Links and Resources

Class Discussion Board

• Mary Adams's classes

Meta-sites

• Religious Tolerance --site promoting religious tolerance by placing data about many religions side by side. Great on such topics as
  • Christianity
  • Christianity and Islam (a comparison)
  • Science and the Bible
  • Religous "Hot Topics"
• Jewish History Resource Center
• Website for PBS Heritage: Civilization and the Jews (contains timelines, presentations, teaching resources, and lots of information about Judaism from 3800 to the present)
• Resources for Biblical Studies
• Old Testament Studies
• Academic Info--Religious Studies
• Near Eastern Mythology
• Who Wrote the Bible? from Straight Dope
• Dead Sea Scrolls
  • Orion Center for study of the Dead Sea Scrolls
• The Bible's Buried Secrets: Nova (PBS) site
• Into His Own: Perspective on the World of Jesus (great sourcebook about Jesus's time)

Text and Textual study (Includes Translation)

• Translation paper (1): Three key resources from BibleStudyTools:
  • Interlinear bible (English and Hebrew/Greek)
  • Parallel bible (compare two translations side by side)
  • Compare translations (look at one verse at a time in multiple versions)
• Midrash Paper (2): Louis Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews or Haggada (complete volume online)
• Documentary Hyposthesis
  • Friedman's translation with documentary sources
  • Friedman's Who Wrote the Flood Story (story is taken apart piece by piece here)
  • Genesis by source (table)
  • Exodus by source (table)
• E-Sword: great, free (donation-driven) bible study software that allows you to compare versions of the bible in parallel form, check commentary, and even see illustrations
• Theologyweb's biblical languages discussion board
• Searchable bible in translation (various translations)
• NCC's New Revised Standard Version site
• Searchable NRSV (with apocrypha)
• Bible Study Tools (features Parallel and interlinear English and Hebrew versions.)
• SearchGod'sWord.org
• Bible Gateway
• Septuagint online (searchable text of the original greek, with concocordance)
• Encyclopedia of New Testament Textual Criticism
• All-in-one Bible Resources Search
• Religious Texts and Resources -- U Penn
• Textual issues and translation:
  • bible translation
  • translation theory and methods
  • Bible versions
  • Will the King James bible survive?
• Other Sacred Jewish Texts
  • Louis Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews (complete volume online) or Haggada (for Midrash Paper 2)
  • TNK (in Hebrew)
  • Talmud and Mishna
  • Kabbala or mystical tradition
  • Ancient and Medieval
  • Modern compilations of fairy tales, folk tradition, and other things
• Other Apocryphal and non-canonical texts
  • Pre-Christian
    • Book of Enoch
    • Book of Jubilees
    • Forgotten Books of Eden
  • New Testament and Early Christian texts
    • Gnostic Gospels
      • Gospel of Thomas Home Page
    • Probably contents of Q
    • Other Q Resources
• Other documents and sources related to biblical life
  • Elephantine letters (Elephantine was a Nile island with a diaspora Judahite community active in the Persian period)
    • Letter seeking authorization to rebuild temple of Yahu (Yahweh)
    • Letter seeking advice on how to observe passover
• Oldest biblical texts found by archeologists
  • oldest existing texts in the bible and Silver scrolls (text of Numbers from time of Deuteronomy)
  • Dead Sea Scrolls

Films I like to show in class

• Empires: Kingdom of David (or check Blackboard)
  • Part 1: By the Rivers of Babylon
  • Part 2: The Book and the Sword
  • Part 3: The End of Days
  • Part 4: The Gift of the Jews
• Genesis: series of lectures by David Nieman
• The Bible Unearthed (Israel Finkelstein's archeological discoveries): The best archeological movie on the period and highly recommended
  • Parts 1 through 4: Check Blackboard
• The Bible's Buried Secrets
• Mysteries: Jacob's Ladder
• Mysteries: Magic and Miracles
• Mysteries: Prophets
• Mysteries: Heaven and Hell
• Mysteries: Angels
• Job: The Devil's Test
• Mysteries: King David (biblical version)
• Mysteries: King Solomon (biblical version)
• History of the Devil
• Jewish Spirituality:
  • Gnosis: Kabbalah
• Banned from the Bible 1 (on Youtube)
• Banned from the Bilbe Part ii (Youtube)
  • Film questions (to study above films)
• Gnosticism:
  • BBC: Gnostic Gospels
  • Gospel of Judas
  • Bart Ehrman on the Gospel of Judas (start after 6:00)
  • Gospel of Thomas
• Christianity: the first 1000 years
• Christianity: the second 1000 years
• Empires: Peter, Paul, and the Christian Revolution
• Part 1
• Part 2
• Web site (History Channel)
• Frontline: From Jesus To Christ: The First Christians
  • From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians (part 1)
  • From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians (part 2)
  • From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians (part 3)
  • From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians (part 4)
  • Web site (PBS)
• Book of Revelation
• And...an unrelated but lovely documentary about how plants and people co-evolved: Botany of Desire

Reference

• First millenium timeline by Magic Dragon Multimedia
• Bible dictionaries
• Concordances (use these to look up every use of a word or name)

Other ancient texts and religious traditions

• Zoroastrianism
• Sumerian Mythology
• Assyrian and Babylonian Mythology FAQ
• Babylonian and Near Eastern Texts
  • Code of Hammurabi
  • Another one with popup illustrations
• Gateways to Babylon--info on Mesopotamian Religion
• Epic of Gilgamesh--about
• Caananite Mythology
  • Canaan and Ancient Israel--a site about archeological finds
  • Ancient Egypt--from the same UPenn Museum site as above
• Mithraism
• Dead Sea Scrolls
• Divine mediator figures in the biblical world (maintained by Dr. James R. Davila at St. Andrews)
  • Melchizedek/ Michael and the War in Heaven tradition
• Traditions of Magic in Late Antiquity

Maps

• Simple Bible Atlas--contains old and new testmament maps
• Specific topics maps--alphabetical list
• Abraham's Journeys
• Old Testament Maps
• Map with Old testament events
• Orbis: Standford's Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World (you can calculate travel distances and times using various methods)

Science and the Bible

• The age of the universe--article that attempts to reconcile differences between biblical and scientific chronology
• Science and the Bible--Religious Tolerance's excellent discussion

Bible history

• Jerusalemn Archeological Park
• Dead Sea Scrolls
• Old Testament Chronology--the wider history
• Slides related to Hebrew Bible (from J. Tigay's UPenn course)

Other Courses,

• Bible as Literature (Wayne Narey at Arkansas State)
• Bible as Literature ( John Becker at Fairleigh Dickinson U)
• Bible as Literature (Steven Marx at Cal Poly U)
• Bible as Lliterature (Chana Bloch at Mills College)

Miscellaneous Texts, Blogs, and Miniguides

• Readng the Old Testament (By by Barry L. Bandstra, Hope College)
• Dr. Constable's Bible Study Notes (good insights in bible texts; has a fundamentalist Christian perspective on authorship)
• Bible Dudes
• PaleoJudaica (a blog about ancient Judaism and its contexts)
• Blogging the Bible ("Ignoramus" David Plotz reacts as he reads the whole bible without the benefit of textbook or commentary)

Final Exam

• Different kinds of biblical criticism (source, form, canonical)
• Crosswalk (features Parallel and interlinear English and Hebrew versions)
• bible dictionaries
• American Heritage Dictionary
• Concordances (use these to look up every use of a word or name)
• Essay Questions
  • Roman Empire: History and Archeology links
  • Women, Roman Empire. and Early Christianity
  • Roman Mystery Religions
  • Juadism in the time of Jesus
  • Jesus movements
  • PBS Video's page on Paul
• Powerpoint bible maps and map of Roman Empire in AD 14

Links related to specific books

The Pentateuch

• The Documentary Hypothesis
• more details on this
• an article about the documentary hypothesis
• Genesis--historical chronology
• Genesis--Ugaritic parallels
• Genesis--Near Eastern myths
• Genesis--Abraham's journeys
• Genesis -- Enuma Elish (creation Myth) and Epic of Gilgamesh--Summary
• Genesis Art Gallery
• Genesis and Exodus--Baal Worship in the Old Testament
• Exodus--Art Gallery
• Exodus--Images from Moses
• Exodus--Translating Exodus--by a professor of history and bible studies at San Diego State University
• Exodus--Dating Exodus (Hope College site)
• Exodus--color-coated by authors J, E, and P (documentary hypothesis)
• Exodus--Ba'al worship in the OT
• Exodus & Deuterotomy--In the Footsteps of Moses (BBC Program includes some great computer reconstructions)
• Exodus & Deuterotomy--Codes of Conduct (Israel compared to surrounding nations)
• Deuterotomy--Notes and Outline by Bob Dunston @ Cumberland College
• Deuterotomy--The Shema
• Deuterotomy--Beautiful Captive Women
• Deterotomy, others--Demons in the Old Testament

Prophecies

• Judges--Outline of Judges--Bob Dunston
• Judges--article by Dennis Bratcher
• Judges--Role of women in Judges
• Judges--Art from Judges
• Kings--Art depicting Solomon
• Kings--Art depicting the Temple
• Kings--Art depicting Elijah
• Kings--Art depicting Hezekiah
• Isaiah
• Jeremiah
• Ezekial

The Writings or Wisdom Literature

• Book of Ruth
• Esther
• Song of Solomon
  • A commentary that suggests the poem is about sex
• Job
  • An Introduction to OT Wisdom Literature
• Daniel
• Lamentations: Near Eastern Parallels

New Testament

• Who Wrote the New Testament -- from Straight Dope
  • How the bible was canonized
• The Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, Luke)
• Gospel of John
• Josephus (Jewish historian who gives us much of our early NT background)
• Revelation
• Revelation
  • Christian Apocalyptic Writings
  • Revelation
  • Revelation in the Canon
  • Millennialism and Competing End-of-world theories
  • Art