Posts

Infographic: Seal Artifacts Identifying Biblical Persons

Image
The following infographic visualizes some of my research on Hebrew seals and Bullae of the Iron Age royal court. Basically, I used formal verification criteria modeled in Lawrence J. Mykytiuk's doctoral thesis,  Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions and determined that of the thousands of seals and seal impressions discovered in the archeological record which ones we can say with confidence identify individuals named in the Hebrew Bible. Benjamin Stanhope, "Iconography on Hebrew Seals and Bullae Identifying Biblical Persons and the Apparent Paradox of Egyptian Solar Symbols" in Meir and Edith Lubetski (eds.), Epigraphy, Iconography, and the Bible . Hebrew Bible Monographs 98 (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2022), 175-206. Click to enlarge

My Art: Ancient Near Eastern Gods

Image
Harpocrates  The birth of Horus from the lotus Yahweh Yahweh, Deber and Resheph (Habakkuk 3:4-5)  Baal and Yahweh: The Cloud Rider motif Ra and the Uraeus gods "There is a shout of joy to Ra at the entrance to the doors of the earth... The serpents sing and exalt thee, and the divine serpents lighten thy darkness."

Archeology: Why do the seals of biblical kings depict Egyptian gods?

Image
I've transformed my recent Sheffield-Phoenix paper into an animated presentation. The video showcases some of my digital art and explores several questions: 1) Of the thousands of Hebrew seals in biblical archeology that have surfaced, which ones can we reliably say belonged to biblical characters? 2) Why do some of these seals plainly depict Egyptian gods? 3) How did Egyptian solar theology influence Yahwism of the biblical classical period.   Ahora se han agregado subtítulos en español (gracias a Matías)!  Script follows: Ancient Israel and Egypt were primarily papyrus manuscript cultures. Since papyrus decays easily, extremely few of these documents survive from history. However, what does survive are thousands of seals, typically carved of semi-precious stone. A soft lump of clay called a bulla would be fixed onto a closed document or other container, often molded around binding cords. A seal would then be used to stamp a characteristic, presumably unimitatable marking into the

A Response to William Lane Craig on Hebrew Cosmology: Here's Your Evidence

Image
In the first half of this podcast , William Lane Craig responded by name to my earlier blog post where I’ve argued that he misrepresented a passage in the Swiss Egyptologist Othmar Keel’s book on biblical cosmology. I think that post stands on its own. This one will cover some actual evidence for biblical cosmology. For those who don’t know, I’ve written a book largely on ancient Hebrew cosmology in its cultural context that rocks out on electric guitars (errr... in a scholarly way), have tracked everything I can find in scholarship on the topic now for several years, and I believe along with the overwhelming majority of Hebraists, Egyptologists, and Assyriologists that the biblical authors believed in a tri-part universe with a literal underworld and solid sky dome upholding a heavenly ocean over the earth. This blog post will be one of the better references available on the internet on ancient cosmology because it shares a lot of newer or little-known important sources on the topic

A Great New YouTube Documentary on the Creation Museum

Image
I wanted to alert people about a new documentary on the Creation Museum by a Primatologist named Erika who runs the YouTube channel Gutsick Gibbon. It basically rocks out on electric guitars while making science look cool. In other words, it accomplishes in reality what Neil DeGrasse Tyson thinks he is in his head. Erika grew up reading those same Young Earth picture books I had at my bedside as a kid that depict hadrosaurs spewing fire out of their pie holes into the faces of previously vegetarian T-Rexes like a Wehrmacht Flammenwerfer. Don't ask me to explain, I don't have time here to unpack Young Earth deep lore. Anyways, Erika visited the Creation Museum in her childhood and probably knows its literature better than Ken Ham himself (ʿalayhi as-salām). Now, as a budding scientist and adult, we get to watch her revisit the Museum and Ark Encounter and laugh with and at her as the process of scientifically dismantling all their major claims slowly unravels her sanity over the

On William Lane Craig's (mis)interpretation of Othmar Keel and criticism of my Hebrew cosmology illustration

Image
Update: Craig responded to this post, and I've made a follow up presenting the case for ancient Near Eastern cosmology here  (links to my article and Craig's response). William Lane Craig has written a few blog posts addressing the Bible's ancient Near Eastern cosmology. As a theologian, Craig is averse to having the Bible say things about cosmology that aren't true. I have no such theological concerns. I'm just a guy trying to understand ancient Semitic culture. My book's illustration of ancient Hebrew cosmology has been popular on the web and was used as the header in this article Craig is critiquing . Craig attempts to refute my cosmology illustration along with the others shown by quoting the Swiss Egyptologist Othmar Keel. It's a big deal for Craig to claim Keel to his side because he's one of leading scholars in the world on biblical iconography. The amusing thing is I literally based my illustration off of Keel's . Compare:  Othmar Keel, Alto