Bible and Archaeology

The late antique Mediterranean was an enchanted world where the dead were not silent or distant, but active participants in everyday life. This week, historian Michael L. Satlow joins the podcast to explain why cemeteries, saints’ bones, and the spirits of the dead were seen as powerful points of contact with the divine, and why early Christians were especially drawn to them. We'll explore how practices that feel strange or forbidden today were completely normal.

👉Dr. Satlow helps us explore:
– What it meant to live in an “enchanted world”
– Where the dead fit within the supernatural hierarchy
– Why Christians were drawn to the dead (and what Jesus has to do with it)
– Why necromancy crossed a line when other contact with the dead did not

📚 Reading Recommendations:
📖 An Enchanted World: The Shared Religious Landscape of Late Antiquity

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🎙️ Credits
Guest: Dr. Michael Satlow
Hosted and edited by Dr. Jordan Jones
Additional contributions by Mary Kathryn Lichty
The Bible & Archaeology podcast is made with support from Amanda Stone
Bible & Archaeology is a University of Iowa production. The views and opinions expressed on Bible & Archaeology belong solely to the individuals who share them. They do not represent the positions of the University of Iowa or the State of Iowa.

Why does sacrifice keep returning in Christian history, even when Christianity tried to reject it? This week, historian Jonathan Sheehan joins the podcast to trace how sacrifice was abolished, absorbed, and reshaped from antiquity to the modern secular world and why Christianity couldn't get rid of it.

📚 Reading Recommendations:
📖 On The Altar: A History of Sacrifice
https://amzn.to/49IRfDo

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📣 Affiliate Disclosure: Using the links above may generate a modest commission at no additional cost to you and helps support our educational work.

🎙️ Credits
Guest: Dr. Jonathan Sheehan
Hosted and edited by Dr. Jordan Jones
Additional contributions by Mary Kathryn Lichty
The Bible & Archaeology podcast is made with support from Amanda Stone
Bible & Archaeology is a University of Iowa production. The views and opinions expressed on Bible & Archaeology belong solely to the individuals who share them. They do not represent the positions of the University of Iowa or the State of Iowa.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are among the most important archaeological discoveries ever made, but not every fragment has turned out to be real. This week, Dr. Kipp Davis joins the podcast to explore how scholars identify which Dead Sea Scrolls are fakes, why forgers have been so successful in creating fakes, and why we are so susceptible to forgeries.

This is part two of our conversation about how Dead Sea Scroll forgeries began, how experts detect them, and what these mistakes teach us about archaeology, manuscripts, and the modern antiquities market.
📺 Check out Kipp's ⁠YouTube Channel⁠

👉 Dr. Davis helps us explore:
– What traits help to identify fake scroll fragments
– How forgers play on scholars expectations
– Why radio-carbon dating isn't a magic solution

📚 Reading Recommendations:
⁠God's Propaganda: Pulling Back the Curtain on What the Bible Wants You to See ⁠
⁠Gleanings from the Cave of Wonders? Fragments, Forgeries, and “Biblicism” in the Dead Sea Scrolls⁠
⁠Dating ancient manuscripts using radiocarbon and AI-based writing style analysis⁠

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🎙️ Credits
Guest: Dr. Kipp Davis
Hosted and edited by Dr. Jordan Jones
Additional contributions by Mary Kathryn Lichty
The Bible & Archaeology podcast is made with support from Amanda Stone
Bible & Archaeology is a University of Iowa production. The views and opinions expressed on Bible & Archaeology belong solely to the individuals who share them. They do not represent the positions of the University of Iowa or the State of Iowa.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are among the most important archaeological discoveries ever made, but not every fragment has turned out to be real. This week, Dr. Kipp Davis joins the Bible & Archaeology podcast to explore how early questions about authenticity emerged, why the circumstances of the Scrolls’ discovery created an environment ripe for forgery, and how the early antiquities trade laid the groundwork for future fake fragments.
This is just part one of a deeper conversation about how Dead Sea Scroll forgeries began, how experts detect them, and what these mistakes teach us about archaeology, manuscripts, and the modern antiquities market, so stay tuned for more!

📺 Check out Kipp's YouTube Channel

👉 Dr. Davis helps us explore:
– Did scholars always think the Dead Sea Scrolls were authentic?
– Why did conspiracy theories about the Dead Sea Scrolls begin?
– Did the early antiquities market setup later Dead Sea Scroll forgeries?

📚 Reading Recommendations:
God's Propaganda: Pulling Back the Curtain on What the Bible Wants You to See
Gleanings from the Cave of Wonders? Fragments, Forgeries, and “Biblicism” in the Dead Sea Scrolls
Dating ancient manuscripts using radiocarbon and AI-based writing style analysis

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✉️ Send us your questions: [email protected]
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🎙️ Credits
Guest: Dr. Kipp Davis
Hosted and edited by Dr. Jordan Jones
Additional contributions by Mary Kathryn Lichty
The Bible & Archaeology podcast is made with support from Amanda Stone
Bible & Archaeology is a University of Iowa production. The views and opinions expressed on Bible & Archaeology belong solely to the individuals who share them. They do not represent the positions of the University of Iowa or the State of Iowa.

The Nativity stories are often told as peaceful and comforting, but the historical world Jesus was born into was anything but calm. This week, historian Dr. Joan Taylor, author of Boy Jesus, joins the Bible & Archaeology podcast to explore the political violence, fear, displacement, and social instability surrounding Jesus’ birth. Rather than dismantling the Nativity, Dr. Taylor seeks to expand it. Drawing on archaeology, Roman history, and close readings of the gospel narratives, she places Jesus’ birth within the turbulent historical world that the gospels quietly assume their readers already knew.

👉 Dr. Taylor helps us explore:
– Do the gospels preserve a more dangerous story than we imagine?
– What were Bethlehem and Judea really like under Herod?
– What did Jesus’ Davidic lineage claims are really mean?
– Why understanding Jesus as a Judaean matters

📚 Reading Recommendations:
📖 Boy Jesus: Growing Up Judean in Turbulent Times by Joan Taylor
📖 What Did Jesus Look Like? by Joan Taylor
📃 What world was Jesus born into? by Joan Taylor

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🎙️ Credits
Guest: Dr. Joan Taylor
Hosted and edited by Dr. Jordan Jones
Additional contributions by Mary Kathryn Lichty
The Bible & Archaeology podcast is made with support from Amanda Stone
Bible & Archaeology is a University of Iowa production. The views and opinions expressed on Bible & Archaeology belong solely to the individuals who share them. They do not represent the positions of the University of Iowa or the State of Iowa.