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1342 tempera painting by Ambrogio Lorenzetti titled The Presentation in the Temple. Uffizi Gallery/Public Domain

Mar 5 Blog

Mary, Simeon or Anna: Who First Recognized Jesus as Messiah?

By: Ben Witherington III

Who was the first person to truly recognize Jesus as the messiah and understand the implications? Biblical scholar Ben Witherington III takes a close look at the account given in Luke, and sheds some light on what the Biblical narrative has to say about who was the first to recognize Jesus as the messiah.

15th-century painting Healing of the Cripple and Raising of Tabith, by Masolino da Panicale.

Mar 5 Blog

Tabitha in the Bible

By: Robin Gallaher Branch

Biblical studies scholar Robin Gallaher Branch explores Luke’s depiction of a woman set on doing good for the poor and serving her friends, the widows, for whom she makes robes and clothing.

19th-century painting of Jezebel by John Liston Byam Shaw

Mar 3 Blog

Scandalous Women in the Bible

By: BAS Staff

Mary Magdalene, Jezebel, Rahab, Lilith. Today, each are popularly considered scandalous women in the Bible. Are these so-condemned salacious women misrepresented?

Feb 19 Blog

What’s Missing from Codex Sinaiticus, the Oldest New Testament?

By: BAS Staff

Compare differences in the Biblical text between the King James Version and Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest New Testament.

The presepio (“nativity scene”) is a centuries-old craft and one of Naples’s best-known traditions. Photo: Howard Hudson / Wikimedia Commons

Feb 17 Blog

Christmas Stories in Christian Apocrypha

By: Tony Burke

The modern Christmas nativity scene is drawn from apocryphal texts in addition to the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke.

Roman Catacomb Painting at the Catacombs of Santa Priscilla. Image courtesy James Tabor.

Feb 15 Blog

The Last Days of Jesus: A Final “Messianic” Meal

By: James Tabor

On Wednesday Jesus began to make plans for Passover. He sent two of his disciples into the city to prepare a large second-story guest room where he could gather secretly and safely with his inner group.

Feb 12 Blog

Mark and John: A Wedding at Cana—Whose and Where?

By: James Tabor

James Tabor discusses the wedding at Cana from the Gospels of Mark and John. Whose wedding was this and why were Jesus and his family present?

Woodcut from Die Bibel in Bildern (1860) by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld.

Jan 25 Blog

Jesus Was a Refugee

By: Joan E. Taylor

Scholar Joan E. Taylor says that it’s worth remembering that Jesus’ earliest years were, according to the Gospel of Matthew, spent as a refugee in a foreign land.

Henry Osawa Tanner’s “The Three Marys,” 1910. Photo: Fisk University Galleries, Nashville, Tennessee

Jan 24 Blog

On What Day Did Jesus Rise?

By: BAS Staff

On what day did Jesus rise? After three days or on the third day? Ben Witherington III examines this question in BAR.

Jan 20 Blog

Biblical Riot at Ephesus: The Archaeological Context

By: BAS Staff

How accurate is Luke’s account of the riot at Ephesus described in Acts 19:23–41? Excavations at the site bring this Biblical event to reality in a new way—from inscriptions and figurines of the goddess Artemis to the theater where the riot took place.

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