Biblical World

Understanding Josephus - Paul Spilsbury

Episode: Paul Spilsbury knew Josephus personally ... or at least he's spent so much time with him that it's almost as if he did. In this episode we talk about Josephus' writings, identity, and how understanding Josephus helps us understand the New Testament. We also discuss Christianity in Turkey, the book of Acts, and much more! (This episode is cross-listed on the OnScript podcast)

Guest: Dr. Paul Spilsbury (PhD, Cambridge) is Academic Dean and Professor of New Testament at Regent College. Paul’s teaching covers the full range of the New Testament, with a particular focus on Paul and the Book of Revelation. His research has been supported by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Leverhulme Trust (UK) and has resulted in four authored or co-authored books: The Image of the Jew in Flavius Josephus’ Paraphrase of the Bible (Mohr Siebeck, 1998), The Throne, the Lamb and the Dragon: A Reader’s Guide to the Book of Revelation (IVP, 2002), Flavius Josephus, Judean Antiquities 8–10: Translation and Commentary (Brill, 2005—with C. Begg), and Flavius Josephus, Judean Antiquities 11: Translation and Commentary (Brill, 2017—with C. Seeman). He has also published numerous book chapters, articles, and reviews, and has traveled extensively throughout the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries associated with the ancient church. Paul is a frequent speaker at churches, retreats, and conferences. He is also a juried member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, working primarily in watercolours. (adapted from the Regent College website)

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Jesus and Jezreel - Paul Wright

Episode: Oliver Hersey (president of Jerusalem University College) speaks with his predecessor Paul Wright, who has lived and breathed the land of the Bible. They discuss Jesus and Jezreel, the Old Testament stories Jesus would've known as he overlooked the Jezreel, and much much more!

Guest: Dr. Paul Wright (Ph.D., Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion) was the 10th President of Jerusalem University College (2002-2021). He was also visiting faculty at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute for Theological Studies (2002-2020). He participated in excavations at Giloh, Ramat Rahel, and Tel Rehov. He's the author of The Holman Illustrated Guide to Biblical Geography: Reading the Land (Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Heart of the Holy Land: 40 Reflections on Scripture and Place (Rose, 2020), Rose Then and Now Bible Map Atlas: With Biblical Background and Culture (Rose, 2013), Atlas of Bible Lands (Quick Source Guide) (B&H Publishing Group, 2003), and other books as well!

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To learn more about JUC, click HERE.

How Did Biblical Writers Access The Past? Daniel Pioske

Episode: In this episode Matt Lynch sits down with Dan Pioske to talk about the way we know about ancient Israel. Most scholars have been so text-based in their assumptions about memory transmission in the ancient world. They assume that texts & docs were the main way knowledge was preserved. Pioske suggests that there's another major way knowledge transmits--through the land. This episode explores the way that the land retains memory and provided biblical writers with a window on the past. We also discuss growing up in Minnesota, archaeology, the Philistines, David's Jerusalem, and much more! (This episode is republished from our other podcast OnScript)

Guest: Dan Pioske grew up on a family farm in southern Minnesota and attended Gustavus Adolphus college. After graduating, he moved east to Princeton Theological Seminary where he received his M.Div. 2007 and his Ph.D. in Biblical Studies in 2012. He taught for two years at Union Theological Seminary, New York, as a Post-Doctoral Fellow and Instructor in Biblical Languages, and he is currently an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Georgia Southern University. He's the author of David’s Jerusalem: Between Memory and History (2015) and Memory in a Time of Prose: Studies in Epistemology, Hebrew Scribalism, and the Biblical Past (2018). He lives in Savannah, Ga, with his wife Suzette and daughters Eve and Esther.

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Wave Nunnally - Israel, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Episode:  This episode takes you on a wild ride through the land of the Bible, the world of Josephus, into the ER after crashed planes, by the Dead Sea, and includes encounters with Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, and a fire-breathing dragon. Brace yourself! This episode is republished from OnScript podcast.

Guest: Dr. Wave Nunnally is Professor of Early Judaism and Christian Origins at Evangel University in Springfiled, MO. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including The Book of Acts  and Knowing Your Bible.  He leads regular study trips to Israel, which include training materials (see The Bible Unplugged) on-site teaching, and follow-up coaching.  More of Wave's material can be found at http://centralfaithbuilders.com/. To connect with him further, see
www.wavenunnally.com
facebook.com/wavenunnally
youtube.com/wavenunnally

 

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Egypt and the Bible (part 2): Mark Janzen and Chris McKinny

Episode: This is the second in a multi-part series on Egypt and the Bible. Mark and Chris discuss Israel in Egypt, evidence of Egyptian influences in the Bible, Israel in Goshen, the early chapters of exodus, and none other than Moses himself.

Hosts: Mark Janzen and Chris McKinny

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For more: HERE is part 1 of the Egypt and the Bible series. Also, check out our series “Five Views on the Exodus”. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities on the Plain (pt 2): Chris McKinny and Kyle Keimer

Episode: For part 1 see here. In this episode, we (Chris and Kyle) get into the biblical and geographical details connected with locating Sodom and the Cities of the Plain. We continue to argue for the traditional position that the cities of the Plain are to be located in the southern basin of the Dead Sea (i.e., inundation view). We also address some of the more problematic issues related to the northern view (the basis for the report in Nature) - specifically the identification of the “Kikkar of the Jordan” and the site of “Zoar.”

Hosts: Chris McKinny (Geshur Media) and Kyle Keimer (Macquarie University)

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Episode Images: 

#1 - Kikkar

2. Plain of the Jordan

3. View from Bethel

4. Kedorlaomer's Campaign

5. Gen 19

6. Zoar

7. Dead Sea in Onomasticon

8. Medeba Map

9. Southern Basin

 

Egypt and the Bible (Part 1) - Mark Janzen and Chris McKinny

Episode: This is the first in a multi-part series on Egypt and the Bible. Mark and Chris discuss the visits of the Hebrew patriarchs in Egypt. They focus especially on the presence of Semites in Egypt and the plausibility of the story of Joseph. 

Hosts: Mark Janzen and Chris McKinny

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to support the ongoing work of Biblical World.

For more: Check out our series "Five Views on the Exodus". Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Newly Discovered Lead Tablet on Mt. Ebal - A Roundtable Discussion

Episode: In this episode - several of the co-hosts (Oliver Hersey, Mark Janzen, Kyle Keimer, and Chris McKinny) discuss the recent announcement of the discovery of a lead tablet from Mount Ebal that potentially dates to the end of the Late Bronze Age and/or Early Iron Age and purportedly mentions the divine name - YHW (i..e, Yahweh). The discussion centers on Adam Zertal’s initial excavations, the significance of the Iron I settlement wave in the highlands of Ephraim and Manasseh (i.e., northern West Bank) for Israelite history, the background of the discovery of the tablet via wet sifting, and the potential significance of this discovery for early Israel. Like everyone else, we eagerly await the publication…

Hosts: Biblical World co-hosts Chris McKinny, Oliver Hersey, Mark Janzen, and Kyle Keimer. 

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Image: Michael C. Luddeni/Associates for Biblical Research, from the Times of Israel.

Geography of Judges (part 2): Giants Episode – Chris McKinny and Kyle Keimer

Episode: In episode 2 of the series “Geography of Judges,” Chris and Kyle talk about “Giants in Judges” in connection with the giants of Hebron mentioned in Judges 1:8–15. They also discuss the archaeological background of the fortifications of Hebron.

Hosts: Chris McKinny is a Research Fellow with Gesher Media. Passionate about the archaeology, history, and geography of the Biblical world, he has written extensively on these subjects in both academic and popular publications. Chris is a senior staff member at the Tel Burna Archaeological project and regularly leads study tours to the lands of the Bible. He is the author of My People as Your People: A Textual and Archaeological Analysis of the Reign of Jehoshaphat (Peter Lang, 2016), and has co-edited several volumes, including The Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Ages of Southern Canaan (De Gruyter, 2018) and Tell it in Gath: Studies in the History and Archaeology of Israel: Essays in Honor of Aren M. Maeir on the Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday (Zaphon, 2018).

Kyle Keimer is Senior Research Fellow in the Department of History and Archaeology at Macquarie University, where he was Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, History, and Language of Ancient Israel. He has returned to the U.S. to found The Bible in Context, a company that produces educational content for increasing biblical literacy. For over 20 years he has been excavating in Israel and Cyprus and is currently co-director of the Khirbet el-Rai excavations. He loves digging as much as he loves working with ancient texts, especially the books of 1-2 Samuel and Isaiah. His research currently focuses on the early Israelite monarchy in text and archaeology. He’s co-edited Registers and Modes of Communication in the Ancient Near East (Routledge) and published articles in various journals.

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Image: Top image By Unknown author - The Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41970256. Map from BibleAtlas.org https://bibleatlas.org/hebron.htm

Bedouin Culture in the Bible - Clinton Bailey

Episode: Dru Johnson talks with Clinton Bailey about how he ended up living with Bedouins in the Negev, their law, gender practices, and poetry. His most recent book, Bedouin Culture in the Bible (Yale University Press, 2019), examines and explains practices, poetry, and laws from the Hebrew Bible's own bedouin roots (according to the stories of Genesis). This is a rebroadcast of an episode recorded in 2021 on the OnScript podcast. 

Guest: Dr. Clinton Bailey is a leading authority on Bedouin culture, and has done fieldwork in Sinai and the Negev for the past 50 years. His B.A. is from the Hebrew University; his M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. He was born and raised in Buffalo, NY, and made Aliya to Israel in 1958. In 1994, he was awarded the Emil Grunzweig Human Rights Award for his efforts to obtain civil rights for Bedouin in Israel. His books include such titles as:

• Bedouin Poetry (Oxford University Press, 1991)
• A Culture of Desert Survival: Bedouin Proverbs (Yale University Press, 2004)
• Bedouin Law from Sinai and the Negev: Justice without Government (Yale University Press, 2010)
• Bedouin Culture in the Bible (Yale University Press, 2018)

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