Apr 14 Blog
By: Jonathan Klawans
Many people still assume that Jesus’ Last Supper was a Seder, a ritual meal held in celebration of the Jewish holiday of Passover. In this exclusive Bible History Daily guest post, Boston University Professor of Religion Jonathan Klawans provides an update to his popular Bible Review article questioning this common assumption.
Mar 26 Blog
By: BAS Staff
Was Mary Magdalene a prostitute who repented or simply an influential female follower of Jesus? Mary from Magdala has popularly been saddled with an unfavorable reputation, but how did this notion come about?
Feb 12 Blog
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?
Nov 29 Blog
By: Robin Ngo
In 2015, UNESCO added the archaeological complex at Al-Maghtas, Jordan—called the Biblical “Bethany beyond the Jordan”—to its World Heritage List. Another tradition places the baptismal site on the west bank of the Jordan River—in Israel.
Aug 9 Blog
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 testimony of the unnamed “disciple whom Jesus loved.”
Jul 29 Blog
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.
Jul 12 Blog
By: Dorothy Willette
Few symbols have a tradition as long and as rich as the dove. Read about what it represents and how its use has been shared, adapted and reinterpreted across cultures and millennia to suit changing belief systems.
Mar 25 Blog
By: Megan Sauter
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 tombs from the time of Jesus, square (cork-shaped) stones are much, much more common than round (disk-shaped) ones.
Dec 17 Blog
By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff
In the first century C.E., during the First Jewish Revolt, the Jewish historian Josephus urged his besieged countrymen in Jerusalem to surrender to the Romans. Half a millennium earlier, Jeremiah did the same thing with respect to the Babylonians.
Aug 20 Blog
An excavation at a cave in Galilee has uncovered what may be a 2,000-year-old stone vessel production center. In the first century C.E., Jews commonly used stone vessels in observance of Jewish purity laws.
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