Was David a murderer? This week, David Shepherd joins Bible & Archaeology to explore bloodguilt in the story of Israel’s most famous king. What did ancient Israel think about guilt, justice, and royal power, and does the Bible actually hold David responsible for shedding innocent blood?

📚 Reading Recommendations:⁠

King David, Innocent Blood, and Bloodguilt by David J. Shepherd

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🎙️ Credits

Guest: Dr. David Shepherd

Hosted and edited by Dr. Jordan Jones

Additional contributions by Mary Kathryn Lichty

Bible & Archaeology is a University of Iowa Office of Innovation 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.

Rising high above the Dead Sea, Masada is one of the most dramatic landscapes of the ancient world. But long before it became a symbol of defiance and martyrdom, it was an Hasmonean fortress, reshaped in spectacular fashion by Herod the Great into a palace-fortress that clung improbably to the edge of empire.

This week, Jodi Magness joins the podcast to guide us through Masada’s layered past: its Hasmonean origins, Herod’s architectural ambition, and the rebels who later refashioned a royal complex into a last refuge during the revolt against Rome. We examine the archaeology of daily life, the Roman siege works below, the testimony of Flavius Josephus, and the enduring legacy of Yigael Yadin—asking how excavation, memory, and meaning have shaped the story of Masada for generations.

📚 Reading Recommendations:Masada: From Jewish Revolt to Modern Myth by Jodi Magness

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✉️ Send us your questions: [email protected]

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🎙️ Credits

Guest: Dr. Jodi Magness

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 Apostle Paul is one of the most towering figures in early Christianity. But behind the familiar narratives lies a far more complex reality. Who was the historical Paul? And perhaps more importantly, how many different Pauls have been handed down to us through the centuries?

This week, Jordan welcomes Dr. Robyn Faith Walsh to untangle the various Pauline traditions that have shaped our understanding of this enigmatic apostle. From the authentic letters to later attributions, from his claimed persecutions to his mysterious visions of Christ, Dr. Walsh guides us through the evidence and the contradictions. Is Paul really that exceptional, or have we been reading him through the lens of later mythmaking?

👉 Dr. Walsh helps us explore:

–Was Paul's influence on early Christian communities as profound as tradition suggests?

–What did it truly mean for him to "see" Jesus?

–Is the historical Paul really that exceptional?

–Why is Paul baptizing lions?

📚 Reading Recommendations:

"Why Thekla Does Not See Paul: Visual Perception and the Displacement of Erōs in the Acts of Paul and Thekla" by Jennifer Eyl

Rereading of Romans: Justice, Jews, and Gentiles by Stanley Stowers

“The Apostle Paul,” in Ancient Philosophy of Religion: The History of the Western Philosophy of Religion, ed. Graham Oppy and N. N. Trakakis, (Durham: Acumen, 2009), 145-157.

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✉️ Send us your questions: [email protected]

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🎙️ Credits

Guest: Dr. Robyn Faith Walsh

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 golden calf is one of the most infamous images in the Hebrew Bible—but what was it really? An idol? A political symbol? Or something more complicated?

This week, Dr. Elizabeth VanDyke joins the podcast to re-examine the golden calf traditions and ask where these stories actually begin. Together, we explore the biblical origins of the golden calves, questions of identity and power in ancient Israel, and what kind of “calf” we should really be imagining. We also look beyond the Bible, tracing possible connections to Assyrian imperial policy, the relationship between making kings and making calves, and the strange (yet meaningful) practice of kissing the calf.

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✉️ Send us your questions: [email protected]

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🎙️ Credits

Guest: Dr. Elizabeth VanDyke

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 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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✉️ Send us your questions: [email protected]

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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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✉️ Send us your questions: [email protected]

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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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✉️ 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 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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✉️ Send us your questions: [email protected]

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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.

The Star of Bethlehem is one of the most famous elements of Matthew’s Nativity story, but what could it actually have been? How could a star lead travelers, stop over a location, or identify a single house? This week, physicist Dr. Aaron Adair joins Bible & Archaeology to examine the most common scientific explanations for the Star of Bethlehem and why many of them fall apart. By looking at both the science and the ancient context, we ask what Matthew may have intended his readers to understand and why the Star functions the way it does in the Gospel narrative.

👉 Dr. Adair helps us explore

– Was Matthew using technical astronomical language?

– How were astronomical phenomena understood in the ancient Mediterranean world?

– Could Matthew’s star have been a comet, a supernova, or even a planet?

📖 Reading Recommendations:The Star of Bethlehem: A Skeptical View by Aaron Adair

"The Star of Christ in the Light of Astronomy" by Aaron Adair

"A Critical Look at the History of Interpreting the Star of Bethlehem in Scientific Literature and Biblical Studies" by Aaron Adair in The Star of Bethlehem and the Magi

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🎙️ Credits

Guest: Dr. Aaron Adair

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.