When they drop the anti-Semitism bickering, it excels

I had a subscription to BAR previously and I absolutely LOVED the articles when they presented excellent photos, interesting finds and deep discussion. My interest started to wane when it seemed that a fair number of discussions turned to how "Dr. X is/was an anti-Semite and therefore his discoveries/theories should be invalidated/discredited/etc.", also implying that Jewish archaeologists' work should be magnified over anyone else's.

I'm not Jewish. I'm also not a racist. The reason why I (or anyone else, I'd presume) would take interest in the magazine was for the aforementioned photos, discoveries, and so forth, not so I can put my money down to read people's discourses on finger-pointing about anti-Semitism.

Yes, racism is bad. Yes, Judaism plays an important part in understanding Biblical archaeology (but not to the point of excluding Christian researchers or thinking anyone outside of Judaism can't be a decent scholar). Even if accusations of anti-Semitism are true about Dr. X, Y, or Z, if their research is scientifically sound, get over it and go argue with Dr. X, Y, or Z on his own turf, not in the magazine, because frankly, I as a reader just don't care about your beef.

I am in agreement with other reviewers who say the magazine excels when it sticks to facts, and is tedious when it goes off on finger-pointing. If you can handle both, buy the magazine. It put me off years ago, but I might consider going back if the quality remains.

HERSHEL SHANKS ROCKS!!!

He's been in the rock business a long time, serving as chief editor/founder of BAR, Bible Review and Archaeology Odyssey; he is also president of Biblical Archaeology Society among many other ventures. I've read his Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls which he mainly edited, although he wrote a few articles himself. This is a magazine of substance, one I would love to have a subscription to. The issue of July/August 2004 has an interesting article/interview that Mr. Shanks orchestrated between Elie Wiesel and Frank Moore Cross, the subject being how they understood, approached, studied the Bible, from their perspective, which their lifes' work ultimately revolves around. One, F.M. Cross, comes from a Presbyterian, academic background, the other, Wiesel, a jewish one. Frank Moore Cross contributed several articles to Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls. He was the only protestant to work on the scrolls among the original team of 7 other people, six of whom were Catholic clerics; he is an expert in this field. And I just love Wiesel's mind, I love how he writes and thinks. That one article, I think is really illuminating, showing how rich in teaching the Bible is regardless of its many detractors, or fumbling misinterpreters. It is, as I've been taught in sunday school, G-d breathed, it's G-d's words, it is a living text even if it contains mostly stories of people long since dead and gone. Elie Wiesel says of it: " Wherever you open it, any page, you know that you are in the presence of something that exists nowhere else." The moral of the article is neither approach, Wiesel's or Cross', toward scripture is wrong, it just simply reflects the richness, the variety of the text.

BAR Succeeds Where Boring Professional Journals Fail!!!

BAR presents an overall terrific introduction to the world of Biblical artifacts! Professional archaeologists & world-renowned scholars distill their dry, black-and-white academic publications into a language ordinary, non-technical people can understand & put to use when they study the Bible. What I like in particular is their presentation of vivid color photos that bring the artifacts & excavation sites to life! I appreciate BAR for introducing me to material I never knew existed that complements the Biblical record & helps demonstrate its reliability (such as the mysterious LMLK seal impressions made during the lifetimes of King Hezekiah & the great prophet Isaiah, which inspired me to write my own book on the subject--also available here at Amazon). My only complaint is that the editor occasionally publishes statements by archaeologists/scholars as facts when they actually represent atheistic/theistic biases in disguise. Fortunately, a "Letters to the Editor" section provides a forum for readers to challenge the experts, which makes for some interesting, often entertaining reading!