MARK GOODACRE says scholars should be Admitting our Ignorance about the Historical Jesus (in an essay at the Bible and Interpretation website):

The problem is that we are in denial. We simply do not want to admit that we do not have all the data we need to paint a complete picture of the historical Jesus. Good scholarship is sometimes born from a desire to fill in the gaps, and informed speculation can be a virtue. But over-confidence born out of an unrealistic expectation of the evidence will make future generations wonder what we were playing at.

Spot on.

A FIND AT TEL DOR:

Unprecedented Miniature Carving of Alexander the Great Found

by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

(IsraelNN.com) Excavations in Tel Dor have turned up a rare and unexpected work of Hellenistic art: a precious stone bearing the miniature carved likeness of Alexander the Great. Archaeologists are calling it an important find, indicating the great skill of the artist.

[...]

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU has visited the PEF Office in London. He liked it:

Netanyahu thrilled about visit to Palestine Exploration Fund

By HERB KEINON, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT IN LONDON

LONDON - Neither progress with the US on the settlement issue nor being called a "courageous leader" by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown excited Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in London Tuesday as much as a visit to the offices of the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF).

Netanyahu, who mentioned the visit during his press conference with Brown, waxed poetic about it at a briefing with Israeli reporters, enthusing over the organization's collection of maps, pictures and documents of Palestine dating back to the mid-19th century.

"This is a treasure, it is something you all must see," he told reporters, as he kept returning to the subject and talking about the archival information there, and about the knowledge of the geography and topography of pre-state Israel housed in that building.

The PEF was founded in 1865 and is the oldest organization in the world created specifically for the study of the Levant, the southern portion of which - as the organization's literature makes clear - was conventionally known as "Palestine."

The organization publishes an internationally respected journal, the Palestine Exploration Quarterly, and brings the latest archaeological findings and research to the public in a series of regular lectures.

[...]

THE BRITISH NEW TESTAMENT CONFERENCE happens at the end of next week at the University of Aberdeen. I will be going and will presenting a paper, on which more anon. The conference program is available as a pdf file here.

AN ANCIENT GRAVESTONE in Sepphoris/Tzipori is the subject of a controversy:

Court Hearing on Tzipori Grave on Monday

Reported: 01:48 AM - Aug/24/09

(IsraelNN.com) A court in Tiberias is scheduled on Monday to determine whether or not a Tzipori bed and breakfast operator can dig around an ancient grave discovered this past winter in a yard on his property. Mitch Pilcer told Arutz 7's Hebrew news journal that a tombstone for Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi was discovered on the site as he prepared to expand his facility. He added the letters on the tombstone were well preserved. Archaeologists he called examined the site, covered it up and examined it again a month ago.

The Israel Antiquities Authority informed Pilcer a week ago that they wanted to excavate the site without the necessary permits. Fearing demonstrations claiming debasement of the honor of the dead, Pilcer turned to the court to bar excavation without the necessary permits.

Joseph I. Lauer also points to a Hebrew article in Maariv which gives further details. The inscription is on the entrance to a burial cave (pictured in the article) and reads in Aramaic, "This is the grave of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi ha-Qappar." Joseph adds:

(As Jastrow notes, Hakappar is the surname of Rabbi Eliezer. M. Avot 4:21, Berakhot 63a.) Dr. Mordecai Aviam is quoted as saying that the addition of "ha-Qappar" to the name of the rabbi is an indication that it is not the grave of the famous Tanna but of another bearer of the name.
The article states that the owner is involved in a controversy with Rabbis, who say that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi never died (and with the Atra Kadisha organization that wants to protect the gravesite), and with the IAA, which wants to open the entry to the cave and has commenced a lawsuit, with a hearing to be held Monday, and obtained a stop-work order against Pilcer."

He also refers to a possibly relevant 2004 Cathedra article, but I cannot get the URL to work.

UPDATE: Dead Maariv link fixed.

UPDATE: The English abstract for the Hebrew Cathedra article is here.

Titre du document / Document title
Rabbi Joshua Ben Levi and his wife Kyra Mega: Interpretation of inscriptions from Beth-She'arim

Auteur(s) / Author(s)
ROSENFELD B. Z. ;

Résumé / Abstract
chamber of Cave 20, a large burial cave in Beth She'arim. The inscriptions apparently relate to one particular family unit comprising a father, a mother, and a daughter. The author proposes identifying the father with thewell-known Talmudic sage who bears an identical name, R. Joshua ben Levi, and to add to the existing information on his wife, on some of his descendants, and on their socio-economic standing. An additional inscription from the same burial cave is also relevant to this family. Historical research was supplemented by sociological definitions that were helpful in providing greater understanding of the archaeological finds and in interpretation of the inscriptions.

"RIGHT!" Bill Cosby: Noah. A classic.

A SLAVONIC SCRIPTORIUM is being excavated in Bulgaria:

Bulgarian Archaeologists Discover Unique Medieval Byzantine Seal
Archaeology | August 21, 2009, Friday (Novinite.com, Sophia News Agency)

Bulgarian archaeologist, Prof. Kazimir Popkonstantinov, has discovered a unique medieval seal at the site of the Knyazhevski (i.e. "Princely") Monastery near the Eastern city of Varna.

The seal is dated back to the 10th century and belonged to the Byzantine dignitary Antonius, who was an imperial protospatario in Constantinople. Antonius had correspondence with a representative of the Knyazhevski Monastery, who is believed to have been the Bulgarian Knyaz (i.e. king) Boris I (r. 852-889 AD) himself.

The team of archaeologist Popkonstantinov from the University of Veliko Tarnovo has also discovered fragments of Byzantine ceramics and a book lock near the seal, which is seen as a proof that the Knyazhevski Monastery was a scriptorium of the Bulgarian royal family in the 9th and 10th century when the Slavic literature was developed in the First Bulgarian Empire.

During their excavations in the summer of 2009 so far, the archaeologists have discovered very well preserved monastery vaults from the 9th century. They have stated that those vaults were the only ones preserved in Bulgaria from the medieval monasteries, and that the scriptorium of what once was the Knyazhevski Monastery was the only one in the lands of the Byzantine Empire that was preserved so well.

The Knyazhevski Monastery, located in the Karaach Teke area, is believed to have been the largest literary and cultural center in Northeast Bulgaria in the 9th-12th century. The archaeologists have discovered there over 40 book locks, pieces of parchment, lead seals. They believe that some of the disciples of St. Cyril and St. Methodius most likely worked there.

[...]

Some very interesting Old Testament pseudepigrapha survive only or mainly in Church Slavonic, including 2 Enoch, the Apocalypse of Abraham, the Ladder of Jacob, and the Narrative of Lamech (all presumably translated from Byzantine Greek). Bulgarian scribal culture in this period and later was an important factor in their transmission. See Grant Macaskill's online essay, "The Slavonic Pseudepigrapha: An Introduction." Note also the Marquette website on the Slavonic Pseudepigrapha Project, which is down for some reason at the moment, at least from here. For more on important recent developments regarding 2 Enoch, see here and here. And regarding the latter, note that I have since been informed by an expert that Slavists regard the short recension of 2 Enoch as the superior text, so the text of the work is in less doubt than I indicated at the link. The Coptic fragments of 2 Enoch, the Slavonic Narrative of Lamech, and a Hebrew fragment of the Ladder of Jacob are to be translated for the More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Project, as are some Adam Octipartite traditions found in 2 Enoch and Latin and Old Irish sources. Oh, and I have collected some Slavonic pseudepigraphers here.

ARAMAIC WATCH: That Latin and Aramaic production of Ben Hur comes to the O2 in London on 17 September:

Ben Hur Live coming to London's O2 Arena
Ben Hur is coming to the London stage, with real chariots and music and narration by Stewart Copeland of the Police

Bryan Appleyard (London Times)

[...]

Anyway, [Franz] Abraham went into business as a producer of big, live shows. He started with classical music (Placido Domingo, Philip Glass) and moved on to rock (the Stones, David Bowie). He created the genre of touring open-air opera with a production of Carmina Burana. He also did a “dinner show” called Ganymée on Water, on a giant catamaran. He seems to have over-reached himself with a production of Carmen in France, with Italian, German and Russian singers: “It was embarrassing. I said I’d never do that again.” The singers’ French accents were awful. This is why he’s doing Ben Hur in Latin and Aramaic. They are, he says, “universal languages”, and the only change as the show moves from one country to another will be the language of the narrator.

[...]

Background here.

STEVE MASON has a very interesting Bible and Interpretation essay on method in ancient history and philology:

Methods and Categories: Judaism and Gospel

In my view, then, we all benefit from a constant return to basics. If we force ourselves to return to the basics over and over again, not to recite the catechism of received opinion but actually to rethink what we are doing and why, to kick the tires again and check the worthiness of our assumptions and categories, our work will never become old. When it comes to rethinking the human past, there will always be much to do.
Adapted from Josephus, Judea, and Christian Origins (Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2009)

Excerpt:

Paradoxically, then, it appears the Christians invented a system called Judaism, just as they invented paganism. Judaean culture on its own terms—the laws, customs, and traditions emanating from the mother-city of Jerusalem—had been something else altogether. It had been a vibrant and living civilization, which Judaean authors such as Philo and Josephus compared to other great civilizations of the time: Egyptian, Athenian, Spartan, and Roman.

The discussion of euangelion, "gospel," is also fascinating and his concluding reflections on methodology are a must-read.

UPDATE (24 August): Daniel O. McClellan comments here.

THE LAST EMBER, by Daniel Levin, is reviewed by Ross King in the Los Angeles Times. Excerpt:

An endearing aspect of "The Da Vinci Code" phenomenon has been the creation of a new kind of action man. The boffin-as-hero, exemplified by Robert Langdon, marks a change from the traditional male adventurers of page and screen: the gun-toting muscleman, the caped superhero, the suave secret agent lethally accessorized with an exploding fountain pen. Guns and gadgets now have to make room for middle-aged professors more familiar with biblical symbolism than how to deal with ominously ticking briefcases or what to wear for cocktails in South American embassies. These eggheads may not be destined for glory as articulated dolls or interactive video games, but their ability to foil evil cults by drawing on a knowledge of dead languages and ancient statuary has undeniably captured readers' imaginations.

Dead languages and ancient statuary rule.

LOOKING ASKANCE at Egyptian synagogue restoration:

Babylon & Beyond
Observations from Iraq, Iran,
Israel, the Arab world and beyond

EGYPT: What's behind Jewish synagogue restoration?
August 21, 2009 | 11:58 am (Los Angeles Times)

Is historical preservation or modern day cultural politics behind the restoration of the Maimonides synagogue in Cairo's ancient Jewish quarter?

Although most Egyptians are against efforts linking their country to Jewish or Israeli heritage, the move has been interpreted as an attempt by Culture Minister Farouk Hosni to win international recognition ahead of his controversial bid to become head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Hosni's bid to become the next UNESCO director-general was set back in 2008 when he said that he'd personally burn Hebrew books if he found any in Egyptian libraries. Since then, it is been reported that the ministry has been trying to make amends for Hosni's comments. It recently has begun allowing the translation of books written by Jewish and Israeli authors, a move that dismayed many Egyptians.

[...]

Perhaps it is political, but I like to say that if it weren't for politics there are a lot of things that wouldn't get done.

According to this AFP article the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo, home of the Cairo Geniza, has also been restored.

THOMAS L. THOMPSON gives a "minimalist" capsule history of ancient Israel and early Judaism ("Biblical Archaeology and the Politics of Nation Building"), with modern political reflections, at the Bible and Interpretation website. Excerpt:

A similar use of caricature and anonymity in referring to the same group of “minimalist” scholars, with methods reflecting apologetic purpose, a discourse that is closed to any who do not share the same political biases and a rhetoric of distrust for critical questions is also to be noticed among secular scholars who make an essentially nationalistic (rather than theological) plea for a return to biblically oriented archaeology.ii I am, therefore, led now to ask similar questions: Is Biblical Archaeology, as practiced in Israel and Palestine today, dominated by politically directed apologetics or is it a legitimate scholarly discipline? I can hardly answer this question fully here. However, the stringent apologetics of this discipline, the lack of openness, the distrust of critical questions and the dogmatic historical assumptions are so marked and commonplace that one must at least attempt to open the discussion.

MODEST APHRODITE:

Dig unearths ancient cult figurines of Aphrodite
By Ofri Ilani (Haaretz)

Remains of an ancient cult to the goddess of love have come to light in the southern Golan Heights site of Susita

At the site, on a 350 meter-high-plateau overlooking the eastern shore of Lake Kinneret, archaeologists found a cache of three figurines of Aphrodite (whom the Romans called Venus), dating back about 1,500 years. The figurines, made of clay, are about 30 centimeters tall. They depict the nude goddess standing, with her right hand covering her private parts - a type of statue scholars call "modest Venus."

[...]

UPDATE: Was there still an Aphrodite cult as recently as 1500 years ago? That date sounds off to me.

UPDATE (16 September): It looks as though there was, if clandestinely. Details here.

MORE JEWISH-TEMPLE DENIAL, this time from a lecturer at Al-Quds Open University (with video):

PA University Lecturer: No Jewish Connection to Western Wall

by Israel National News

(IsraelNN.com) A Palestinian Authority university lecturer was the latest PA academic to rewrite history and deny Jewish history in Jerusalem, which was the Jewish capital for a full 1,600 years before Muhammad authored the Muslim Koran. The lecturer denied the Jewish people's connection to the Western Wall of the Jewish Temple.

Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reported that Shamekh Alawneh, who teaches modern history in the televised lectures of Al-Quds Open University, said Jews invented the connection to the Wall for political purposes, to convince European Jews and Zionists to come to “Palestine.”

The Jewish claim to the Western Wall “has no historical roots," he said on a television program called “Jerusalem – History and Culture.” The Jews’ claim, he said, is “political terminology to win the hearts and the support of the Zionists in Europe, so they would emigrate and come to Palestine. Nothing more!”

[...]

For the Herodian Temple Platform, of which the Wailing/Western Wall is a part, see here. For similar claims and an explanation of the "Al-Buraq Wall," see here.

MORE ON THE WAC CONFERENCE CONTROVERSY in Nature:

Uproar over Palestinian archaeology congress

Dearth of Israeli researchers attending provokes accusations of bias.

Haim Watzman
Hisham's palaceHisham's palace is one of many important archaeological sites in the West Bank.Wikimedia Commons

A row has broken out between scholars over an international conference held last week on the relationship between the archaeology, heritage and politics of the West Bank and its surrounding regions.

Senior Israeli archaeologists have accused conference organizers of including only speakers who presented Palestinian points of view. But Claire Smith, president of the World Archaeological Congress (WAC), the organization that sponsored the conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah, says Israelis were not deliberately excluded.

[...]

Seems to be a good summary of the current state of the dispute.

Background here.

HOW BAR WAS BORN.

THE WORLD ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONGRESS has published a Statement on the WAC Inter-Congress in Ramallah on its website, which opens:

The World Archaeological Congress Inter-Congress on Structural Violence was held in Ramallah, Palestine from 8th to 13th August, 2009. There have been reports that WAC banned Israeli archaeologists from attending this Inter-Congress. These reports are untrue. A public discussion forum has been established as a way of exploring the issues surrounding these reports.

[...]

Background here.

(Via the Agade list.)

AN OBITUARY FOR GRAHAM STANTON has been published in the London Times:

Graham Stanton: New Testament scholar

Graham Stanton provided personal and intellectual leadership in British New Testament studies in the generation following the retirement of his Cambridge mentor, C. F. D. Moule (obituary, October 5, 2007).

[...]

Via Mark Goodacre's NT Blog.

A THIRD CENTURY C.E. MANSION being excavated in Jerusalem is featured in an IAA press release (link here is to the IMFA website):

Third century CE mansion exposed in the City of David excavations
17 Aug 2009

An Israel Antiquities Authority excavation in the City of David has revealed a large third century CE building – apparently a large mansion - in excavations in the City of David, in the Walls Around Jerusalem National Park.

(Communicated by the Israel Antiquities Authority Spokesperson)

A spacious edifice from the Roman period (third century CE) – apparently a mansion that belonged to a wealthy individual – was recently exposed in the excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority is carrying out in the 'Givati Car Park' at the City of David, in the Walls Around Jerusalem National Park. The excavations are being conducted at the site on behalf of the IAA and in cooperation with the Nature and Parks Authority, and are underwritten by the ‘Ir David Foundation.

According to Dr. Doron Ben-Ami, the excavation director on behalf of the IAA, together with Yana Tchekhanovets, “Although we do not have the complete dimensions of the structure, we can cautiously estimate that the building covered an area of approximately 1,000 square meters. In the center of it was a large open courtyard surrounded by columns. Galleries were spread out between the rows of columns and the rooms that flanked the courtyard. The wings of the building rose to a height of two stories and were covered with tile roofs”.

A large quantity of fresco fragments was discovered in the collapsed ruins from which the excavators deduced that some of the walls of the rooms were treated with plaster and decorated with colorful paintings. The painted designs that adorned the plastered walls consisted mostly of geometric and floral motifs. Its architectural richness, plan and particularly the artifacts that were discovered among its ruins bear witness to the unequivocal Roman character of the building. The most outstanding of these finds are a marble figurine in the image of a boxer and a gold earring inlaid with precious stones.

[...]

The (temporary) IAA link to the release is here (via Joseph I. Lauer). Earlier PaleoJudaica coverage of the marble figurine and the earring are here. Note (see latter link) that a gold coin hoard was found last year at the same site, but apparently not the same building.

IN THE MAIL:

Christopher Rowland and Christopher R.A. Morray-Jones, The Mystery of God: Early Jewish Mysticism and the New Testament (CRINT III 12; Leiden: Brill, 2009)

I am one of the reviewers of this volume in the Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism Group at the November meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in New Orleans.