Bible

Was a Utah District's Decision to Remove the Bible from Shelves a Win for the Anti-Anti-Woke? History Says Maybe Not

by Matthew Smith

When citizens invoked Utah's new "sensitive content" law to force the district to remove the Bible from school libraries, some hoped they had achieved a coup demonstrating the folly of the law. But the Bible has long been a part of cultural conflicts focused on schools, and that's unlikely to change anytime soon. 

Is There a Biblical Solution to the Modern Problem of Debt?

by Eva von Dassow

Many are inspired by Old Testament rules for debt jubilees, but, while the practice has a historical basis, that history shows debt forgiveness was part of an unequal society in which forgiving old debts simply enabled the masses to take on new ones. 

Think You Know the Biblical Position on Abortion? You May Be Surprised

by Melanie A. Howard

Although the Bible was written at a time when abortion was practiced, it never directly addresses the issue.

We've Begun to Confront Christian White Nationalism. But What About the Source Text?

by Dianne M. Stewart

Critics of emergent White Christian Nationalism too often stop short of a key point: the Bible's explicit endorsement of war, conquest and genocide back up an eliminationist political outlook on the right. 

Is a Long-Dismissed Forgery Actually the Oldest Known Biblical Manuscript?

Idan Dershowitz claims that a manuscript fragment denounced as a forgery in 1883 is authentic and is a precursor document to the book of Deuteronomy. If he's right, it would be the oldest known biblical manuscript. 

The Bible Museum Has Another Epic Issue With One Of Its Artifacts

Federal prosecutors in New York filed a civil action to forfeit one of the museum's clay tablets containing an excerpt of the "Epic of Gilgamesh."

A Mystery at Oxford

A well-funded effort by American evangelical Christians to identify archaeological evidence for the New Testament is at the center of a scandal. 

A New Lincoln Bible, From a Mantel to a Presidential Library

More than 150 years later, historians have discovered the Bible for the first time, a unique artifact of the 16th president’s life that they did not even know existed.

After More Than Two Decades of Work, a New Hebrew Bible to Rival the King James

The pre-eminent scholar Robert Alter has finally finished his own translation.

Slave Bible From The 1800s Omitted Key Passages That Could Incite Rebellion

"About 90 percent of the Old Testament is missing [and] 50 percent of the New Testament is missing."

You Are Never Going to Believe Which Verse Was Most Quoted in American Newspapers Between 1840 and 1920

by John Fea

And it wasn’t Romans 13.

A 3,000-year-old glass head deepens one of the Bible’s oldest mysteries

Who was the man whose likeness is captured in the figurine, and what did he mean to the people of Abel?

Historian discovers secret notes hidden in 500-year-old Bible

A historian in the U.K. has discovered secret notes hidden in the text of England’s first printed bible.

Are the Stories in the Bible About the Last Days and Hours of Jesus True?

by Bart D. Ehrman

What science suggests is that they’re probably distorted. But does it matter?

Valentines Day and the Bible

by David Carr

The celebration of human love in Genesis 2, apart from any emphasis on reproduction, turns out to be remarkably forward looking.

The Hebrew Republic

by Peter J. Leithart

During the Revolution, writers and preachers turned to the historical books of the Hebrew Bible to fill out ancient Roman analyses of political corruption.

Alabama’s chief justice: Muhammad didn’t create us so 1st Amendment only protects Christians

“They didn’t bring the Koran over on the pilgrim ship. Let’s get real, let’s go back and learn our history. Let’s stop playing games.”

Israeli archeologists say they have discovered King David’s palace

JERUSALEM — A team of Israeli archeologists believes it has discovered the ruins of a palace belonging to the biblical King David, but other Israeli experts dispute the claim.Archeologists from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Israel’s Antiquities Authority said their find, a large fortified complex west of Jerusalem at a site called Khirbet Qeiyafa, is the first palace of the biblical king ever to be discovered.“Khirbet Qeiyafa is the best example exposed to date of a fortified city from the time of King David,” said Yossi Garfinkel, a Hebrew University archeologist, suggesting that David himself would have used the site. Garfinkel led the seven-year dig with Saar Ganor of Israel’s Antiquities Authority....

Israeli archaeologists find source of 'Second Temple' era stones

A huge quarry, along with tools and a key, used by workers some 2,000 years ago have been discovered during an excavation in Jerusalem prior to the paving of a highway, the Israel Antiquities Authorities (IAA) announced.The first-century quarry, which fits into the Second Temple Period (538 B.C. to A.D. 70), would've held the huge stones used in the construction of the city's ancient buildings, the researchers noted.Archaeologists also uncovered pick axes and wedges among other artifacts at the site in the modern-day Ramat Shlomo Quarter, a neighborhood in northern East Jerusalem....

Ancient site unearthed in Biblical home of Abraham

BAGHDAD –  British archaeologists said Thursday they have unearthed a sprawling complex near the ancient city of Ur in southern Iraq, home of the biblical Abraham.The structure, thought to be about 4,000 years old, probably served as an administrative center for Ur, around the time Abraham would have lived there before leaving for Canaan, according to the Bible.The compound is near the site of the partially reconstructed Ziggurat, or Sumerian temple, said Stuart Campbell of Manchester University's Archaeology Department, who led the dig."This is a breathtaking find," Campbell said, because of its unusually large size -- roughly the size of a football field, or about 260 feet on each side. The archaeologist said complexes of this size and age were rare....