Different Strokes for Different Folks Thanks to BAR, readers hear from real experts in the field, not a summary or a version of an event that is redacted by a staff writer with little hands-on experience. I commend BAR and its editorial team for giving us a journal where you can still find trustworthy, relevant, and reliable information, conveyed by real professionals, unafraid of pushing against established dogma.
Jose M. Paredes
Flossmoor, Illinois
I really am sorry to see your magazine has gone so liberal! Truly, it appears many universities today are producing well-credentialed skeptics rather than apologists of God’s Word. If this is the decided course, may I suggest you drop “biblical” from your title and replace it with “biblical lands” or “Middle Eastern” as a more accurate reflection of your position?
Pastor Mike Pangburn
Bridgeton, New Jersey
I am not renewing my BAR subscription, and I would like to let you know why. First, I have studied the Bible for years. I have a B.A. in history and religion. I also have a masters of divinity. On more than one occasion, I have found the authors of your articles straying into areas where they do not appear to be qualified, such as biblical interpretation. Some authors go from the particular to the general. As a student of history, I learned that is not good interpretation. In the article “Nails or Knots—How Was Jesus Crucified?” published in the Spring 2025 issue, Jeffrey P. Arroyo García goes to great lengths to prove that Jesus was crucified by tying his arms to the cross. He states that only in John’s Gospel is Thomas mentioned as placing his fingers in the nail marks. I submit that once is enough. The Gospels were written from four different perspectives and to four different groups. Hence, some details from one account may not be mentioned in another. As I was taught, lack of evidence is not evidence. The author concludes that although crucifixion was a common form of execution in the Roman Empire, “nailing a victim to a cross may not have been as common as people think. And it might have been introduced in Judea only after the time of Jesus” (italics mine). I find he offers a great deal of ambiguity.
Second, I am of the Catholic faith, born and bred. I do not recall seeing any articles from Catholic scholars in BAR. If I am mistaken, I sincerely apologize. Very few if any of the conferences and workshops you advertise include Catholic scholars. When I want biblical interpretation I can trust, I consult a Catholic theologian that I know I can trust.
Duane Breaux
Pierre Part, Louisiana
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Fix Your Dates! I don’t know where BAR stands on the truth of God’s Holy Word. However, when I see the terms BCE and CE instead of BC and AD, it makes me wonder. Even an organization that doesn’t subscribe to any particular religious viewpoint must have some idea as to the truth of the Holy Bible. Since you seek out information that is about the history behind the biblical text, you must see that Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose from the dead and that his life changed history forever. With that in mind, to use BCE and CE is an affront to the truth of God’s Holy Word and to God himself. Can you please see fit to use terms that have been in longstanding use worldwide until the last few decades?
Bryan Daugherty
Yuba City, California
Why BCE and CE? Looks to me like you have gone secular, with no regard for the truth.
Michael Noctor
Lehighton, Pennsylvania
As a new subscriber, I was disappointed to see the use of BCE and CE, considering that this is a biblical archaeology magazine. I understand that is the secular use. The contention regarding Christ’s birthday notwithstanding, the standard usage still works and people know what it means. It just seems like another example of woke “be in the world, not of the world.”
Johnna Hildebrand
London, Ohio
In accordance with most standard scholarly usage today, BAR’s house style is to use BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era). However, BAR allows authors to maintain their preferred terminology as appropriate, including BC and AD (see, e.g., Győző Vörös’s article, “Under Siege: How Rome Conquered Jerusalem,”).—ED.
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John Was Not a Witness Several letters in the Fall issue’s “Queries & Comments” draw conclusions about Jesus’s crucifixion based on the authority of the author of the Gospel of John. I know of no reputable New Testament scholar who believes that any of the four canonical gospels were written by eyewitnesses, and certainly not apostles or disciples of an apostle. Those attributions were likely assigned in the mid- to late second century to give greater authority to the gospels. All four canonical gospels are anonymous.
Arthur J. Bellinzoni
Aurora, New York
Grateful Dead Backstory The title of the article “Ancient Judah’s Grateful Dead” refers imprecisely to the folkloristic motif of the “grateful dead” by focusing on the comfort, care, and celebration at the deceased’s tomb. Most commonly, the widespread grateful dead tales involve the death of a debtor, his creditors paid by a traveler or stranger, who, in turn, is saved from death or calamity by the soul/spirit of the grateful deceased.
Bernard Witlieb
White Plains, New York
Mysterious Negev Tombs The short news item “Mysterious Negev Tombs,” about the tomb complex found at a crossroads on the ancient trade routes connecting Egypt and the Levant to the Arabian Peninsula, was very interesting. Among other things, it stated that a significant number of the burials were of women, which the excavators suggest may indicate human trafficking.
I wish that statement had been expanded upon to look at other possibilities. The kingdom of Cush was known for its women warriors, the most famous being Queen Amanirenas. Might the burials have been of women warriors who were hired as guards for the caravans?
Marian Powell
Chino Valley, Arizona
You might be pleased to learn that we are preparing a feature article for an upcoming issue on these mystifying tombs, so hopefully we’ll learn more then. Also, for more on the women who ruled over Cush during the time of the first Christians, check out Mark Wilson’s article “Philip’s Encounter with the ‘Ethiopian Eunuch’,” in this issue.—ED.
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Misunderstanding Moses Ralph Hawkins seems to have missed an important point in his article “Losing Abraham’s Religion.” While I am sure that the Egyptian princess did her best to care for the infant Moses, I am equally sure that she allowed her handmaidens the opportunity to change his diapers. If the Israelites were practicing circumcision during their stay in Egypt, it would have become widely known that Moses was a Hebrew, since he was supposed to be 3 months old when placed in the Nile.
John Majka
Louisville, Kentucky
I believe Hawkins has mistranslated Exodus 4:24. The Lord wanted to kill Moses, not his infant son Gershom. It was Moses’s duty to circumcise his son on the eighth day. Zipporah realized what was happening and quickly circumcised her son, thus saving her husband. The Midrash attempts to fill in the blanks surrounding Zipporah’s actions.
Marty Blumenthal
Highland Park, Illinois
The First Council of Nicea Thank you for your wonderful article in the Fall 2025 issue, “Where Was the First Council of Nicea?” by Mark R. Fairchild. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Christian denomination that does not accept the Nicene Creed. I found this article very informative and interesting, and the pictures were spectacular, especially the two submerged graves. I continue to renew my BAR subscription to read articles like this.
Julie Cannon Markham
Provo, Utah
Stay Out of Politics I was outraged and disappointed to see you publish the letter by Craig Hunter in the Fall issue. Hunter writes nothing about archaeology but shows his prejudice and hatred by referring to “occupied” East Jerusalem and to people who have been “displaced” by the Israeli government. He even cites the bogus, racist, International Court of Justice in his screed.
In almost 40 years, I have never known BAR to become involved in politics, especially in the Arab-Israeli conflict. You deal with archaeology and the Bible very well and have always—usually quite deftly—avoided the slightest mention of this issue. Why, then, did you publish this letter instead of tossing it into the garbage where it belongs?
Wallace Gottlieb
Cedarhurst, New York
I was disheartened to read the recent revisionist, political diatribe that appeared in the letter by Craig Hunter, printed in the Fall 2025 issue (“Queries & Comments,” p. 8). If BAR is intending on advancing political, anti-Semitic, revisionist narratives, please let me know promptly and I will gladly cancel my long-standing subscription.
Adam Rubinstein
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Incorrect Hieroglyphs The news of the discovery of the cartouche of Ramesses III in Jordan contains an incorrect reading of the hieroglyphs preceding the left cartouche. It is NOT nb 3ḫw, “Lord of transfigured spirits.” To my knowledge, this phrase never occurs as a royal epithet. Instead, the Egyptian reads nb ḫ‘w, “Lord (or Possessor) of Crowns,” which is a very common royal epithet in the New Kingdom.
James K. Hoffmeier
Emeritus Professor Of Near Eastern Archaeology
Trinity International University
Mary and Martha Mystery While catching up on past issues, I came across the fascinating article in the Winter 2024 issue, “The Mystery of Mary and Martha,” by Elizabeth Schrader Polczer, which explains why you see the women’s names in the Gospel of John and when you don’t.
The thought of long-ago scribes sitting in monasteries and copying older manuscripts brought this story to mind: A brother copying one part or the other of the Gospels gives a shriek as he bends over his writing desk. The abbot comes running over and asks the brother what happened. The brother looks up and stammers, “It says celebrate, not celibate!”
Keep the articles coming!
Stephen M. Flatow
Jerusalem, Israel
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