(6 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
Loading...If you’re interested in what archaeology can tell us about the world in which Jesus lived, moved, and had his being — you need to check out the course on offer this weekend, March 2-3, by world-class archaeologist Jodi Magness, my colleague at UNC and one of the leading experts on the archaeology of ancient Israel.
Jodi will be giving four lectures on key topics of interest, two on Saturday and two on Sunday, with a live Q&A each day.
I will be M-C’ing the event, and can’t wait. If you want o check it out, click on this link.
https://ehrman.thrivecart.com/timeofjesus
And if you want more information before checking it out, here’s a quick synopsis of what Jodi will be covering:
Lecture 1: Jesus in Galilee
Although the Gospel accounts focus on Jesus’s final days in Jerusalem, he spent most of his life in Galilee. What does archaeology tell us about the villages and towns of Galilee in the time of Jesus? In this lecture, we survey archaeological remains in the hamlet of Nazareth; the city of Sepphoris; and the towns of Capernaum and Magdala (the hometown of Mary Magdalene).
Lecture 2: Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls
In 1946-1947, the first Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered by accident near the site of Qumran. Eventually the remains of approximately 1000 scrolls were found in 11 caves surrounding Qumran. The scrolls were deposited by members of a Jewish sect – apparently the Essenes – who lived at Qumran in the first century BC and first century AD. In this lecture, we examine the meaning and significance of the scrolls and consider what light they shed on Jesus and his movement.
Lecture 3: Jesus in Jerusalem
Archaeology enables us to reconstruct with a great degree of accuracy the city of Jerusalem as it appeared in the first century CE, where Jesus spent his final days on earth. This lecture provides an overview of key sites associated with Jesus in Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount; the Lithostratos pavement and Arch of Ecce Homo; and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We also consider evidence for the historicity of the traditions associating Jesus with some of these sites.
Lecture 4: The Deaths and Burials of Jesus and James
In 2002, an ossuary inscribed “James son of Joseph brother of Jesus” surfaced in the hands of a private collector. A few years later, a Discovery Channel documentary and related book claimed that the tomb of Jesus and his family has been found in Jerusalem. In this lecture, we examine the validity of these sensational claims in light of archaeological and historical evidence for ancient Jewish tombs and burial customs in Jerusalem, including the burials of Jesus and his brother James.
Jodi is a superb lecturer, and there will be lots of slides! Wanna come? Again, go click on this link:
https://ehrman.thrivecart.com/timeofjesus
I am sooooooo enrolled, thank you for the Early Bird Extension!!!! https://media3.giphy.com/media/GeimqsH0TLDt4tScGw/giphy.gif?cid=6c09b9528ybp670s91t5rslvt6i136mk4oafc58gokb6pwih&ep=v1_internal_gif_by_id&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
Dr. Jodi Magness is my go-to for the Qumran-Petra Transjordan! Their shared material culture is part of what encourages my hypothesis that Jesus’ dad is Aretas IV of the Obodas Theos ancestor cult. Their manner of speaking, because they are semi-nomadic across dialects, is to swap personal names for better-translatable roles (so Teacher of Righteousness, or The Writer, or Theos.)
I hope to ask stuff like:
1. Do you think the Qumran Essenes (or predecessors) were part of that “Aretas united the forces of the Arabians and the *Jews*” against the Second Temple in Josephus’?
2. Do you think the Qumran Essene Jews and Nabataea both claimed Aramean founders? Not just Abraham, imo, Nabataea may claim a higher ethnically Aramean lineage than Abraham’s tribal king (Melchi Zedek/ʻGod-Emperor’Nabonidus).
3. Do you think the Book of Hebrews is a typology callback to the nomadic Aramean founder of noth Jews and Arabians, Eber/BR?
Imo it’s maybe the Aramean Yamhad heir of the statue “King of the Habirus”, that first-person describes establishing a new kingdom in Canaan.
4. What did sharing coin stashes mean?
Ty 🌸
What are the aspects that make Christianity not bases on truth in your point of view?
I’m not sure what you’re asking!
I sent this Bible Genealogy Chart to my brother who believes in the inerrancy of the bible
https://historybymail.com/products/biblical-family-tree
This was his response when I asked about incest since Adam and Eve had 3 sons:
“Well incest did occur during the early times in the Bible. However, God told His people this should stop in Leviticus 18:6 thru the rest of the chapter.”
I have never heard this as an explanation for incest. Have you?
I also asked him why there are two family trees for Joseph as the biological parent of Jesus even though Joseph did not have sex with Mary. And why is Mary’s family tree so scant since she is the biological mother of Jesus, the most important person in the bible?
He has not responded to the these questions, but I would be interested in your thoughts.
Thank you.
Oh yeah, in conservative evangelical/fundamentalist circles it is called “progressive revelation.” God’s rules / policies develop, over time, so that later generations receive revelations of God’s will not available to earlier generatoins.
On the genealogies, I would not say that Mary’s genealogy is scant. It simply is never given. Both Matthew and Luke explicitly staate that their genealogies are of Joseph. And both indicate that Jesus does not belong to Joseph’s genealogical line. (I have a full discussion of this in my course on the Gospel of Matthew, which you can find on my website: https://ehrman.thrivecart.com/matthew/
I have signed up for this course but for the life of me, I can’t find a reference to the broadcast times for each day. Can you please provide the times?
11:00 am Sat; 2:00 pm Sun.
March 5, 2024
Dear Dr. Ehrman and Diane,
Usually I blindly trust your choice of speakers and co-hosts and generally look forward to learning new things. I’m not sure I can trust like this anymore.
Please see the email that I sent on March 5th to you and Diane for the full content of the email.
Sincerely and Respectfully,
Stephen De Bellis
I’m not sure what you mean? You’re objecting to Jodi Magness? OK, I’d love to know why. She is widely recognized as one of the very leading archaeologists of ancient Israel in the world.
Dr. Magness did an absolutely phenomenal class. Fantastic. It took me several days to go through it, because there was so much info. Thank you so much.
In your recent lecture on the gospel Mark you make clear how Jesus saw him self as a very different kind of messiah than what had been the “traditional” view among Jews of his time, including among Jesus’ own disciples (who you point out, “just didn’t get”– i.e. that he was going to “give up his life for his friends” rather than become King of the Jews. To me this brings up what seems to be THE biggest question of all: How and why did Jesus– a devout Jewish human being in Galilee come to envision and carry out such a different idea of who and what the messiah would be and how his life would end and what the purpose for it all was? Where the heck did he get such a radical (weird?) idea? I am dying (only figuratively) to hear what you say about this because of the great extent and depth of your knowledge relevant to these questions. Thank you for all your wonderful research and teachings. I believe they are a great contribution to a rational understanding of our cultural past and present in these very troubled global times.
I don’t think the historical Jesus himself thought that he was a messiah who had to suffer, die, and be raised. The Gospels portray him that way, but my view is that he expected not to be crucified but to be made king in the kingdom soon to be brought by the son of man very soon. It would take a long time to explain the rationale for that view, but I think there’s excellent evidence for it. You’ll see some of the relevant posts by doing a word search for Messiah.