According to a blurb on their website, the sister magazines Biblical Archaeology Review and Bible Review are merging into one longer magazine. The market will apparently not support two distinct publications of this kind.
For those unfamiliar with them, these two magazines are great. Articles are current, in-depth, and written by well-known scholars in the field. Because the intended audience is the non-specialist, articles usually cover the scholarly consensus and useful background before delving in to the topic at hand. Technical terms usually get an asterisk to a short definition at the bottom of the page.
Though I suppose I’m beginning to qualify as a specialist, these two magazines have been very useful to me in understanding the Old and New Testament, as well as different perspectives on them, since scholars of different backgrounds (Jewish and Christian), approaches and philosophies (textual, archaeological, minimalist/maximalist) often respond to each other.
The light (and sometimes heat) produced therein, as well as the variety of letters to the editor (incensed, supportive, outraged, supplementing, “cancel my subscription,” naive) quickly dispel the idea that “biblical studies” is monolithic or a cold dispassionate science. They’ve even published a book of “best of” letters to the editor.
There are two snippets of biblicist letters to the editor in this post, and a BAR article on “Woman, A Power Equal to Man” (on Genesis and the phrase “help meet”) linked here under #8.
Subscriptions for a year are 13.97, and the BAR and BR archives are available in cd-rom format.
I’ll be putting up the occasional Old Testament post as we move along this year, so stay tuned.
Yeah, there was an announcement in the last issue that they were going to do this. As long as they include BR-type substance in the new BAR, it’s fine with me.
I even published a letter to the editor once, in BR. Here is the letter in the form I sent it on 12 April 2003:
Dear Editor:
I very much appreciated the insight into the expression “render unto Caesar” from David T. Ball’s article in the April 2003 issue. (Note, however, that the Greek word consistently transliterated in the article as *epigraphy* is *epigraphe*, with a final *eta*, not *upsilon*.)
I thought your readers might appreciate the following quote from Tertullian, *Adversus Marcionem*, Book IV, Chapter 38, which gives the essence of Ball’s thesis in a nutshell:
“Render unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s.” What will be the “the things which are God’s?” Such things as are like Caesar’s *denarius*–that is to say, His image and similitude. That, therefore, which he commands to be “rendered unto God,” the Creator, is *man*, who has been stamped with His image, likeness, name, and substance.
Keep up the good work!
[Kevin again]
It took about six months for my letter to hit print. They edited out my correction of their Greek transliteration, but otherwise printed my letter pretty much as I had written it. Every now and then I have noticed other letters submitted by LDS readers.
Oh, I forgot to mention that one of the great features of this magazine is the large number of pictures, illustrations, maps, artwork, etc.
I subscribe to BAR, which has suffered a bit lately with the controversy surrounding the James Ossuary. I always learn something interesting from the magazine, however, and would recommend it to people interested in biblical archeology.
I think that the BAS has driven readership from BAR due to Mr. Shanks’s insistence on keeping the Ossuary in his news. I should also note that Bible Review is the one place I have thusfar been published.
Just curious: Why does your article title link to a web page about one of the Transformers? Is there a joke I’m missing somewhere?
Transformers, 1st Generation. A group of robots could form one powerful robot rogether, and the line was always, “Constructicons, merge to form… Devastator!”
John C., what did you publish in BR?
Ben S. #6: Wow, talk about an obscure cultural reference.
I guess it depends on when one went to elementary school;) If I say that phrase to my brothers, they’d all shout “Devastator!”