The American Jewish University (formerly University of Judaism) is hosting the 18th and final series of lectures on biblical archaeology at their Los Angeles campus starting next week. The lectures are on Monday evenings, beginning at 8:00 p.m., and with a cost of $25 each. The lecture dates, topics, and speakers are:
October 15
Jerusalem in the Days of David and Solomon: What Do We See in Excavations and What Does It
Actually Mean?
Jane M. Cahill
October 22
Archaeology, History and the Patriarchs
Gary Rendsberg
October 29
The Exodus from Egypt and the Conquest of Canaan in Archaeology, Egyptology and the Bible:
What Do We Know for Certain?
James K. Hoffmeier
November 12
Death Styles of the Rich and Famous and of the Kings of Israel: An Archaeologist Examines the
Evidence and Arguments
Jodi Magness
November 19
Two Temples Stood in Zion: How New Excavations, Old Photographs, Recent Observations and
Ancient Texts Enable Us to See the Temples of Solomon and Herod
Leen Ritmeyer
November 26
The First Synagogues and Churches: What Can We Learn from Newly Excavated Sites About the
Beliefs, Organization and Origins of Early Christian and Jewish Groups?
Steven Fine
December 3
Cosmos from Chaos: the Creation of Heaven and the Search for Divine Presence in Israelite Religion
Ziony Zevit
This really is an outstanding program and if I didn’t have to jump on an airplane to attend, I would
go. If you have limited time or funds, the four that would be of most interest to me are Cahill,
Hoffmeier, Magness, and Ritmeyer. The last three have great books on their subjects which I
recommend to all. (Perhaps they would sign it if you brought it.) Those books are Hoffmeier, Israel
in Egypt ($30); Magness, Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls ($15); Ritmeyer, The
Quest ($60).
4 thoughts on “Lectures in Biblical Archaeology”
Do you know of any good lectures on Biblical archaeology posted online? That would be a big help for us who cannot get to LA. Any help would be wonderful–Thankyou
Cory G.
Cory – that is a good question, but I don’t have a good answer. It would seem like there should be some around, but the only thing that comes to mind are the radio broadcasts of Book and Spade, which sometimes features interviews with archaeologists. You can see more here:
http://www.radioscribe.com/bknspade.htm
Only the current program is available online for free.
Biblical Archaeology Society also has some lectures on video that they sell.
I attended last night’s lecture by Jane Cahill, & was disappointed to learn from Fred Simmons (whose foundation has generously sponsored the series for 18 years) that they’re terminating the series after this one ends in December. In his words, he doesn’t see the point in “rehashing the same material” year after year, & “new [material] is hard to come by.”
On the bright side, however, according to Prof. Ziony Zevitt (who’s acted as its moderator for many years) the University may still occasionally have special guest lectures as new discoveries are made. A specific example he mentioned candidly to several of us after last night’s lecture, was Eilat Mazar after she’s had time to synthesize her current landmark work with the Large-Stone Structure.
I’ll be posting a detailed review of last night’s lecture in my own blog sometime later today, or no later than this weekend.
I have heard that the first lecture (by Cahill) was great. Grena, who posted above, has posted a great review on his blog here:
http://lmlk.blogspot.com/2007/10/her-royal-highness.html