New books. Will I read them? I hope so.

Robin Wall Kimmerer speaking at the plenary session tonight for the Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin University.

Interesting. I haven't looked at Finkelstein's argument here, but I'll tuck it away for post-dissertation fun. Thanks!

Jerusalem Tracker 14.2: New Media, Developments, and Events about the Holy City Helpful lists of new material about Jerusalem

My latest post with links to new pop media articles, blog posts, podcasts, lectures, videos, and developments related to historical Jerusalem, including some upcoming events.

approachingjerusalem.substack.com/p/jerusalem-...

Where would you put the Gezer Calendar?

Episode 321: H. Daniel Zacharias and T. Christopher Hoklotubbe - Native American Biblical Interpretation — The Bible for Normal People In this week’s episode of The Bible for Normal People , Pete and Jared talk with Chris Hoklotubbe and Danny Zacharias about biblical interpretation through an Indigenous American perspective. They ex...

This was a great conversation.

Jerusalem Tracker 14.1: New Publications about the Holy City Helpful lists of new material about Jerusalem

My new list of academic publications about historical Jerusalem that have appeared since December. Some fun stuff in here.

approachingjerusalem.substack.com/p/jerusalem-...

Insane statistic I found in an article today.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

One of my gardening goals this year was to begin sourcing all new seeds through Indigenous-owned N. American companies. Thankfully I was able to do that through the Alliance of Native Seedkeepers. Now on to all the work of cultivation this season.

Dissertation word count (excluding footnotes) at the end of this writing week: 64,373.

Doesn’t look like it, but I promise that progress has been made.

Gabriel Barkay, 81, Dies; His Discoveries Revised Biblical History

“This is my 56th year in Jerusalem,” he said in a 2006 lecture at Bar-Ilan. “I know the city. But every day, I discover there is more and more to be known about it.”

⚠️ Ce soir je devrais être dans l'avion vers Jérusalem ✈️, pour une semaine de séminaires et rencontres avec des Palestiniens et des Israéliens 🇵🇸🇮🇱, collègues, lycéens, étudiants. Le gouvernement israélien a décidé de me boycotter et de m'interdire d'embarquer. www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

This year’s books from under the tree. Excited for all of them.

Jerusalem Tracker No. 13.2: New Media, Developments, and Events about the Holy City Helpful lists of new material about Jerusalem

approachingjerusalem.substack.com/p/jerusalem-...

Jerusalem Tracker No. 13.1: New Publications about the Holy City Helpful lists of new material about Jerusalem

My new quarterly list of publications & media about historical Jerusalem that have appeared since August.

Now in 2 parts: No. 1 contains new articles/books. No. 2 covers new media, developments, & upcoming events (linked in first comment below).

approachingjerusalem.substack.com/p/jerusalem-...

The Consumption Ritual You’re scrolling.

“After World War II, the entire economy was restructured around a single proposition: your spending is your patriotism. Your purchases are your purpose. The economy doesn’t serve you. You serve it.”

Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.

When I was an undergrad/early grad student, I always felt that profs were nitpicking at my papers. I wanted them to deal with the content of my argument rather than its form. Now I see that is impossible. Bad form obscures good content and distracts from it. Hence, we must teach how to write well.

Combined literary spoils from the ASOR and SBL annual meetings.

Moved over to the SBL annual meeting today, thankfully just down the road from ASOR this year (as opposed to an entirely different city). I have already looked over about one million new books and caught up with many friends and colleagues #aarsbl25

Fun session on orientalism in biblical archaeology

More presentations on foraging wild foods please!

Francesca Romana Stasolla lectures about the new excavations at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Excited for another ASOR annual meeting! @asor-research.bsky.social

Changed my default search engine from Google to DuckDuckGo yesterday, and I am enjoying it.

Thanks I sure will. Can I ask what publication?

Fodder for next year’s SBL paper

I'll be at SBL but unfortunately won't be able to attend your paper. Will you publish this?

When I edit an academic book manuscript, one of the key things I do is ask: "What does this [book, chapter, section] promise to do? And what does it ACTUALLY do?"

These questions may seem simple, but they take a lot of time to answer, and they generate incredibly helpful insights!

#AmEditing

Some Observations on the "Siloam Dam" A massive dam wall was uncovered in excavations at Birket al-Ḥamra in Jerusalem and dated to ca. 800 BCE. Let's take a closer look.

I wrote a little about the "Siloam Dam," which was recently uncovered in Jerusalem.