October 2019 Update

As summer finally gives way to fall here in Texas, I want to update you on what is going on in “The world of Scott.”

The Bible Seminary

I serve as provost at TBS and usually teach one course each semester in our Biblical Archaeology sequence or Church History. Doug Petrovich and I are co-teaching “History and Archaeology of the Ancient Near East.” Twenty-five students are enrolled in the course – many of them from other cities and states via synchronous live stream. You can audit a TBS course for only $300. TBS graduate-level and certificate-level enrollment eclipsed previous highs this semester. For more information, message me or go to www.thebibleseminary.org.

Khirbet el-Maqatir

I am deeply entrenched in writing Volume II, so you will normally find me in the early mornings and late nights hammering away at this project which will top 200,000 words, plus photos and illustrations. My goal is to have it in your hands in 2020. In addition, I just submitted a paper on the KeM hiding complex (where we found the eight murder victims) to the peer-reviewed Palestine Exploration Journal. I coauthored the paper with Dvir Raviv, an Israeli scholar who specializes in this area. Also, Craig Evans (preeminent New Testament scholar) and I just had a paper accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed Near East Archaeological Society Bulletin. The paper is about Aramaic Incantation Bowls, or simply put magic in the biblical and classical world. Once it is published in November, I will post it on my academia.edu page.

Filming with Jim Scudder for the InGrace series

Shiloh

We are ramping up for Shiloh Season Four. Last week I submitted the application for our 2020 license renewal. Shiloh is an amazing and important site that I am incredibly blessed to be able to excavate. In May/June we filmed three documentaries there. One of them will be released this week. TBN (Jim Scudder InGrace) filmed a four-part series on the Conquest. The episodes focus on Jericho, Ai, Mt. Ebal, and Shiloh. You can watch the first episode this Tuesday at 3:30 CST on TBS. It is already available on youtube: 

Last week I was honored to give the annual lecture at the Siegfried Horn Archaeological Museum at Andrews University. My lecture was on the results of seasons 1-3 at Shiloh. I will speak on this same topic on October 22nd in Israel at the In the Highlands conference. While there, I will also spend a day with my ceramic typologists and restorationist. We will make final reads on the pottery and decide what will be published from the 2019 season.

Shiloh Ceramic Restorationist Leah Tramer

Winter Project

From 12/12 to 1/6, I will be conducting a top-secret project in Israel. I cannot yet speak about this publicly, but you can reach out to me privately if you are interested in participating or donating. I need to raise $20,000. Donations are tax-deductible. I appreciate your prayers and donations for this project.