Professor Marty Michelson (Southern Nazarene University) presented a lecture on the characters in the book of Samuel, in Oklahoma City on April 23, 2015, as part of the Museum of the Bible’s lecture series.
David Solomon Monarchy
The Quest for the Historical Israel: Israel Finkelstein vs. Amihai Mazar
In October 2005, the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism invited Israel Finkelstein and Amihai Mazar to speak on the historicity of ancient Israel. The proceedings of Colloquium ’05 were published by the Society of Biblical Literature as The Quest for the Historical Israel: Debating Archaeology and the History of Early Israel.
Videos of the lectures have now been made available on YouTube.
“Archaeology and the Bible” Israel Finkelstein
“Archaeology and the Bible” Amihai Mazar
“When Did the Jewish People Begin?” Israel Finkelstein
“When Did the Jewish People Begin?” Amihai Mazar
Colloquium Panel Response: When Did the Jewish People Begin?
“The Truth About Solomon’s Temple” Israel Finkelstein
“The Truth About Solomon’s Temple” Amihai Mazar
Colloquium Panel Response: Truth About Solomon’s Temple
“The Kingdoms of Israel And Judah” Israel Finkelstein
“The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah” Amihai Mazar
Colloquium Panel Response: Israel And Judah
“Patriarchs, Exodus, Conquest: Fact or Fiction?” Israel Finkelstein
“Patriarchs, Exodus, Conquest: Fact or Fiction?” Amihai Mazar
Colloquium Panel Response: Patriarchs, Exodus, Conquest
Colloquium Panel Response: Implications
Israel Finkelstein – Jacob M. Alkow Chair in the Archaeology of Israel in the Bronze and Iron Ages at Tel Aviv University, author of The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of its Sacred Texts.
Amihai Mazar – Eleazar Sukenic Chair in the Archaeology of Israel ad Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Author ofArchaeology and the Land of the Bible.
Brian Schmidt (moderator) – Professor of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan. Author of Israel’s Beneficent Dead.
Harry Cook (panel) – Episcopal minister and journalist, former columnist for the Detroit Free Press, author of Christianity Beyond Creeds and Sermons of a Devoted Heretic.
Yaakov Malkin (panel) – Professor of aesthetics and rhetoric at Tel Aviv University, author of many works including Judaism Without God – Judaism as Culture, The Bible as Literature.
Paula McNutt (panel) – Professor of Religious Studies and Dean of Arts and Sciences at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY.
Rabbi Sherwin Wine (panel) – founding rabbi of the Birmingham Temple and Humanistic Judaism, author of Judaism Beyond God and Staying Sane in a Crazy World.
Eric H. Cline: “The Rise and Fall of Ancient Israel” – On Archaeology and the Bible
Professor Eric H. Cline delivers four lectures on the current state of archaeological contributions to the understanding of the Hebrew Bible. The lectures are available as mp3s and on iTunes. The lectures were originally delivered in February 2010 to the Josephine F. and H. Max Ammerman Study Retreat.
The Rise and Fall of Ancient Israel: Part I
Part one discusses the account of the Exodus and the conquest of Canaan.
The Rise and Fall of Ancient Israel: Part II
Part two discusses David and Solomon. Both kings have been the subject of controversies and debates. A reference to the “House of David” was found in 1993 on an inscription in the north of Israel — the first extra-biblical mention of David yet discovered — allowing us to reconsider the evidence for David and Solomon.
The Rise and Fall of Ancient Israel: Part III
Part three discusses how the expansionist ambitions of the Neo-Assyrians from Mesopotamia in the eighth century BCE spelled an end to the kingdom of Israel and gave rise to the tradition of the Ten Lost Tribes. The question of where the exiled members of these tribes ended up continues to be debated.
The Rise and Fall of Ancient Israel: Part IV
Part four discusses how Nebuchadnezzar and the Neo-Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem not once but twice, burned the Temple of Solomon to the ground, and exiled the leading citizens of Jerusalem and Judah to the far-away city of Babylon. It also provides an in-depth look at Jewish history during the Babylonian period.
Eric H. Cline is Chair of the Department of Classical and Semitic Languages and Literatures at The George Washington University.
Israel Finkelstein’s Website: Including eBook, Articles, Videos, and Lectures
Israel Finkelstein, Professor of Archaeology in the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations, Tel Aviv University, has a very useful personal website containing resources on the Bible and Archaeology.
The site includes his eBook:
The Forgotten Kingdom: The Archaeology and History of Northern Israel, Ancient Near East Monographs 5 (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2013).
a number of his journal articles and book chapters, for example:
“The Historical Reality behind the Genealogical Lists in 1 Chronicles“, Journal of Biblical Literature 131 (2012): 65-83.
“A Great United Monarchy? Archaeological and Historical Perspectives“, in: R.G. Kratz and H. Spieckermann eds. 2010. One God – One Cult – One Nation: Archaeological and Biblical Perspectives. Berlin (2010): 3-28.
and a number of videos and lectures, including:
The Wilderness Itineraries: Who, How and When did Biblical Authors Know About the Southern Deserts
h/t:`Jim West
Robert R. Cargill – Jerusalem: The Holy City
Lectures from Dr Robert R. Cargill’s course “Jerusalem: The Holy City: A History of Jerusalem from Ancient Canaan to Modern Israel” (University of California, Los Angeles; Spring 2010) are freely available for viewing on iTunes. The course consists of 18 lectures, on 27 videos, and is accompanied by a syllabus.
This course surveys the religious, political, and cultural history of Jerusalem over three millennia as a symbolic focus of three faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The course content will focus on the transformation of sacred space as reflected by literary and archaeological evidence by examining the testimony of artifacts, architecture, and iconography in relation to the written word. We will study the creation of mythic Jerusalem through event and experience. Course requirements will focus on developing advanced writing skills.
| 1 | Syllabus for Spring 2010 ANNEA 10W: Jerusalem, the Holy City (CARGILL) | — | 4/20/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 2 | VideoLecture 1.1: Jerusalem as Sacred Space (Part 1) (4/1/2010) | — | 4/2/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 3 | VideoLecture 1.2: Jerusalem as Sacred Space (Part 2) (4/6/2010) | — | 4/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 4 | VideoLecture 2: Canaanite Jerusalem (4/8/2010) | — | 4/8/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 5 | VideoLecture 3.1: David’s Jerusalem (Part 1) (4/8/2010) | — | 4/8/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 6 | VideoLecture 3.2: David’s Jerusalem (Part 2) (4/13/2010) | — | 4/13/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 7 | VideoLecture 4.1: Solomon’s Jerusalem (Part 1) (4/13/2010) | — | 4/13/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 8 | VideoLecture 4.2: Solomon’s Jerusalem (Part 2) (4/15/2010) | — | 4/15/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 9 | VideoLecture 5.1: Hezekiah’s Jerusalem (Part 1) (4/15/2010) | — | 4/15/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 10 | VideoLecture 5.2: Hezekiah’s Jerusalem (Part 2) (4/20/2010) | — | 4/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 11 | VideoLecture 6.1: Josiah’s Jerusalem (Part 1) (4/20/2010) | — | 4/20/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 12 | VideoLecture 6.2: Josiah’s Jerusalem (Part 2) (4/22/2010) | — | 4/22/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 13 | VideoLecture 7.1: Exilic Jerusalem (Part 1) (4/22/2010) | — | 4/22/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 14 | VideoLecture 7.2: Exilic Jerusalem (Part 2) (4/27/2010) | — | 4/27/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 15 | VideoLecture 8: Persian Jerusalem (5/4/2010) | — | 5/4/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 16 | VideoLecture 9: Hellenistic Jerusalem (5/6/2010) | — | 5/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 17 | VideoLecture 10.1: Hasmonean Jerusalem (Part 1) (5/6/2010) | — | 5/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 18 | VideoLecture 10.2: Hasmonean Jerusalem (Part 2) (5/11/2010) | — | 5/11/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 19 | VideoLecture 11: Herodian Jerusalem (5/11/2010) | — | 5/11/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 20 | VideoLecture 12: Jerusalem in Revolt (5/13/2010) | — | 5/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 21 | VideoLecture 13: Byzantine Jerusalem (5/18/2010) | — | 5/18/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 22 | VideoLecture 14: Islamic Jerusalem (5/20/2010) | — | 6/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 23 | VideoLecture 15: Crusader Jerusalem (5/25/2010) | — | 5/25/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 24 | VideoLecture 16: Mamluk and Ottoman Jerusalem (5/27/2010) | — | 5/31/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 25 | VideoLecture 17.1: 20th Century Jerusalem (Part 1) (6/1/2010) | — | 6/1/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 26 | VideoLecture 17.2: 20th Century Jerusalem (Part 2) (6/3/2010) | — | 6/5/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 27 | VideoLecture 18: 21st Century Jerusalem (6/3/2010) | — | 6/5/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 28 | VideoRandom Questions for/about Dr. Cargill (6/3/10) | — | 6/5/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
The Historical David: Joel Baden interviewed by John J. Collins
John J. Collins interviews Joel Baden about his recently published book The Historical David: The Real Life of an Invented Hero (HarperCollins, 2013). Baden follows a prevalent North American approach in claiming to be able to detect an extensive “historical kernel” in the biblical David traditions, originally written within the lifetime of those who knew David. The interview was recorded on January 28, 2014 at Yale Divinity School, and concludes with a Q&A session.
The Historical David: The Real Life of an Invented Hero offers a controversial look at the history of King David, the founder of the nation of Israel whose bloodline leads to Jesus, challenging prevailing popular beliefs about his legend. Baden makes clear that the biblical account of David is an attempt to shape the events of his life politically and theologically. Going beyond the biblical bias, he explores the events that lie behind the David story, events that are grounded in the context of the ancient Near East and continue to inform modern Israel.
Two Gershon Galil Lectures: Israel and Palestine in the 11th-9th Centuries BCE and the “Cheap Wine” (יין חלק) Inscription (Hebrew)
Two lectures on Ancient Israelite/Palestinian archaeology delivered by Prof. Gershon Galil (University of Haifa) are available on YouTube. They are:
“Israel and Palestine in the 11th-9th Centuries BCE” (ישראל ופלשתין במאות האחת עשרה והעשירית לפני הספירה), The Kingdom of David and Solomon in Light of New Epigraphic and Archaeological Data Conference, University of Haifa, December 2, 2013
“‘Cheap Wine’: The Earliest Hebrew Inscription Uncovered in Jerusalem” (יין חלק, הכתובת העברית הקדומה ביותר שנחשפה בירושלים), December 2013
Yet given the fragmentary nature of the inscription, its translation is highly uncertain, and it provides no sound basis for drawing meaningful conclusions about biblical literature or its contents.
Daniel Fleming – “Ancient Israel”: An Introduction to the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible
Professor Daniel Fleming, of New York University, presents an introductory course on the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible called “Ancient Israel“, which is available to view on 27 videos (on YouTube).
1:14:09
1:13:13
1:12:38
1:10:19
1:06:47
53:56
1:13:02
1:11:05
1:12:23
1:09:45
1:06:00
1:14:39
59:17
1:09:44
1:00:53
1:12:33
1:09:11
1:10:20
57:25
45:42
1:09:47
44:59
40:31
1:08:44
1:10:19
1:05:40
56:47For additional class materials, see the course page at New York University.
The Bible’s Buried Secrets – BBC Series hosted by Francesca Stavrakopoulou
Videos are available on YouTube from the three-part BBC production The Bible’s Buried Secrets (2011), hosted by Francesca Stavrakopoulou of the University of Exeter. Stavrakopoulou discusses the existence of David, the development of Jewish monotheism, and the historical background giving rise to the Garden of Eden myth.
Episode 1: Did King David’s Empire Exist?
A national hero and icon for the Jewish people, and a divine king for Christians, David is best known as the boy-warrior who defeated the Philistine giant Goliath. As king, he united the tribes of Israel. But did he really rule over a vast Israelite kingdom? Did he even exist?
– BBC
Episode 2: Did God Have a Wife?
When submitted to rigorous analysis, the biblical texts actually reveal quite another story. I think that the evidence now shows that the people of the Bible believed in many gods. And the scribes who composed the Bible did their best to conceal this – but not altogether successfully.
– Francesca Stavrakopoulou
Episode 3: The Real Garden of Eden
If humankind didn’t fall away from God in the first place, we wouldn’t need a redeemer.
– A priest, Episode 3
In Our Time: Online and Podcasts (BBC Radio 4)
In Our Time is a BBC Radio 4 programme on the history of ideas and is presented by Melvyn Bragg. Its range of episodes are classified under the headings ‘Religion’, ‘History’, ‘Culture’, ‘Philosophy’, and ‘Science’. The format consists of Bragg asking questions to, and leading a discussion with, a panel of academics. There are over 600 episodes – either for listening online and/or download – and the full archive is available here. There are numerous episodes covering topics in biblical studies and relevant areas:
Prophecy (13 June, 2013)
Gnosticism (2 May, 2013)
King Solomon (7 June, 2012)
Judas Maccabeus (24 November, 2011)
The Dawn of the Iron Age (24 March, 2011)
The City [Part 1] (25 March 2010)
The Augustan Age (11 June 2009)
St Paul (28 May, 2009)
Miracles (25 September, 2008)
The Greek Myths (13 March, 2008)
Hell (21 December, 2006)
Heaven (22 December, 2005)
Archaeology and Imperialism (14 April 2005)
Angels (24 March, 2005)
Zoroastrianism (11 November, 2004)
Babylon (3 June 2004)
The Fall (8 April, 2004)
The Alphabet (18 December, 2003)
The Devil (11 December, 2003)
The Apocalypse (17 July, 2003)
The Lindisfarne Gospels (20 February, 2003)
The Soul (6 June 2002)
In addition to the episodes listed above, there are episodes on a range of topics and individuals which will be directly relevant to certain areas of biblical studies research (e.g. Plato, Pliny, Roman satire, Wyclif, Erasmus, Milton, historiography, cultural memory).
Biblical Studies Online 