Resources Archives - Page 102 of 147

Weekend Roundup

The University of Oxford and the Vatican Library plan “to digitize 1.5 million pages of texts from their collections and make them freely available online.”

A large 3rd or 4th century poolside mosaic has been uncovered in southern Turkey, not far from biblical Attalia.

The Saqqara Serapeum was inaugurated this week.

The Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project has received a 3-year grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Hebrew University will begin offering online courses for free.

Check out Wayne Stiles’ descriptive and devotional thoughts about Tel Dan. “By providing alternative places of worship [at Dan and Bethel], Jeroboam appealed to the laziness of the human spirit.”

If you’re looking for full-color, poster-size maps of biblical history, take a look at WordAction’s Bible Teaching Maps. The $35 set includes 10 large maps and 10 reproducible charts. The maps were produced by Zondervan and Oxford University Press.

They are easily mounted on foam board for display and transport.

Christianbook.com has many Bible atlases on sale this week, as well as Gary Burge’s The Bible and the Land for $1.99.

A number of distinguished scholars passed away this week, including Manfred Goerg, Bahnam Abu As-Souf, and Itamar Singer.

HT: Jack Sasson, Joseph Lauer

Tagged Egypt, Galilee, Israel's Coast, Resources, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

New Book: Jesus and the Jewish Festivals

The Gospel of John could well be titled “Jesus and the Jewish Festivals,” given the author’s focus on Jesus’ presence in Jerusalem during Passover, Tabernacles, and Hanukkah. Gary M. Burge has just written the latest in his “Ancient Context, Ancient Faith” series, looking at the Jewish background that informs Jesus’ bold claims in the Fourth Gospel. The book answers many questions that the Christian with less knowledge of the Old Testament and the Jewish world will naturally have, including:

How did Jesus exploit the central feature of Passover in feeding the 5,000?
How did Jesus use shock and irony in his claims at the feast of Tabernacles?
How did Jesus use Hanukkah to reveal his identity?

The 140-page book is loaded with great illustrations and should have a wide appeal to Christians of different backgrounds and educations. $10 at Amazon.

Jesus and the Jewish Festivals is the sixth volume in the series. Readers here may be interested in the other volumes as well:

The Bible and the Land, by Gary M. Burge
Bringing Jesus to the Desert, by Bradley Nassif
Encounters with Jesus, by Gary M. Burge
Finding the Lost Images of God, by Timothy S. Laniak
Jesus, the Middle Eastern Storyteller, by Gary M. Burge

Tagged Jerusalem, Resources

Weekend Roundup

Nadav Shragai has written an extensive and interesting report of the newly discovered reservoir near the Temple Mount. If you’re interested in Jerusalem in the Old Testament period, this is a must-read.

A 2.5-minute video takes you inside the reservoir (Hebrew).

The Western Wall has passed its annual health check-up.

Excavation reports on the Mount of Olives reveal settlement in the OT and NT periods.

“I am the gate for the sheep,” said Jesus. A new 2-minute video short from SourceFlix illustrates what that means with footage from the Middle East.

Whether you love the water-soaked landscape of Caesarea Philippi or the parched terrain of the Judean wilderness, you can enjoy some great weekend reading, illustrated with slideshows and videos.

BibleX points to a couple of publications now online for the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

The IDF has begun clearing 700 mines from the Jordan Valley.

Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg, is marked down to $2.99 for Amazon Kindle for a few days.

Christianbook.com has some good deals on reference works beginning today:

Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds NT Commentary, 4 Volumes ($70), also available on CD-ROM ($83)
The IVP Old Testament Dictionary Set – all 4 volumes ($142), or get all 8 volumes with the New Testament ($285)
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 4 Vols. ($120)

HT: Joseph Lauer

Judean wilderness at sunset, tb021107716

The Judean wilderness at sunset

Tagged Discoveries, Galilee, Jerusalem, Judah, Resources, Weekend Roundup

ARTIFAX Magazine

ARTIFAX Magazine is a little-known secret of biblical archaeology. If you are a member of the Near Eastern Archaeology Society (NEAS), you receive the quarterly magazine as part of your membership. If you do not, it’s quite possible that you’ve never heard of this magazine even though it’s now in its 27th year of publication. In every issue, ARTIFAX provides updates from the world of biblical archaeology, often excerpting articles from the local press of Israel, Jordan, Greece, and other countries. ARTIFAX also features original articles by various scholars, some you’re probably familiar with, and others you may not know. I’ve written several articles for the magazine over the years, and I always find it an interesting read. I don’t think I’ve ever recommended a subscription simply because there’s never been an easy way to subscribe. A new website changes that, and you can now subscribe with a few clicks of the mouse. I encourage you to check it out.

Tagged Resources

Weekend Roundup

The north of Israel received a surprise August rainfall this week. Haaretz has more about the rabbi who was accused of stealing bones from an archaeological site near Beth Shemesh. Israel will return two sarcophagi lids stolen from Egypt. The BBC describes Lidar archaeology and some debate about its value. Joe Yudin recommends the view from an inactive volcano in the Golan Heights. I think that Wayne Stiles somehow managed to get all of my favorite Masada photos in this article. The ABR bookstore is now offering free shipping on all orders over $35. They offer a number of books under $10. HT: Jack Sasson, Paleojudaica View towards Damascus from Mount Bental (photo source)

Tagged Egypt, Golan, Resources, Shephelah, Syria, Technology, Weekend Roundup

Wednesday Roundup

Free on Kindle today: The Apostle: The Life of Paul, by John Pollock. The ASOR Blog has posted the latest Archaeology Roundup. Three new volumes of the City of David final excavation reports have been published. If you have not had the chance to visit Hebron, you should take the illustrated tour today with Wayne Stiles. (Another version with smaller images is published at the Jerusalem Post.) Is skinny-dipping in the Sea of Galilee sacrilegious? The Washington Post gives my answer to the question. WiFi access is important enough to visitors in Israel that one biblical village has equipped their donkeys with WiFi routers. HT: Charles Savelle Windsurfer on Sea of Galilee (photo source)

Tagged Galilee, Jerusalem, Resources, Technology, Weekend Roundup