Part 1: The Ongoing Hebrew Language Revolution - A Discussion With Dr. Ruvik Rosenthal

Michael Fradley is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford and a landscape archaeologist. He was one of the co-authors of a recent study about how a remote sensing survey in southern Jordan identified at least three Roman military camps that seem to reveal a previously unknown military campaign against the Nabateans. You can find a link to the study here. 

Liane Feldman discusses her book The Consuming Fire, which presents a complete translation of the Priestly Source of the Bible, offering a distinctive account of the origins of the people of Israel and their relationship with God.  By presenting the complete translation of the Priestly Source without the other sources that are believed to also be part of the compiled Bible as we have it today, the reader is presented with a story that is oftentimes in stark contrast to the traditional reading. 

Liane is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion and Program in Judaic Studies at Princeton University. You can purchase a copy of The Consuming Fire here.

Dr. Piers Mitchell is an Honorary Research Associate at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge and the lead author of a recent study that analyzed sediments from two latrines from the Kingdom of Judah. The study found  that dysentery was widespread in the ancient capital of Jerusalem.

You can read the study at this link.

In this episode of the podcast, Abigail Krasner Balbale discusses her book The Wolf King: Ibn Mardanish and the Construction of Power in Al Andalus. The Wolf King explores how political power was conceptualized, constructed, and wielded in twelfth-century al-Andalus, focusing on the reign of Muhammad ibn Sad ibn Ahmad ibn Mardanīsh also known as The Wolf King. 

Abigail is an Assistant Professor of Islamic History at New York University and her research focuses on the intersection of political power, religious ideology and visual and material culture in the medieval Islamic world.

You can purchase a copy of The Wolf King on Amazon.

Dr. Shamam Waldman discusses a recent paper she co-authored with her colleagues at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem that was published in the journal Cell. The study was an effort to sequence the DNA from the remains of Ashkenazi Jews in medieval Europe and focused on a DNA analysis that was done on the extracted teeth of individuals who were buried in a Jewish cemetery in Erfurt, Germany around the 14th century. The findings of the study shed light on where Ashkenazi Jews originated from, how the communities formed, and common genetic traits they shared with modern populations.

Professor Gary Rendsburg comes back on the podcast to discuss his book How The Bible Is Written. The book examines the literary aspects of the Hebrew biblical text and highlights the artistry and skill of the biblical authors. How The Bible Is Written is available in a number of stores, including in-person at Barnes & Noble and online at the links below:

- Barnes & Noble
- Book Depository
- HendrickSonrose
- Christian Books
- Amazon 

Hannah-Lena Hagemann is based in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Hamburg University, where she leads a research group on rebellion in early Islam. She is the author of The Kharijites in Early Islamic Historical Tradition which is the first comprehensive literary analysis of the Kharijites’ history as depicted in early Islamic historiography. The book provides a new perspective on early Kharijism and explores their narrative function as rebels and heretics in early Islamic tradition. You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon here.

Professor Yosef Garfinkel is a Professor of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Yigael Yadin Chair in Archaeology of Israel. In 2021 he was one of the authors of a study published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology which examines how the Assyrian army laid siege to the town of Lachish in Judah in 701 BC. Specifically, the study examines how the Assyrian army constructed an impressive siege ramp in under a month and were confronted with unique conditions. The remnants of the Assyrian siege ramp remain at the site and it’s the oldest known siege ramp in the Near East and the only one known to have been discovered from the military conquests of the Assyrian empire.

Professor Benjamin Sommer is an American biblical scholar and Jewish theologian. He’s a Professor of Bible at The Jewish Theological Seminary of America and a Senior Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. Professor Sommer is the author of the book Revelation & Authority: Sinai in Jewish Scripture and Tradition, which examines how the biblical authors conceived of the revelation at Sinai as both a collaborative and participatory event. You can find a link to purchase his book on Amazon here.

Andrea Berlin is the James R. Wiseman Chair in Classical Archaeology and a Professor of Archaeology and Religion at Boston University. Her research focuses on the archaeology and history of the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, and Roman East, Ceramic Studies, Second-Temple Judaism, and the archaeology of Israel. In this episode, we discuss the book The Middle Maccabees of which she is a co-editor and a contributing author. The book examines the beginnings of the independent Jewish state founded in the second century BCE and frames it within the wider world of conflicts between the Ptolemies of Egypt, the Seleucids of Syria, and the Romans. You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon.