With the release of version 3.0 of Bible Mapper, the program became free but support was discontinued. Now, Mark Vitalis Hoffman has begun a wiki for Bible Mapper where all users can pass on ideas, post questions, and share their maps with others. I think this will be a great resource for those creating their own maps.
I recently recommended Bible Mapper and shared an experience here.
One of the most useful newsletters I receive is Tyndale Tech, published by David Instone-Brewer at Tyndale House, Cambridge. This month’s newsletter is on “Maps & Geography in Biblical Studies,” and he points the readers to numerous helpful resources for maps and photos, both for use in study and teaching. I’m sure you’ll find something here you didn’t know about before. And as he says, “There is now no excuse to teach or preach without pictures and maps.”
If you’re new to the newsletter, you’ll also want to take a look at last month’s “Tyndale Toolbar.”
Book and the Spade has posted its latest program, this one an interview with Eric Cline, entitled “Pseudo-archaeologists and the lost Arks.” The host, Gordon Govier, tells me that he has written an article about a similar subject in the May issue of Christianity Today. Cline has a related book that came out last year: From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible.
The Book and the Spade radio program now features an interview with Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, author of The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide (mentioned before here). There are two parts, each about 15 minutes each. Part two is currently posted, but this link should get you part one.
If you’re interested, grab them now as the mp3 files are archived relatively quickly and I don’t think the podcast link is currently working.
Did Jesus ever imagine that a few hundred yards from where he told the disciples that Christians would be known by their love that Jewish authorities would break up a brawl among his followers?
And not just once, as “brawls are not uncommon at the church.”
Israeli police rushed into Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre to break up fist fights between dozens of Greek and Armenian worshippers on Orthodox Palm Sunday, witnesses said.
Some 20 officers intervened after Armenian worshippers threw a Greek Orthodox priest out of the church, sparking a free-for-all, they said.
Several worshippers then started beating the police officers with palm fronds they were holding for the Palm Sunday celebrations that mark the return of Jesus to the Holy City a week before he was crucified.
After the incident, dozens of members of Jerusalem’s Armenian community marched from the church to the Old City’s police headquarters in protest at the detention of two Armenians.
Brawls are not uncommon at the church, which is shared by various branches of Christianity, each of which controls and jealously guards part of site — considered one of the holiest in Christianity.
Precisely in order to prevent such disturbances, two Muslim families have been entrusted for the past 800 years with opening and closing the gates of the church, a cavernous labyrinth of chapels and crypts built on the site where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified and buried.
The full story is here.
The Jerusalem Post has a short article on the work of the Council of Restoration and Preservation of Historic Sites in Israel. Most of those singled out are kibbutz museums, which are usually ignored by tourists. If you live in Israel, or plan to be back for the third – or thirtieth – time, you might find a few sites to add to your list.
For a small country, Israel has an amazing number of historic sites and museums. But then, the entire country is a museum and open history book in itself. There hardly seems to be a place, certainly in the central and northern parts of the country, where there isn’t a sign at the roadside pointing to some historical site from any time period ranging from the Biblical to recent history….
Some years ago, an overseas visitor commented after a trip through the Galilee that northern Israel seemed to him to be one huge park and picnic ground!…
Founded over 20 years ago, the council maintains a long list’s worth of sites and monuments and, working industriously alongside other organizations and special interest groups, has successfully restored important sites throughout the country dedicated to protecting Israel’s rich heritage….
Under the motto “Our future, inspired by our past,” the council identifies, restores, conserves and protects major heritage buildings and sites associated with Israel’s rebirth, beginning in 1860, the time the first settlement outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City was established.
The rest is here.
