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A team from Trinity Southwest University continues to dig Tall el-Hammam in Jordan. They report their results on their dig website and make a case that their site is the ancient Sodom from the book of Genesis (see Genesis 18-19).

With your typical media hype (and with a bit of perhaps shameless self-promotion thrown in), KOAT in Albuquerque reports “A real-life Indiana Jones tale is unfolding in New Mexico. A group of Albuquerque archaeologists think they’ve solved a biblical mystery. ‘From a biblical point of view, this is arguably the most important archaeological excavation of all time,’ archaeologist Dr. Steven Collins said” … hopefully tongue in cheek. The hype is mitigated somewhat by the archaeologists’ laudable community outreach reported in the article, exposing fifth-graders to the actual work of excavataion. One kiddo reports, “It’s cool, because you get to touch it — more than just read about it.” Amen to that.

USA Today reports a just released Pew Faith in Flux survey that attests patterns of church and denominational shifting, as well as people simply opting out of the organized religion scene.

Bono

Bono’s New York Times post-Easter reflections — “the dying and living that is Easter.” Profit, commerce, what if we are losing our soul?

As reported in Science Daily, the University of Toronto led excavation of Tayinat in Turkey has uncovered a 10th/9th century BCE temple. It evidences cultural and political continuity going from the Late Bronze age to the Iron age, which undercuts the otherwise concensus view that this period was one of cultural collapse and chaos in the eastern Mediterranean region.

Excavation of the Tayinat temple

The Israel Antiquities Authority Press Office issued a press release regarding a fragment of a stone inscription that contains two fragmentary lines of Hebrew. One of the words may be reconstructed to read “Hezekiah”. Also ScienceDaily.

Hezekiah inscription

The April 6, 2009 issue of Science Daily describes a collection of five foot-shaped structures in the Jordan Valley. These Iron Age stone enclosures may be related to festival gatherings, and may be related to the Hebrew terms gilgal (round stone structure?) and hag (festival procession).

Stone Enclosure in Jordan

The National Geographi News for April 10, 2009 reports that a plaque found at Beth Shemesh may depict the “Mistress of the Lionesses”, a female ruler of a Canaanite city known from the Amarna tablets of the 14th century B.C.E.

Mistress of the Lionesses

The April 13, 2009 issue of Newsweek magazine features a cover story entitled “The Decline of Christian America: How a reduction in religious affiliation will change the U.S.” It examines recent polling data that indicates how the religious profile of the nation is changing, and what this implies about the character of the United States.

April 13, 2009

The April 9, 2009 Colbert Report features Bart Ehrman, author of Jesus Interrupted. Funny challenge to Ehrman’s expose of contradictions in the Bible.

This Chronicle of Higher Education blog entry by Randy Bass and Bret Eynon gives thought to designing learning materials to meet well-defined liberal arts goals and objectives. The entry contains helpful links to a variety of resources, including AACU’s “Essential Learning Outcomes” and the Academic Commons Visible Knowledge Project.