It's difficult to understand the Hebrew Bible without being aware of the time and place in which it was written - the context - which places it firmly in the tradition of Ancient Near Eastern literature. Dr. Eckart Fram, Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Yale University, has kindly agreed to talk to us about this fascinating subject! 

What were considered rape, adultery, or other sex crimes in the ancient world? Sex and sexuality have always been highly regulated - even in antiquity, legal texts delineated between normative behavior and criminal acts. Ph.D. student, Jay Caballero, joins us to talk about his research into the legalities of sex in the Ancient Near East, focusing on the laws presented in the Hebrew Bible.

Many people hold firmly to the idea of Mosaic authorship - that Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament. But is there any evidence for this belief, and if not - who DID write it?

The Documentary Hypothesis - people often refer to it as "JEDP" - is one of the most well-known explanations for how the Pentateuch was compiled. But what exactly is it, and what alternative theories have academics developed? Dr. Joel Baden, professor of Hebrew Bible at Yale Divinity School, kindly agreed to join Dr. Josh to talk about this fascinating topic!


Dr. Baden’s Book on the Documentary Hypothesis: https://tinyurl.com/ycp7tu4l
Follow Dr. Baden on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoelBaden
Princeton Press: https://press.princeton.edu/our-autho...
Yale Bible Study: https://yalebiblestudy.org/

It is very easy to see that many of the commands and laws in the Old Testament fall far short of what we would consider to be morally acceptable in today's society. Slavery, genocide, treatment of women... we cringe at many of the passages that concern such issues in the Hebrew Bible. How should we think about these issues and the book that contains them? Should the Bible be an authoritative text for the 21st century? If so, in what way?

Join us as we discuss these issues with Dr. John J. Collins, Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale Divinity School. In his new book, Dr. Collins has provided not only sound exegetical insights into a variety of difficult and controversial passages in both the Old and New Testaments, but he has also formulated an interpretative model for understanding these texts, both in their original and modern contexts.

Purchase his new book here! https://tinyurl.com/y9g6xnoz
Dr. Josh's slavery book: https://amzn.to/3ff1ctV
Digital Hammurabi YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2XfIFrs

Recorded June 4th 2020

Slavery in the Hebrew Bible can be a contentious issue - was slavery permitted? Was it endorsed? What kinds of laws regulated the treatment of slaves? In this episode of HeBANE, Dr. Josh provides an overview of exactly what the evidence says!

Dr. Josh's slavery book: https://amzn.to/2YMeXvw

Come and join Dr. Josh's friend, Skylar Fiction, and find out what makes Assyriology important!
Skylar's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg7TaxaMn6eP721toaV33Lg

 Remember what it was like when you were in school? Listening to the teacher, doing your exercises, eating lunch with your friends... But what was school like in the Ancient Near East? How did students learn to read, write, and assimilate information about the culture in which they lived (and its history)?

Join Dr. Josh as he paints a picture of what it was like to go to school in the early second millennium BCE. Hear about a young boy who goes to class, does his work, gets a home visit from his teacher... and is caned for all sorts of little infractions in the classroom! We will also discuss the curriculum that the scribal students were taught, from simple cuneiform sign forms to complex literary compositions.