year).

In March 1975, the first issue was published. Entirely written by Hershel, it was 16 pages—7 by 10 inches—with one color (brown) on cheap cream-colored paper. The masthead consisted of the editor (Hershel), an art director, and two contributing editors in name only. The first article in the magazine was the mission statement. Over the 50 years since, BAR has remained true to its mission.

The pace picked up. By the end of the first year, BAR was 32 pages. Many articles were written by scholars and were illustrated with more images. One issue even featured an excerpt by Woody Allen about the Red Sea. Suzanne (Sue) Singer, the wife of a law school friend of Hershel’s who lived in Israel, was named the magazine’s Jerusalem correspondent. By December 1977, Sue returned to the States. She eventually became Managing Editor, developing and managing a small staff of editors dedicated to making biblical archaeology accessible to the public. In 1987, she became Executive Editor of Moment magazine and a contributing editor to BAR. She was always key to the editorial side of the magazine and was often referred to as Hershel’s right arm.

Rob Sugar, while a graduate student, began designing BAR in 1977. In March 1978, Rob talked Hershel into increasing the size to that of a standard magazine with a full-color cover and some color inside. Rob and his talented team at AURAS Design have designed every subsequent issue of BAR.

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In March 1976, Hershel hired Susan (Sue) Laden for 15 hours a week to open subscription envelopes. Within six months, she found herself creating the business office for the society and the magazine. When she started, she knew less about setting up and running a business—much less a magazine business—than Hershel did about the Bible and archaeology.

Working from her unfinished basement with a small staff, Sue created a viable business structure so the society and BAR could flourish. She quickly researched and developed marketing, accounting, printing, fulfillment, and everything else that was needed to support the magazine and other projects.

By the end of 1977, BAS offered its first Travel/Study program, a trip to Egypt, Jordan, and Israel. A merchandise program was also started, selling BAR binders and select books. Orders were filled from a neighbor’s basement. During the next six years, the various programs of the society continued to grow. By 1983, BAR’s circulation reached six figures.

In 1984, when the business basement received an eviction notice from the city for operating in a residential neighborhood, both editorial and operations staff joined forces to move into an old office building across the street from the National Zoo. BAS may have been on the wrong side of the street! The wonderful chaos and excitement of creating a meaningful product eagerly anticipated by the public, the organization to support it, and all the other activities of BAS were often zooey.

During the ten years BAS was at “the zoo,” Sue Laden became Publisher, and the society continued to grow. In 1986, Hershel retired from his law practice to devote full time to editing, what he had originally meant to be a hobby. He soon launched Bible Review, a magazine dealing with critical interpretation of the Bible. Bible Review developed a devoted following and ran for two decades. In 1998, a third publication was launched, Archaeology Odyssey, focusing on classical archaeology.

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The Travel/Study program also flourished. BAS organized tours to the Middle East, domestic seminars of various sizes, and a week-long program at Oxford, as well as seminars on cruise ships to Alaska and the Caribbean. Bible and Archaeology Fest, a special weekend of talks and gathering between scholars and enthusiasts, launched in 1987. Despite having to go fully virtual during the pandemic, Fest has endured for 27 years, and continues this November with a 50th anniversary celebration in Boston.

The merchandise program expanded. Most books were published or co-published by the society. Hershel was the main talent, structuring and editing books for the general public and college classrooms. He published four editions of his popular book Ancient Israel, the last in 2021. Beyond books, BAS created and fulfilled an extensive catalog, with items from Israel and the broader Middle East.

During the 1980s, Hershel launched one of his most important endeavors to increase the public’s access to the past: a campaign to free the Dead Sea Scrolls from the scholarly monopoly that had withheld access since their initial discovery in 1947. Using BAR as his platform, Hershel first called for the scrolls to be made public in 1985 and did not relent.

Finally, in 1991, Hershel broke the monopoly with two BAS publications. BAS published Ben Zion Wacholder and Martin Abegg’s translation of a private concordance of the Cave 4 scroll material. Then, scholars Robert Eisenman and James Robinson—after being rejected by Brill, a leading academic publisher—asked Hershel to publish a complete set of photographs of the Cave 4 scrolls. He did. The Huntington Library in California followed by releasing a microfilm of the photographs. The dam was now open. Hershel had won and so had the public. BAR became known as the magazine that “liberated the Dead Sea Scrolls.”

Through BAR, Hershel continued to engage in other contentious issues: (1) He highlighted the “maximalist–minimalist debate” and growing scholarly critiques regarding the historicity of the Hebrew Bible, especially key figures like David and Solomon. (2) Although he took a clear stance against looting, Hershel campaigned that unprovenanced artifacts should still be published because they provide invaluable information about the past. (3) He also addressed alleged forgeries and called on scholars to evaluate their authenticity fairly. The most famous example was the James Ossuary—an unprovenanced artifact that BAR first published in 2002. The debate about the ossuary’s inscription and its authenticity turned into the “forgery trial of the century” in Israel.

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By the time the society moved again in 1994, circulation was soaring and staff had increased to nearly three dozen. BAS was a successful, growing, nonprofit corporation. A publication that had originally been viewed skeptically by the scholarly community was now fully accepted by the academy, as well as the public. BAR had grown to become, as its cover proudly proclaimed, “the world’s bestselling biblical archaeology magazine.”

As the new century dawned, the magazine world had changed dramatically. A computer sat on every desk; preparing film for the printer with masking film and X-ACTO knives was a thing of the past. Everything was digitized. Email had become the preferred way of communicating, and the internet had become an essential tool for reaching the public. BAS had a primitive website dating from 1998 and had just finished digitizing all its past issues into an online archive.

But BAR was in crisis! In fact, the entire magazine world was in turmoil, certain the digital age would bring a sudden end to print publishing. Changes needed to be made. By 2006, Hershel had shut down both Bible Review and Archaeology Odyssey, with some elements from each migrating to BAR. Staff was reduced, the Travel/Study program was cut back, and adjustments were made to the merchandise program.

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Sue Laden, recently returned from several years away to assume the role of Publisher and President of BAS, led the effort to modernize the website, both for outreach and as a primary method of delivery for biblical archaeology content. By 2011, the new website (biblicalarchaeology.org) was launched. It featured a blog, Bible History Daily, covering key issues from the magazine and the world of archaeology. Shortly thereafter, a digital version of BAR was made available to read on phone, tablet, or computer. BAS then started offering an All-Access membership, which included the print magazine, the digital edition, and a full online library containing the archives of all three magazines and a selection of BAS books and videos.

In spite of the new emphasis on the web, print has remained at the core of what BAS does. BAR still arrives in the mail to more than 100,000 folks fascinated by the world of biblical archaeology. At least for this print magazine, the predicted doomsday did not come to pass.

After 43 years as Editor, Hershel retired in 2017. Robert Cargill, a professor of classics at the University of Iowa, took the editorial reins. He oversaw a magazine redesign that incorporated a broader array of departments before leaving BAS in 2021. Glenn Corbett, who had worked previously as an associate editor with BAR under Hershel’s tutelage, stepped forward to become Editor-in-Chief. Sue Laden stepped away as Publisher in 2022, though she remains active as BAS President and Chair of the Board. Jonathan Laden became Publisher and Executive Director of BAS that same year.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought further change, as BAS closed its physical office and transitioned to a fully remote organization. The organization has come full circle—though now the staff works in homes across the U.S.

BAR remains the vibrant magazine it has always been since its very first issue in 1975. Solid reporting on archaeology in the lands of the Bible has been consistent. As the field has evolved to meet new questions and challenges, BAR has introduced readers to a greater diversity of sites, periods, scholars, and perspectives. BAS has made its content more accessible through the redesigned BAS Library, as well as through new online lectures, events, and courses.

Through all the changes—in academia, the publishing landscape, and society generally—BAR has stayed true to its mission and will continue to do so.

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Related reading in Bible History Daily

Celebrate BAR’s 50th!

How BAR Was Born

In Memory of Hershel Shanks

In the Giant’s Shadow

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