Addition to the bibliography and useful links

At the last class, I mention the book "Zealot." Here is the complete reference:
Reza Aslan, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.

This is a fascinating book by a Muslim-turned-Christian scholar. 

Also a link to the Smithsonian Magazine article, "Unearthing the World of Jesus," from the January 2016 issue. Excellent description of archaeology in the Galilee and the concept of the landscape and archaeology being "The Fifth Gospel" for the story of Jesus. The point is made that while you can't always match specific sites or objects to the actual life of Jesus, you can reconstruct much of the lifestyle of a Jew living under Roman rule in Israel.

Additional links will be posted here and along the side of this blog.

The horse's mouth for Israeli excavations, The Israel Antiquities Authority.

Archaeologist Jodi Magness talks about her work at Masada.

Good article on how Science Helps Establish biblical chronology.

The Magdala Stone. (Small stone box found at Migdal in Galilee that may a model of Herod's temple)

NY Times Intro to Biblical Archaeology

from a NY Times introduction to the book The Bible Unearthed by Finkelstein and Silberman (2/1/2001):

"Archaeology and the Bible

The story of how and why the Bible was written — and how it fits into the extraordinary history of the people of Israel — is closely linked to a fascinating tale of modern discovery. The search has centered on a tiny land, hemmed in on two sides by desert and on one side by the Mediterranean, that has, over the millennia, been plagued by recurrent drought and almost continual warfare. Its cities and population were minuscule in comparison to those of the neighboring empires of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Likewise, its material culture was poor in comparison to the splendor and extravagance of theirs. And yet this land was the birthplace of a literary masterpiece that has exerted an unparalleled impact on world civilization as both sacred scripture and history.

More than two hundred years of detailed study of the Hebrew text of the Bible and ever more wide-ranging exploration in all the lands between the Nile and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers have enabled us to begin to understand when, why, and how the Bible came to be. Detailed analysis of the language and distinctive literary genres of the Bible has led scholars to identify oral and written sources on which the present biblical text was based. At the same time, archaeology has produced a stunning, almost encyclopedic knowledge of the material conditions, languages, societies, and historical developments of the centuries during which the traditions of ancient Israel gradually crystallized, spanning roughly six hundred years — from about 1000 to 400 BCE. Most important of all, the textual insights and the archaeological evidence have combined to help us to distinguish between the power and poetry of biblical saga and the more down-to-earth events and processes of ancient Near Eastern history.

Not since ancient times has the world of the Bible been so accessible and so thoroughly explored. Through archaeological excavations we now know what crops the Israelites and their neighbors grew, what they ate, how they built their cities, and with whom they traded. Dozens of cities and towns mentioned in the Bible have been identified and uncovered. Modern excavation methods and a wide range of laboratory tests have been used to date and analyze the civilizations of the ancient Israelites and their neighbors the Philistines, Phoenicians, Arameans, Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites. In a few cases, inscriptions and signet seals have been discovered that can be directly connected with individuals mentioned in the biblical text. But that is not to say that archaeology has proved the biblical narrative to be true in all of its details. Far from it: it is now evident that many events of biblical history did not take place in either the particular era or the manner described. Some of the most famous events in the Bible clearly never happened at all.

Archaeology has helped us to reconstruct the history behind the Bible, both on the level of great kings and kingdoms and in the modes of everyday life. And as we will explain in the following chapters, we now know that the early books of the Bible and their famous stories of early Israelite history were first codified (and in key respects composed) at an identifiable place and time: Jerusalem in the seventh century BCE.

What Is the Bible?

First, some basic definitions. When we speak of the Bible we are referring primarily to the collection of ancient writings long known as the Old Testament — now commonly referred to by scholars as the Hebrew Bible. It is a collection of legend, law, poetry, prophecy, philosophy, and history, written almost entirely in Hebrew (with a few passages in a variant Semitic dialect called Aramaic, which came to be the lingua franca of the Middle East after 600 BCE). It consists of thirty-nine books that were originally divided by subject or author — or in the case of longer books like 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, by the standard length of parchment or papyrus rolls. The Hebrew Bible is the central scripture of Judaism, the first part of Christianity's canon, and a rich source of allusions and ethical teachings in Islam conveyed through the text of the Quran. Traditionally the Hebrew Bible has been divided into three main parts.

The Torah — also known as the Five Books of Moses, or the Pentateuch ("five books" in Greek) — includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These narrate the story of the people of Israel from the creation of the world, through the period of the flood and the patriarchs, to the Exodus from Egypt, the wanderings in the desert, and the giving of the Law at Sinai. The Torah concludes with Moses' farewell to the people of Israel.

The next division, the Prophets, is divided into two main groups of scriptures. The Former Prophets — Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings — tell the story of the people of Israel from their crossing of the river Jordan and conquest of Canaan, through the rise and fall of the Israelite kingdoms, to their defeat and exile at the hands of the Assyrians and Babylonians. The Latter Prophets include the oracles, social teachings, bitter condemnations, and messianic expectations of a diverse group of inspired individuals spanning a period of about three hundred and fifty years, from the mid-eighth century BCE to the end of the fifth century BCE.

Finally, the Writings are a collection of homilies, poems, prayers, proverbs, and psalms that represent the most memorable and powerful expressions of the devotion of the ordinary Israelite at times of joy, crisis, worship, and personal reflection. In most cases, they are extremely difficult to link to any specific historical events or authors. They are the products of a continuous process of composition that stretched over hundreds of years. Although the earliest material in this collection (in Psalms and Lamentations) may have been assembled in late monarchic times or soon after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE, most of the Writings were apparently composed much later, from the fifth to the second century BCE — in the Persian and Hellenistic periods..." more

see also links at the right of this post.

Syllabus for Archaeology, Science, and the Bible class (spring 2017)

ARCHAEOLOGY, SCIENCE, AND THE BIBLE (4 WEEKS)

The clash between religion and science is especially vivid when we try to recreate the world of the Bible and the ancient Middle East. This four-week class will sample key controversies in biblical archaeology and how scholars deal with conflicting evidence. Was there a Great Deluge and a parting of the Red Sea? Did Joshua knock down the walls of Jericho? Where did the Israelites really come from? Could the Shroud of Turin be authentic? These and other questions will be explored using biblical and non-biblical literary sources, ancient art, and physical data from archaeology, geology, chemistry, and materials science.

This four-week class will overlap substantially with the 8-week class “Archaeology and the Bible” taught in 2015, but include new material. It will provide some introduction to biblical archaeology and sample the instructor’s favorite controversies (e.g. The Shroud of Turin).

LECTURES:

1/23. Introduction. The physical setting of the ancient Near East, how archaeologists think and work, the Deluge and Noah’s Ark.

1/30. Defensive architecture and waterworks. Exodus and the Israelite Conquest.

2/6. Religion and daily life in different periods. Qumran, the home of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

2/13. Roman period archaeology. Masada, Jesus, and the Shroud of Turin.

DEFINITIONS:

Assyria: Northern Iraq and northern part of Mesopotamia. Assyrians invaded Israel several times, especially during the 8^th c BC.

Canaan: Israel, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, western Jordan, and southwest Syria, especially during the second millennium BC. “Canaanites” were the original inhabitants of Israel.

Dead Sea Scrolls: Biblical writings (all the books of the Hebrew Bible except Esther) and non-biblical writings (sectarian documents of the Essenes, plus a variety of Jewish writings from the Second Temple Period) dating from the 3rd century BC to the 1st c AD. Found in caves near the Essene settlement at Qumran.

Essenes: Jewish sect who lived at Qumran starting ca 100 BC. The Essenes were the writers, guardians, scribes, and translators of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

First Temple: built by Solomon, starting about 950 BC. Destroyed 586 by Babylonians.

Herod the Great: ruled 73/4-4 BC. Builder of cities and forts during Roman period.

Hyksos: people of mixed Semitic and west Asian descent who invaded Egypt ca. 1750 BC and ruled it for about 200 years.

Mesopotamia: “land between the two rivers,” Tigris and Euphrates, modern Iraq, esp. the southern portion

Palestine: Greek term, also used by Romans, to describe what is now Israel, parts of Lebanon and Syria.

Philistines: part of the “Sea Peoples” who invaded Canaan from Greece and other parts of the Mediterranean ca. 1200 BC and settled along the southern coast of Israel. Their territory (now the Gaza Strip) includes the five cities of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath and Ekron.

Phoenicia: corresponds roughly with the northern coast of Israel and the southern part of Lebanon. The Phoenicians were famous traders and merchants, dominant during the Bronze Age.

Qumran: settlement near the Dead Sea of the Jewish sect, the Essenes, ca. 100 BC- 68 AD.

Second Temple: consecrated 516 BC, destroyed 70 AD by Romans.

Solomon: son of David, king of United Kingdom, 970-930 BC.

CHRONOLOGY (n.b. almost every source has slightly different dates!)

*Bronze Age: 3200-1200 BC.  Canaanites in Holy Land

*Iron Age: 1200-586 BC.  Israelites. First Temple finished c. 950 BC

Babylonian period: 586-539 BC.   Judah falls to Babylonia (586 BC)

Persian period: 539-332 BC.   Second Temple consecrated (516 BC)

Hellenistic period: 332-63 BC.  Alexander conquers Palestine (332 BC)

*Roman period: 63 BC-324 AD.  Herod the Great (73/4-4BC);

Jesus c. 7 BC-33 AD)

(The periods we will be most concerned with are the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and the Roman Period)

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

**Eric H. Cline, Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction (2009). Excellent, succinct and informative

Eric H. Cline, From Eden to Exile: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Bible (2007). Also excellent, more depth on major controversies.

**Jodi Magness, The Archaeology of the Holy Land: From the Destruction of Solomon’s Temple to the Muslim Conquest (2012). Essential and up-to-date reference book on New Testament Archaeology and later periods.

**Jodi Magness, Great Course on “The Holy Land Revealed.” Much of same content as her book, beautifully presented with great slides.
            **Robin Lane Fox, The Unauthorized Version: Truth and Fiction in the Bible. Intelligent, thoughtful, and informative guide.
            Israel Finkelstein and Amihai Mazar, The Quest for the Historical Israel. Written by two respected archaeologists and edited by Brian B. Schmidt, a professor of Bible studies. 
             Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts (also written by two archaeologists, focusing on two sections the Old Testament).

Biblical Archaeology Review. Popular magazine with many useful articles and great images. For scholarly articles by professionals in the field, consult Biblical Archaeologist, Israel Exploration Journal, Journal of Archaeological Science, etc.

For additional references and links provided by fellow students, see the sidebar list, Other Resources.