Literacy in the Time of Jesus
Alan Millard

Some scholars contend, with Stephen Patterson, that �very few people could read or write [in Jesus� day].� � But such statements are no longer supported by the evidence. Not everyone could read and write. And some who could read were not necessarily able to write. But archaeological discoveries and other lines of evidence now show that writing and reading were widely practiced in the Palestine of Jesus� day. And if that is true, there is no reason to doubt that there were some eyewitness records of what Jesus said and did.

Brother of Jesus Ossuary
New Tests Bolster Case for Authenticity
Edward J. Keall

Whatchamacallit
Why It's So Hard to Name Our Field
William Dever

The only way I see to cut the Gordion Knot is simply to adopt the current modern names of the various political entities in the region, however much we acknowledge their arbitrariness. Thus in future we should simply speak of �the archaeology of Israel�; of the �West Bank� (perhaps in time, �Palestine�); of �Jordan�; and of �Syria� (�Lebanon,� too, if conditions return to normal).

These are simply proper nouns, and they are thus accurate, useful, and non-judgmental. To be sure, there is a semantic difficulty when we use them as adjectives, especially for foreign archaeologists. For instance, I can hardly identify myself as an �Israeli archaeologist,� simply because I work in Israel.

When asked who we are and what we do, we may say something like �I am a Near Eastern archaeologist, specializing in X, Y, and Z.� If a non-specialist is interested only in the Biblical period, we can comfortably use language such as �the archaeology of Palestine in the Iron Age,� as I suggested some time ago; or simply �archaeology and the Bible.� For the later periods, perhaps, we can speak of �the archaeology of early Judaism and Christianity.�

The terminology that I am advocating here is admittedly rather prosaic, but that�s better than being explosive these days. And it can help us all to get on with the real business of archaeology in the Middle East.

Satellite Microwave Radar Finds Buried Objects (via Archaeologica News)
Wed July 9, 2003 06:08 PM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Microwave radar from satellites could be used to find buried archaeological treasures, underground buildings and even mass graves.

Scientists at Ben Gurion University in Israel have shown that such radar can see below the surface of dry ground and locate objects under tons of sand.

"Buried objects can be detected from airborne systems," Dan Blumberg, a researcher at the university, told New Scientist magazine on Wednesday.

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"Blumberg hopes that as well as archaeological remains, the method will in time be used to find fossils and geological structures," the magazine said, adding that it could show underground buildings, pipes and mass graves.

New Testament seen as anti-Semitic

Some Jews and Christians suggest that the New Testament itself is anti-Semitic. So concerned are some over the continuing impact of historical interpretation that an October 2001 article in the Jewish magazine, Moment, asked, "Can Christianity be purged of anti-Semitism without changing the Gospels?"

While most people dismiss that idea, some Catholic scholars say the Gospels' human origins and historical context need to be emphasized more for regular churchgoers. Others researching the historical Jesus assert that the Romans, not Jews, killed him for political reasons.

Paul Maier, professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University, suggests the pendulum has swung from one extreme to the other - from blaming all Jews to claiming no Jews were involved. "That's wrong, too," he says. The final responsibility lay in Rome's hands, but historical sources support the Gospel narrative that some Jewish leaders were involved in the prosecution.

"Flavius Josephus is one of the sources, and in fact, he reports a similar event, when Jesus' half-brother was brought before the Sanhedrin in AD 62," Dr. Maier adds. "In that case, they stoned him without waiting for the Roman governor to arrive."

The way out of interpretations that provoke anti-Semitism, he says, is to point out that "a tremendous number of Jews never turned against Jesus during Holy Week," as Luke reports.

It also helps to clarify that the Gospel use of the phrase "the Jews" referred to Jesus' Jewish opponents, not all Jews. It was a common construction of writing of the time, Maier says.

Hard labor of changing stereotypes

Jewish groups have labored for decades, however, to change negative stereotypes that persist in passion plays, showing that official church teachings haven't been thoroughly spread. They're concerned, for example, that a survey shows that American Catholics who have come from Latin America still tend to believe the charge of deicide. Prominent Protestants have voiced similar beliefs.

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"I've worked with mayors, directors, and stage managers, and through consultation with religious leaders and scholars over the past 30 years, they've removed a lot of the Jewish stereotypes," says Rabbi James Rudin, senior interreligious adviser for the American Jewish Committee.

"It's not just the text," he emphasizes. "It's the staging, the music, and costumes that say right away, 'This is the bad guy.'"

In recent years, passion plays have drawn busloads in towns around the United States, such as Eureka Springs, Ark.; Lake Wales, Fla.; Union City, N.J.; and the Black Hills of S.D. And Jewish and Christian leaders have taken pains to offer guidelines via the Internet to local churches for their productions.

But a powerful dramatic film by the Hollywood megastar promises to have global impact, many feel. "Given that this is radioactive material - that's the only way I can describe it - I'm urging Mr. Gibson to follow what others have done and consult prior to release," Rabbi Rudin says.

Anthropology and Biblical Studies: The Way Forward?

Symposium Itinerary


Monday 7th July

Arrival at Hamilton Hall

7.30pm Dinner at Hamilton Hall

Tuesday 8th July

All symposium papers will be given in St Mary�s College Hall, St Mary�s College, South Street.


9.30am: Introduction

Dr Louise Lawrence (University of St Andrews): �A Taste for the Other�: Thoughts on Interpreting Biblical Texts Anthropologically

10.30am: Paper 1

Prof. Philip Esler (University of St Andrews): The Context Group Project

11.30 am: Coffee (Served in Senior Common Room)


12noon: Paper 2

Prof. Douglas Davies (University of Durham): An Anthropologist�s View of Acts

1pm: Lunch (Served in Senior Common Room)

2pm: Paper 3

Dr. Nathan MacDonald (University of St Andrews): Abraham's Purchase of the Cave of Machpelah and Anthropological Theories of Exchange

3pm: Afternoon Tea (Served in Senior Common Room)

3.30pm: Paper 4

Mr Timothy Ling (Canterbury Christ Church College): Virtuoso Religion and the Judean Social Order

4.30pm: Paper 5

Mr Albert Hogetorp (University of Gottingen): Anthropology and the Community as a Temple in Paul�s Letters: The Case of Cultic Terms in 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1

7 for 7.30pm: Conference Dinner

To be held at The St Andrews Golf Hotel, The Scores, St Andrews.

As you come out of the main door of Hamilton Hall, turn right around the corner. Follow the road up the Scores and the St Andrews Golf Hotel is on your right.

Wednesday 9th July


9.30am: Paper 6

Dr Mario Aguilar (University of St Andrews): Changing Models and the Death of Culture: A Diachronic Critique of Socio-Scientific Assumptions

10.30am : Paper 7

Dr Jim Davila (University of St Andrews): Ritual in the Jewish Pseudepigrapha

11.30 am : Coffee (Served in Senior Common Room)


12noon: Paper 8

Dr Seth Sanders (University of Chicago): Textual Criticism and the Study of Ritual: Parallel Literary Editions of Joshua as Arguments about the Conquest and Cosmic Geography of Israel


1pm Lunch (Served in Senior Common Room)



2pm: Paper 9

Ms Karen Wennel (University of Glasgow): Jesus and the Land : A Comparison of Second-Temple Judaism�s view of the Land and Colonised Maori Land.


3pm: Afternoon Tea (Served in Senior Common Room)

Departures.

Israel renews tours to flashpoint Jerusalem shrine (MSNBC)

By Allyn Fisher-Ilan
JERUSALEM, July 7 � Seated on an embroidered red rug outside Jerusalem's flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque, Muslim worshippers glared on Monday at the wide-eyed Jewish visitors who walked by with an Israeli police escort.

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Three years after a Palestinian uprising for statehood erupted following a visit to the compound by Ariel Sharon, then opposition leader and now Israel's prime minister, police are allowing local and foreign tourists back on to the site.

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Police shut the area to tourists immediately after the Palestinian revolt began in September 2000. The compound, where biblical Jewish temples stood, is Islam's third holiest site.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has criticised the tours as ''provocative.'' President Yasser Arafat accused Israel of letting in extremists under ''the pretext of tourism.''

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''We are not doing this for religious reasons, but to bring Jerusalem back to normalcy and ensure that all the holy sites are accessible to visitors of all faiths,'' Gil Kleiman, an Israeli police spokesman, said about the tours.
Kleiman said dozens of Israeli, Jewish and Christian tour groups have participated in the visits, which run up to an hour. Police allow only a handful of visitors into the compound at a time, in an apparent bid to maintain a low profile.
Police cut short one impromptu visit arranged on Monday to only 20 minutes, to make sure the Jewish tourists would be out before noon prayers began at al-Aqsa.
Shuki Haas, a religious Jew on the tour, pointed at the golden-topped Dome of the Rock. He remarked that this is where Jews believe their two ancient temples once stood.
''And that, please God, is where the temple shall rise again,'' he said.

Tomb References John the Baptist's Father (The Guardian)


Monday July 7, 2003 12:29 AM

By KARIN LAUB

Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM (AP) - The discovery was a stroke of luck: the light of the setting sun hit an ancient tomb at just the right angle and revealed hints of a worn inscription, unnoticed for centuries, commemorating the father of John the Baptist.

``This is the tomb of Zachariah, martyr, very pious priest, father of John,'' the inscription of 47 Greek letters reads.

The inscription probably does not mean that the father of the biblical figure is actually buried in the 60-foot-high funerary monument at the foot of the Mount of Olives, say the text's discoverers. But it does give new insight into the local lore surrounding the early figures of the Christian Church.

Scholars say the words were probably written several hundred years after Zachariah's death - and after the tomb's construction - by Byzantine Christians.

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British journalist killed in Baghdad (USA Today)

BAGHDAD (AP) � A British journalist was shot and killed outside the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad on Saturday, witnesses said.

The identity of the journalist, a freelance television producer, was not immediately known. Fellow journalists, asking that their names not be used, said the male journalist was outside museum when he was shot.

Britain's ITN television news said it believed the man previously had worked as a researcher for the network but was not employed by them when he was shot.

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Ambushes, shootings and other attacks, blamed on loyalists of Saddam Hussein, have plagued American soldiers in Iraq in recent weeks � but so far there has been no sign of journalists being explicitly targeted. An American soldier guarding the museum was shot and killed by a sniper on Thursday.

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