Church and Biblical History

Last week, “Israeli archaeologists announced the discovery of dozens of Dead Sea Scroll fragments bearing biblical texts. The fragments of parchment include lines of Greek text from the books of Zechariah and Nahum. Based on the writing style, they have been dated to around the first century AD.” - TGC

“St. Patrick was born Maewyn Succat in the Roman colony of Britain around AD 387 to middle-class Christian parents. At the age of 16, Maewyn was kidnapped by pirates and carried off to Ireland where he was sold into slavery.” - AiG

“The Israel Antiquities Authority announced Tuesday that a four-year archaeological project uncovered portions of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets, including the books of Zechariah and Nahum.” - NBC

“Idan Dershowitz, 38, now claims the manuscript is, indeed, real and far older than Shapira thought. Dershowitz published his claims and arguments in a paper released earlier this month, ‘The Valediction of Moses: New Evidence on the Shapira Deuteronomy Fragments.’” - Fox

“In order to show why Tall el-Hammam, should not be identified as biblical Sodom, this paper proceeds by answering the following questions: (1) When was Sodom destroyed? (2) How should the lifespans of the patriarchs be understood? (3) Was Sodom inhabited again after its destruction?” - AiG

“Just before he died [February 18, 1546], Luther preached what would be his last sermon from his deathbed in Eisleben. The ‘sermon’ consisted of simply quoting two texts, one from the Psalms and one from the Gospels. Luther cited Psalm 68:19, ‘Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.’ Then he cited John 3:16.” - Ligonier

“The color purple appears several times in the Bible, usually in a robe draping one of the kings of ancient Israel. But the search for an authentic artifact dyed the royal color from the time of King David has always proved elusive.” - C.Today

“Archaeology reminds us of the ‘earthiness’ of the biblical accounts. As a field archaeologist at the site of Bethsaida, next to the Sea of Galilee, I oversaw the excavation area of the New Testament/Roman domestic quarter. Not only did we uncover some of the houses from that time, but we found lots of fishing gear, such as hooks and weights, inside the houses.” - TGC

“The handover of the artifacts, which included manuscript fragments, funeral masks, parts of coffins, and the heads of statues, was preceded by extensive discussions with Egyptian officials that started in late 2017, MOTB Chairman of the Board Steve Green said in a statement last week.” - C.Post

Central Seminary: Conference video from Baptist historian David Saxon; “Lessons from the polemical writings of Andrew Fuller.”