What would an SBL conference be without Nadav Na’aman and Israel Finkelstein? This year there was a special session dedicated to Na’aman: S18-324 Historiography and the Hebrew Bible Theme: Between Biblical Research, Archaeology, and History: A Session in Honour of Nadav Na’aman for his Eightieth Birthday Before turning to the presentations, it is necessary to […]
Biblical Archaeology and Literature
The Tenth Century BCE and the SBL Conference
This blog continues the previous blog on the blog on the tenth century BCE at the ASOR conference. Due to the overlap between the two conferences, it does not include any SBL sessions from Saturday, November 17. The abstract of one paper does suggest an archaeological perspective: S17-308 Book of Samuel: Narrative, Theology and Interpretation […]
Where Is the Tenth Century BCE?: The ASOR and SBL Conferences
Where is the tenth century BCE? Not when is tenth century BCE but where is it in the scholarship presented at the recent ASOR and SBL conferences. I cannot claim to have attended every relevant session on this topic. In some instances I am forced to rely on the abstracts provided by the presenters for […]
Lessons from the ASOR Conference: Punctuated Equilibrium and the Writing of the Hebrew Bible
At the just concluded American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) conference, two sessions in the last two time slots were: Integrating Cultural Change – Punctuated Equilibria Models in Near Eastern Archaeology and Egyptology I and II. Neither session specifically mentioned the Hebrew Bible nor do I recall any questions from the audience addressing that topic […]
Canaanites Vow to Build a Wall: Moses-Mob of Middle-Easterners Will Be Stopped
BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS The numerous Canaanite kings banded together today to announce their intention to build a wall to prevent the Moses-led mob of Middle-Easterners from entering the land. The Canaanites have seen the havoc these refugees wreaked in the land of Egypt and are determined not to permit a repeat in Canaan. Spokesperson […]
Judges 19 and Jamal Khashoggi: The Politics of Literature
Judges 19:26 And as morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, till it was light. 27 And her master rose up in the morning, and when he opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, behold, there […]
Thou Art the Man! – King David and the Senate Judiciary Committee
The story of David and Nathan is one of the most dramatic in the Hebrew Bible. Even as one reads the words, one can see the figures in one’s mind. There is no mention of Nathan extending his arm in the direction of David, yet we see it. There is no mention of Nathan pointing […]
Montenegro and Early Israelite History: Lessons from NATO
Over the summer, the tiny country of Montenegro for a brief moment became a topic of discussion in American politics. The reason was due to Montenegro’s membership in NATO. Under the terms of the alliance, members are obligated to come to the aid of any other member who is attacked…meaning by the Soviet Union now […]
The J Documentary Hypothesis
The current biblical paradigms are inadequate to reconstruct the history of early Israel and the origin of the Hebrew Bible. In a series of recent posts, three significant developments not part of current biblical scholarship were identified related to this issue. Individually and collectively, they indicate a revision to the current paradigms is necessary. On […]
Processions and the Performance of the Israelite Royal Narrative
Who doesn’t love parade? Here in the United States, we are about to experience our annual plethora of parades. Throughout the land, We the People will celebrate our birth as a people and nation. As it turns out something similar occurred in ancient Israel when it became a kingdom. It too celebrated its birthday in […]