Read letters published in the Q&C section of BAR debating the dates of Herod’s death, Jesus’ birth and to which lunar eclipse Josephus was referring. Read more…
Scholar’s Study
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Herod’s Death, Jesus’ Birth and a Lunar Eclipse
• 03/02/2017
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Explore the Huqoq Mosaics
• 08/15/2016
In “Samson in the Synagogue” in the January/February 2013 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Jodi Magness presented mosaic discoveries from Huqoq, including a mysterious depiction of two female faces flanking Read more…
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Excavating the Bible—A Response
• 12/05/2014
In the September/October 2014 issue of BAR, Itzhaq Shai reviewed Yitzhak Meitlis’s book Excavating the Bible (Eshel Books, 2012). Here, Meitlis responds to Shai’s review. Read more…
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Digital Humanities and the Ancient World
• 08/13/2014
In a series of web-exclusive articles written by pioneering scholars developing the Digital Humanities, learn how this emerging field of study is helping to analyze textual and archaeological data—and how Read more…
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Three Takes on the Oldest Hebrew Inscription
• 08/08/2014
In the May/June 2012 BAR, epigrapher Christopher A. Rollston considered four contenders as candidates for the oldest Hebrew inscription. Rollston’s thoughtful discussion was met by dissenting responses from distinguished archaeological Read more…
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Scholar’s Study: The Great Tekhelet Debate
• 01/02/2014
Zvi C. Koren and Baruch and Judy Taubes Sterman debate the shade of God’s chosen color for the ancient Israelites. Read more…
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Letters Answered Online
• 12/12/2013
In two cases, exchanges between letter writers and authors were too long (and technical) to print in our letters column. Therefore we have posted them online. Read more…
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Hezekiah’s Tunnel
• 08/13/2013
Do new tunnel dates hold water? Featuring a web-exclusive discussion by Aren Maeir and Jeffrey Chadwick. Read more…
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Archaeological Technology
• 05/10/2013
Archaeology is quickly moving into a new era. While archaeologists aren’t ready to forgo their trowels just yet, the introduction of a new 21st-century toolkit has already transformed the field. Read more…
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Critical Biblical Scholarship—A Response
• 10/10/2012
In the recent Biblical Views column “Critical Biblical Scholarship—What’s the Use?” Ronald Hendel claims, “There’s no good reason to be hostile toward good scholarship.” Read more…
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BAR Authors Respond to Readers’ Letters
• 10/10/2012
Biblical Scholarship—Critical, Skeptical or Respectful?
Emeritus professor of Hebrew and Ancient Semitic Languages Alan Millard critiques Ronald S. Hendel’s Biblical
Views column “Critical Biblical Scholarship—What’s the Use?” (July/August 2012). Read more… -
Who Really Invented the Alphabet—Illiterate Miners or Educated Sophisticates?
• 09/13/2012
Scholars Orly Goldwasser and Anson Rainey debate who really invented the alphabet—illiterate miners or educated sophisticates. Read more…
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Yitzhak Magen’s Response
• 09/06/2012
Archaeologist Yitzhak Magen answers a question about the dating of a Samaritan temple at Mt. Gerizim, incorporating a timeline of related events. Read more…
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Merrill’s Letter
• 09/06/2012
Archaeologist Yitzhak Magen answers a question about the dating of a Samaritan temple at Mt. Gerizim, incorporating a timeline of related events. Read more…
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The Great Minimalist Debate
• 06/19/2012
In our March/April 2011 issue we published an article entitled “The Birth & Death of Biblical Minimalism” by Israel archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel. Among those identified as minimalists was the prominent Read more…
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The Garum Debate
• 01/25/2012
Scholars question whether “pure” garum (a popular Roman sauce that was made from various types of fish and marine life) was intended for Jews or for the followers of other Read more…
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The Trouble with Cement
• 06/17/2011
After BAR editor Hershel Shanks criticized recent unsightly repairs to the Temple Mount walls in Jerusalem in his September/October 2010 First Person, archaeological architect Leen Ritmeyer wrote a letter in Read more…
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Have the Tombs of the Kings of Judah Been Found?: A Response
• 04/21/2011
After 24 years, we can now present a clear answer to a question raised in the pages of BAR. In the July/August 1987 issue, BAR editor Hershel Shanks considered two Read more…
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Is the Son of Man Pre-existent and Enthroned?
• 04/18/2011
The January/February 2011 issue of BAR featured a book review, written by James C. VanderKam, of King and Messiah as Son of God. We then received a letter from J. Read more…
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Dating of the Samaritan Temple on Mt. Gerizim
• 03/06/2011
In “Bells, Pendants, Snakes and Stones” (BAR, November/December 2010), archaeologist Yitzhak Magen revealed evidence of a Samaritan temple at Mt. Gerizim that he dated to the time of Nehemiah, the Read more…
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Israel Antiquities Authority vs. Conspiracy of (Alleged) Forgers
• 03/01/2011
After five years, the “forgery trial of the century” has concluded in a Jerusalem courtroom. Now the only remaining defendants, antiquities collector Oded Golan and antiquities dealer Robert Deutsch, await Read more…
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Rainey Defends Archaeologist Credentials
• 02/21/2011
In “Verbal Fisticuffs over Early Israelite Origins” (BAR July/August 2010), well-known American archaeologist William Dever was quoted as saying that prominent Israeli scholar Anson Rainey “is no archaeologist and has Read more…
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Israelite Chariots in the Assyrian Period
• 01/31/2011
BAR published a letter from Professor Boyd Seevers concerning what Israelite chariots looked like in the Assyrian period in response to an article by David Ussishkin. Professor Ussishkin’s response to Read more…
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Other Possible Phoenician Crematoria
• 12/16/2010
Hebrew University archaeologist Eilat Mazar has reported on excavations at the vast Phoenician cemeteries of Achziv and the presence of an ancient crematorium at the site. Vassos Karageorghis, leading scholar Read more…
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Faith and Reason in Biblical Studies
• 10/18/2010
Professor Ron Hendel’s Biblical Views column from July/August 2010, “Farewell to SBL: Faith and Reason in Biblical Studies,” elicited a thunderous and widespread response, both in support and in opposition, Read more…
