I've blogged about this before, asking questions like "show me the Bible verse that associates elongated skulls with the nephilim," and pointing out that the phenomena is well-known in the medical and anthropological fields. (I even posted pictures of models of...
journal articles
New Dissertation on the Worship of Idols and Gods in the OT
Hat tip to Lindsay Kennedy of My Digital Seminary for this link: The Relationship Between the Worship of Other Gods and the Worship of Idols within the Old Testament I obviously haven't read it yet, but it looks worthwhile. I searched for Benjamin Sommer's name in it...
Important Divine Council Article
I thought I'd share an article that I consider one of the best I've ever read for understanding the divine council in biblical theology. It's a book chapter. I've converted it to PDF from my digital edition of book (there's no copyright prohibition that I can see in...
Ancient Astrology as a Common Root for Science and Pseudo-Science
That's the title of this essay from the Electronic Journal of Folklore. The essay is from vol. 15 (published in 2000). It's also available in PDF. It's a good overview of ancient astronomy / astrology and gets into familiar concepts and themes that will be familiar to...
Egyptology Journals and Books Available Online
The list located here was compiled for the Egyptologists' Electronic Forum (EEF), so this isn't the library from Wackytown. A lot of good stuff here for anyone interested in ancient Egypt.
Giant Skeleton Hoaxes and Mis-Identifications
I've blogged several times about the pictures of giant human skeletons on the web that aren't what they seem to be. They fall into two categories: hoaxes and mis-identification of the remains of either dinosaurs or (more often) mastodons or mammoths. I recently came...
Just in Time for Christmas: David C. Brown’s Catalogue for Books in Egyptology and Other Ancient Near Eastern Studies
David C. Brown / Oxbow Books is perhaps the "go to" site and catalog for finding books related to ancient Egypt, Mesopotamian, Israel, and other civilizations of the ancient Near East. They have hundreds of titles in each area -- lots of stuff you won't find anywhere...
Critical Edition of the Gilgamesh Epic Available Online
This is a steal, folks - especially if you can work in Akkadian. But even if not, Andrew George's magisterial work on the Gilgamesh Epic is a must. It's the most current scholarship on the original cuneiform text. The file features tablet transcriptions,...
Free Book (PDF) on Temples and Temple Cosmology in Antiquity
The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago recently posted a new volume in the Oriental Institute Seminars series: Heaven on Earth: Temples, Ritual, and Cosmic Symbolism in the Ancient World (Edited by Deena Ragavan). You can download the book as a PDF for...
Recent Online Dissertation on the Sumerian Deity Enki
Today I came across this published (2010) doctoral dissertation on the god Enki by Peeter Espak. it is entitled, "The God Enki in Sumerian Royal Ideology and Mythology." I decided to blog the link in the name of offering something useful to all those who want to read...
The Name Theology in Israelite Religion
Here is the first of my two ETS papers, "The Name Theology in Israelite Religion." Hope you find it interesting. I think it's a good succinct summary of the history of the discussion. Of course I throw my own two cents in toward the end. The second paper on the...
Canaanites in America?
Some PaleoBabble readers may be familiar with the longstanding controversy over whether certain "inscriptions" found in the United States were written thousands of years ago by ancient Semitic peoples from the Mediterranean (Phoenicians, Canaanites, Hebrews, etc.)....
New Testament (Real) Numerology
I love stuff like this journal article by Mikeal Parsons: "Exegesis 'By the Numbers': Numerology and the New Testament." I have an interest in this kind of thing (no surprise to those of you who know me - "if it's weird, it's important"). In the OT it makes things...
Ancient Egyptians and Race
Some of you may have noticed in the comments that I replied to a commenter that the idea that ancient Egyptians were Negroes is nonsense (er, paleobabble). I thought I'd direct anyone interested in this to some resources. Here is a scholarly article that does a nice...
The Sirius Mystery: You Don't Need Columbo For This One
[[UPDATE: Talk about good timing! I guess the person who wrote this article, dated today, does need Columbo; --MSH]] I'm hoping my reference to the venerable TV detective doesn't date me too much here! Way back in 2009 I wrote the only post on this blog about the...