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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✉️ Send us your questions: [email protected]

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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.

The Proto-Gospel of James is one of the most influential non-canonical texts in Christian history, especially when it comes to how Christians came to imagine Mary and the Nativity. This early Christian gospel focuses not on Jesus’ ministry, but on the miraculous birth and early life of Mary, her betrothal to Joseph, and the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth. In fact, many familiar Christmas traditions, like Mary’s perpetual virginity, Joseph’s age, and the detailed setting of the Nativity, trace back not to Matthew or Luke, but to this text. 

This week, Dr. Mark Goodacre joins us to explore what the Proto-Gospel of James aims to accomplish, why it became so influential, and how it addresses gaps and tensions in the canonical Nativity stories while creating new problems of its own.

👉 Dr. Goodcare helps us explore:

– Where did the Proto-Gospel of James come from?

– What does it tell us about Mary?

– What new problems does it create?

– Why does the Proto-Gospel of James still matter?

📖 Reading Recommendations:

"The Protevangelium of James and the Creative Rewriting of Matthew and Luke" by Mark Goodacre

The Protevangelium of James in Papyrus Bodmer V: Titles, Genres, and Traditions in Transmission by Kimberley A. Fowler

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✉️ Send us your questions: [email protected]

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🎙️ Credits

Guest: Dr. Mark Goodacre

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.

Many of the Christmas traditions we take for granted, like December 25th, the Nativity, Christmas trees, the Magi, the star of Bethlehem, and even Herod’s massacre, have complex histories that don’t always match the Bible or what we’ve been taught. This week, biblical scholar Dan McClellan joins us to explain the most common Christmas misconceptions and what the historical and textual evidence actually shows.

👉 Dr. McClellan helps us explore:

– When Christians started saying “put Christ back in Christmas”

– Whether Christmas has pagan origins

– The origins of the Nativity scene

– How modern culture reshapes the Bible

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✉️ Send us your questions: [email protected]

🔗 Want to watch the show? Find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to see a video recording of this show.

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🎙️ Credits

Guest: Dr. Dan McClellan

Hosted by Dr. Jordan Jones

Edited 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.

Ancient Egypt is far harder to reconstruct than most people imagine. Egyptologist Dr. Campbell Price joins us to explore how archaeologists and the Egypt Exploration Society pieced together Egypt’s past through 50 key discoveries. We look at the history of archaeological exploration in Egypt, how early excavations were shaped by biblical expectations and colonial agendas, and how those discoveries continue to influence what we think we know about Ancient Egypt today.

👉 Dr. Price helps us explore:

– What is the Egypt Exploration Society

– How religious and colonial concerns shaped early archaeology

– How did they settle on 50 discoveries?

– What is next for the Egypt Exploration Society?

📖 Check out the book: Ancient Egypt in 50 Discoveries

📺 Watch more from Dr. Price on "After Dark"

– Why Pharaohs Were More Sickening Than You Think! With Dr. Campbell Price

– Ancient Egypt's Pyramids, Black Magic, And Execution Rituals

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✉️ Send us your questions: [email protected]

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🎙️ Credits

Guest: Dr. Campbell Price

Hosted 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.

What Mesopotamian texts influenced the Hebrew Bible? Dr. Joshua Bowen from Digital Hammurabi joins us to compare ancient Near Eastern literature—including the Atrahasis, the Code of Hammurabi, and other Mesopotamian myths—with the biblical text. We explore textual dependence, shared motifs, internal tensions, and what these parallels reveal about the Bible’s development.

📺 Check out Digital Hammurabi on YouTube

👉 Dr. Bowen helps us explore:

– How to think about textual dependence

– What kinds of Mesopotamian texts influenced the Bible

– What questions you should ask about the Bible's use of other texts

🔗 Resources & Links

– ETCSL (The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature)

– ORACC (Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus)

– Learn to Read Ancient Hebrew: An Introduction for Complete Beginners by Joshua Bowen

– Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature by Benjamin Foster (for Akkadian literature)

– The Harps that Once...: Sumerian Poetry in Translation Paperback by Thorkild Jacobsen

– The Literature of Ancient Sumer

– Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others by Stephanie Dalley

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✉️ Send us your questions: [email protected]

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🎙️ Credits

Guest: Dr. Joshua Bowen

Hosted by Dr. Jordan Jones

Edited 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.

What is the Book of Revelation actually about? Most modern readers treat Revelation as a prophecy about the end times, but ancient readers read it very differently. This week, we’re joined by Dr. Rebekah Haigh to explore how ancient apocalyptic literature works, why Revelation is full of symbols and violence, and how its first-century Roman context changes everything.

👉 Dr. Haigh helps us explore:

– How ancient audiences understood apocalypses
– Why Revelation isn’t a roadmap to the end of the world
– How violence, empire, and resistance shape the book
– What readers get wrong about Revelation’s message

🔗 Resources & Links 

– Check out Dr. Haigh's podcast: "The Women Who Went Before"

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✉️ Send us your questions: [email protected]

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🎙️ Credits

Guest: Dr. Rebekah Haigh

Hosted by Dr. Jordan Jones

Edited 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.

Are the Amarna Letters diplomacy or manipulation?

The Amarna Letters, ancient tablets from Pharaoh Akhenaten’s capital in Egypt, reveal a world of royal drama, political gaslighting, and fragile alliances between the superpowers of the Late Bronze Age. These 3,000-year-old messages between the kings of Egypt, Babylon, Canaan, and the Hittites expose the psychology of empire, but how much can we really trust what these ancient rulers wrote?

This week, Dr. Eric Cline joins us to talk about his new book Love, War, and Diplomacy and to explore what the Amarna Letters reveal about ancient diplomacy, international politics, and the tensions that existed before the Late Bronze Age Collapse. Together, we ask: Who were these kings and envoys? How did early scholars shape our understanding of them? And did anyone see the coming disaster?

👉 Dr. Cline helps us explore: 

– What the Amarna Letters really say about ancient diplomacy
– The political psychology of the Late Bronze Age
– How early scholars framed the discovery
– Did the letters foreshadow the collapse of civilization?

🔗 Resources & Links 

– Love, War, and Diplomacy

– 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed

– After 1177 B.C.: The Survival of Civilizations

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✉️ Send us your questions: [email protected]

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🎙️ Credits

Guest: Dr. Eric Cline

Hosted, Produced, 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.

What can a lost Jewish temple in Egypt teach us about early Judaism? The Elephantine Papyri reveal how Jews lived, worshiped, and but why don’t they mention the Bible? This week, we’re joined by Dr. James D. Moore to explore the big questions about the Elephantine papyri and what they tell us about the Jewish community living at and around the border fortress at Elephantine.

👉 Dr. Moore helps us explore:

– What do the Elephantine papyri tell us about ancient Judaism?

– Why aren’t there any biblical texts in the Elephantine papyri?

– What happened to the people who lived at Elephantine?

🔗 Resources & Links

– Want to explore some papyri? Check out: Digital Editions of Aramaic and Phoenician Sources

– Read: New Aramaic Papyri from Elephantine in Berlin

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✉️ Send us your questions: [email protected]

🔗 Want to watch the show? Find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to see a video recording of this show.

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🎙️ Credits

Guest: Dr. James D. Moore

Hosted and Produced by Dr. Jordan Jones

Edited 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 are witches linked with black cats, and does the Bible have anything to do with it? This week, Dr. Peter Miller joins us to uncover how biblical ideas about magic shaped later Christian traditions about witches, black cats, and the devil.

👉 We’ll discuss:

– What “magic” means in the Bible

– How witchcraft appears in the Bible

– How biblical texts became witch-hunt propaganda

🔗 Resources & Links

– Watch "Blacklisted: The Sacred Magic of Black Cats"

– Support the House of Black Cat Magic shelter

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✉️ Send us your questions: [email protected]

🔗 Want to watch the show? Find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to see a video recording of this show.

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🎙️ Credits

Guest: Dr. Peter Miller

Hosted and Produced by Dr. Jordan Jones

Edited 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.

Do demons have bodies? And if they do, what do they look like? This week, Dr. Travis Proctor joins us to explore how ancient Jews and Christians understood demons, possession, and the world of spiritual beings.

From their origins as the spirits of the Nephilim, to possession and exorcism stories in the Bible, we’ll unpack how early writers imagined the complicated role of demons in the Bible and how this shaped their portrayals of demonic bodies, evil spirits, and human vulnerability to possession.

👉 We’ll discuss:

– Where people thought demons came from

– How different biblical authors used demons as an explanation

– Why the biblical authors believed humans could be possessed

– How ideas about demon bodies shaped ideas of exorcism

📖 Check out Demonic Bodies and the Dark Ecologies of Early Christian Culture

🔗 Resources & Links

– You can join Dr. Proctor for a class on demons and ghosts in the Bible through the Biblical Studies Academy

– You can join Dr. Proctor for a class on the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of Christianity through the Religion Department

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✉️ Send us your questions: [email protected]

🔗 Want to watch the show? Find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to see a video recording of this show.

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🎙️ Credits

Guest: Dr. Travis Proctor

Hosts: Dr. Jordan Jones

Produced and Edited by 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.