Spring is the perfect time to refresh and renew, a chance to embrace new challenges and ideas and turn from the past toward new horizons. Of course, it is also when we observe and celebrate two cherished religious traditions, Passover and Easter, both of which have their origins deep in the biblical past. For our Spring 2022 issue, we’ve brought together a fascinating array of articles that provide both fresh outlooks on old questions and insightful reflection on the history behind the season’s holidays.
In the article “Piece by Piece: Exploring the Origins of the Philistines,” archaeologist Daniel Master examines the background to one of biblical archaeology’s most debated origins questions and presents new DNA evidence from Philistine Ashkelon that may settle the issue once and for all. Similarly, in “Jesus in Arabia,” scholar Ahmad Al-Jallad highlights an extraordinary new inscription that may not only offer the earliest evidence of Christian worship in the Arabian Peninsula but also indicate the Arabian adoption of monotheism centuries before Islam.
“Proof Positive: How We Used Math to Find Herod’s Palace at Banias,” by Frankie Snyder and Rachel Bar-Nathan, takes a fresh look at long-forgotten flooring pieces excavated at the beautiful Roman site of Banias near Mt. Hermon. Using geometry, they provide an ingenious reconstruction of the floor’s design, which they propose once decorated a lost palace of King Herod the Great. And in the Biblical Archaeology 101 piece “Storage and Staples in Biblical Israel,” Tim Frank illustrates how, when studied in context, even ancient storage jars—the mundane Tupperware of their day—can open up new vistas on everyday life in biblical times.
The Spring issue also allows us to look forward to the upcoming summer dig season. In Strata, you’ll find a listing of scheduled digs for Israel and Jordan, as well as reflections from dig directors on how the pandemic has changed archaeological work both in and out of the field. In addition, anthropologist Allison Mickel reminds us of the critical but often underappreciated role that local laborers play in archaeological projects, while Yossi Garfinkel highlights two new inscriptions from ancient Israel, one of which might preserve the name of a biblical judge.
In Epistles, we explore the historical and biblical context for the sacred events at the heart of the season’s religious traditions. Barry Beitzel considers the biblical evidence for the location of the Red Sea, where the Israelites finally escaped the clutches of their Egyptian taskmasters, and Ben Witherington III reflects on the apostle Paul’s understanding of Jesus’s resurrection found in 1 Corinthians 15, the earliest discussion of the resurrection in the New Testament.
Our Spring issue also offers an opportunity to introduce the members of BAR’s new Editorial Advisory Board, who are listed in the masthead at right. The advisory board includes leading scholars and experts in the many fields covered by the magazine, and we look forward to gaining from each member’s advice and counsel in the years ahead.
Finally, on as a Milestone we note the passing of our longtime colleague and former Managing Editor Sue Singer, who had a formative role in BAR’s founding and early success.
Until next time, my friends.
—GLENN J. CORBETT
Spring is the perfect time to refresh and renew, a chance to embrace new challenges and ideas and turn from the past toward new horizons. Of course, it is also when we observe and celebrate two cherished religious traditions, Passover and Easter, both of which have their origins deep in the biblical past. For our Spring 2022 issue, we’ve brought together a fascinating array of articles that provide both fresh outlooks on old questions and insightful reflection on the history behind the season’s holidays. In the article “Piece by Piece: Exploring the Origins of the Philistines,” archaeologist Daniel Master […]
You have already read your free article for this month. Please join the BAS Library or become an All Access member of BAS to gain full access to this article and so much more.
