You either go forward—or you go backward. You don’t just stand still. And BAR is leaping into the 21st century!
Our bold new design—have you noticed?—takes us to the forefront of magazine artistry. Hats off to Design Director Rob Sugar and his creative staff. But the design changes are only symbolic. The intention is to make BAR more accessible to more people—in a word, to make BAR even more—here comes what is for some a dirty word—popular. There, we’ve said it. Yes, we are devoted to the belief that you can communicate with an interested mass audience without sacrificing scientific or scholarly integrity. Oh, perhaps you lose a stuffed shirt here and there, but you pick up a warm, wonderful side of scholarship that really provides its intellectual excitement.
For any who fear that you have lost the old BAR, rest assured. We still have our beautiful, full-length feature stories, Queries & Comments (we wouldn’t dare touch that), and all the other departments—plus some new ones.
We’re adding Expeditions to introduce you to lesser known sites all over the Biblical world, Backward Glance to look not just at what’s being dug today but also at some of the classic excavations and connected adventures. We’re also going to become more reader-friendly by giving more background sidebars for people who are just beginning to learn about this immensely enriching way to study our cultural past. We’re going to have a page like this called First Person where we can sound off on a regular basis, provided we have something to say when each issue goes to press. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we’ve created a new section called Strata that is full of shorter articles, announcements and a little foolishness now and then to prevent us from taking ourselves too seriously.
You never see the best we can do because we’re always trying to do better. So let us hear from you (I hardly need to tell you that)—what you don’t like and, once in a while, even what you like. Suggestions for improvement are also welcome.
One final thought: If you like what you see and agree with what we’re trying to do, please give a gift subscription or two to a few friends. Your friends will like you—and so will we.
You either go forward—or you go backward. You don’t just stand still. And BAR is leaping into the 21st century! Our bold new design—have you noticed?—takes us to the forefront of magazine artistry. Hats off to Design Director Rob Sugar and his creative staff. But the design changes are only symbolic. The intention is to make BAR more accessible to more people—in a word, to make BAR even more—here comes what is for some a dirty word—popular. There, we’ve said it. Yes, we are devoted to the belief that you can communicate with an interested mass audience without sacrificing […]
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