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...

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...

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,...

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....

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...

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...

Professor Boaz Zissu is an archaeologist and a member of the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University. He has authored and collaborated on numerous studies of the Bar Kokhba Revolt including co-authoring the book The Bar Kokhba Revolt: The Archaeological Evidence. We discuss the background to the revolt, its scale and administration, and its ultimate demise. You can purchase a copy of the book at this link and can find Professor Zissu's...

Khalil Andani is an Assistant Professor of Religion at Augustana College and holds a Ph.D. In Islamic Studies from Harvard University.  Professor Andani’s dissertation “Revelation in Islam: Qur’anic, Sunni, and Shi‘i Ismaili Perspectives” won the 2020 Best PhD Dissertation of the Year Award from the Foundation for Iranian Studies. In this episode of the podcast, we discuss his dissertation, which is a historical investigation of Islamic theologies of revelation in the formative and classical...

Gideon Bohak is a Professor in the Department of Jewish Philosophy and Talmud at Tel Aviv University. He is a specialist in Jewish magic, especially in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and in the study of the Cairo Genizah. Professor Bohak came back on the show to discuss a paper he co-authored titled Divorcing Lilith: From the Babylonian Incantation Bowls to the Cairo Genizah. We talked about the transmission of Jewish magical recipes from incantation bowls in Sasanian Iran to those found...

Matthew Chalmers is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Religious Studies and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Northwestern University’s Department of Religious Studies.  He is a scholar and theorist of religion, working with texts and traditions of the late antique eastern Mediterranean in Greek, Coptic, Aramaic, and Hebrew. In his current book project, The Samaritan Other: Representation, History, and Lost Late Antique Difference, he spotlights the continuous participation of Samaritans –...

A discussion with Daniel Fuks about the rise and fall of viticulture in the late antique Negev Highlands

A talk with Sarit Kattan-Gribbetz about her book Time and Difference in Rabbinic Judaism

A discussion with the founder of the Arabic dialect language learning website Playaling.com

A discussion with Professor Carolina Lopez-Ruiz about her book When The Gods Were Born

A discussion with Professors Aaron Rubin and Lily Kahn about their new book Jewish Languages From A to Z

A discussion with Professor Michael Philip Penn about his book Envisioning Islam: Syriac Christians and the Early Muslim World

A discussion with archaeobotanist Sue Frumin about Philistine invasion biology

A discussion with Professor Gideon Bohak about Jewish magical practices in late antiquity

A discussion with Professor David Ilan about the Chalcolithic age in the Southern Levant (4500 - 3700 BC)

A discussion about the contact between Palestinian Arabic and Israeli Hebrew