Here’s an important qualifing post on carbon 14 dating…. from Larry Hurtado… BW3 In an earlier posting in which I offered a review of Brent Nongbri’s new book, God’s Library (here), I noted that he gives a helpful introduction to what Carbon-14 dating comprises, and its limits. I also benefited earlier from a presentation by Josephine Dru given at a conference on manuscripts back in 2014 (which I reported on in a posting here).[1] More recently, she presented a poster... Read more

Here’s another helpful post from colleague Larry Hurtado…. BW3 In the latest issue of Journal of Biblical Literature Geoffrey Smith offers an in-depth discussion of an interesting papyrus that has a few verses of John on one side and what appears to be remnants of an otherwise unknown Christian text on the other side of the writing material: Geoffrey Smith, “The Willoughby Papyrus: A New Fragment of John 1:492:1 (P134) and an Unidentified Christian Text,” JBL 137.4 (2018): 935-58. The... Read more

(Painting by Goltz, in the public domain) Here’s another helpful post from my friend Larry Hurtado. See what you think, BW3 —- From about the 6th century or so in the Western churches, 1 January was designated as the Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus (eight days after 25 Dec). Luke 2:21 mentions Jesus’ circumcision and formal naming. In the medieval period, however, the date was treated as another feast dedicated to Jesus’ mother, Mary. This is indicative of the... Read more

One of the more thoughtful and artistically interesting movies of the holiday season is The Women of Marwen, which I suspect will at least win some cinematography awards. Steve Carell is excellent, as is often the case, and he has a stunning supporting cast of women with Leslie Mann, Diane Kruger, Merritt Wever, and Janelle Monae. The movie tells the true story of a man named Mark Hogenkamp badly beaten by a bunch of young racist and homophobic ‘Nazi’ thugs... Read more

Q. YOUR BOOK MAKES CLEAR THAT WE CAN NO LONGER SEE MAGDALA AS SOME LITTLE INCONSEQUENTIAL VILLAGE WHERE MARY CAME FROM. INDEED IT HAD A CONSIDERABLE HISTORY BOTH BEFORE TIBERIAS WAS EVEN BUILT, AND AFTER THE TIME OF JESUS. WHY DOES THE TOWN FADE INTO OBSCURITY AFTER THE JEWISH WAR? A. The city certainly declined in population: the northern part (where the synagogue and the fish workshops are) was abandoned over a period, though the southern area evidently remained a... Read more

Q. WHAT FROM ALL THIS STUDY OF THE ARCHAEOLOGY CAN WE LEARN ABOUT MARY FROM MAGDALA? IF WE TAKE LUKE 8.3 AT FACE VALUE, SINCE SHE IS MENTIONED FIRST THERE, COULD SHE HAVE BEEN REASONABLY WELL OFF FROM THE FISHING INDUSTRY IN MAGDALA WHICH ALLOWED HER TO HELP PROVISION THE DISCIPLES WHEN ON THE ROAD? IS THERE EVIDENCE OF NON-ELITE BUSINESS WOMEN IN GALILEE (AND BY NON-ELITE I MEAN SOMEONE NOT CONNECTED TO HEROD ANTIPAS, AS JOANNA THE WIFE OF... Read more

Q. ONE OF THE MOST INTRIGUING PARTS OF YOUR BOOK IS WHERE YOU DELINEATE THE VARIOUS DIFFERENT ROLES INVOLVED IN THE FISHING INDUSTRY, AND SUGGEST THAT FISHERMEN THEMSELVES WERE LIKELY TO BE OF MODEST MEANS, WHEREAS THE OWNERS OF THE FISH PROCESSING PLANT COULD BE QUITE WELL OFF. IS IT NOT POSSIBLE THAT SOME FISHERMEN WERE INVESTED IN THE PROCESSING OPERATION AS WELL? A. Fishing was very hard work and took all the time someone had during the fishing seasons... Read more

Q. IN LIGHT OF THE RECENT DISCOVERY OF SYNAGOGUES AND MIKVEHS IN VARIOUS PLACES IN GALILEE, IT APPEARS THAT THE AGE OF TRYING TO CARICATURE GALILEE AS ‘GALILEE OF THE GENTILES’ AND SO NOT VERY JEWISH, OR AT LEAST TRYING TO SUGGEST THAT NON-THEOLOGICAL AND NON-RELIGIOUS READINGS OF EARLY JEWISH LIFE IN GALILEE IS BADLY MISTAKEN. WOULD YOU AGREE? IT APPEARS GALILEANS WERE VERY DEVOUT, VERY CONCERNED ABOUT TORAH, AND RELIGIOUS PRAXIS. A. Yes, that picture of a “Gentile Galilee”... Read more

Q. WHAT FOR YOU WAS THE MOST EXCITING AND IMPORTANT DISCOVERY AT MAGDALA OF RELEVANCE TO NT STUDIES? A. In spite of what I have just said bout the fish workshops, I think this has to be the synagogue together with the synagogue stone. When discovered in 2009, the synagogue was the first synagogue from before 70 CE within Galilee to be excavated. (When I say that, people often say: But what about Capernaum? The synagogue you see at Capernaum... Read more

Q. RICHARD WHAT GOT YOU INTERESTED IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL WORK AT MAGDALA? YOUR PREVIOUS SCHOLARLY WORK HASN’T REALLY FOCUSED ON ARCHAEOLOGY PER SE. A. I was doing some work on James and John the sons of Zebedee (for a biography that I hope I’ll be able to get back to, now that this diversion to Magdala is complete). I wanted to know what it was like to be a Capernaum fisherman. I began to realize that Magdala dominated the fishing... Read more