Digital Commons Network^™

Salvage Excavations In The Modi‘In Landscape, Amir Golani

'Atiqot

Approximately 100 sites were investigated in the area by means of surveys and excavations. Thirteen winepresses were identified, surrounded by cupmarks and basins, alluding to the agricultural exploitation of the area. Thirty-two stone clearance piles were documented. In most piles, limited amounts of Late Hellenistic–Early Roman ceramics were recovered, suggesting they were constructed during that period. Some of these features were of a later date, the Byzantine–Umayyad periods. In the Medieval and Ottoman periods, the region was exploited for its natural resources. Nearly all the charcoal burners and limekilns seem to date to these times.

A Middle Bronze Age Burial Cave At Tur‘An, Lilly Gershuny, Emanuel Eisenberg

'Atiqot

The burial cave, carved into limestone, consists of a square, vertical shaft and an elliptical room. The cave’s contents, which included pottery vessels, carnelian beads, a bronze toggle pin and a stone pommel, were scattered on a fill on the floor. Six adult individuals and one child were identified. The bones of sheep and cattle, which served as food offerings, were found as well. The pottery included bowls, a storage jar, a large krater with loop feet, jugs, dipper and piriform juglets, and a unique Tell el-Yahudiyeh juglet with a zoomorphic protome. The cave is a typical Early Bronze Age …

Historical And Theological Evidence Of Jesus' Resurrection In Paul's Undisputed Letters, Steven Cung Za Kham

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates the historical authenticity and theological significance of Jesus’ resurrection as presented in the letters of Paul. The resurrection, central to the Christian faith, has sparked considerable scholarly interest as a foundational event offering humanity its greatest hope. Among early witnesses, the Apostle Paul stands out due to his transformative encounter with the risen Christ, which radically altered his life from a persecutor of Christians to an ardent advocate of the resurrection. His letters, written within a few decades of Jesus' death, provide key insights into what Paul and early Christians truly believe about the resurrection. The study …

The Problem With Evangelism And A Move Towards Discipleship In Thailand, Micheal J. Hurley

Masters Theses

This paper will propose a new way for short term missions to work in Thailand. The nation of Thailand allowed freedom of religion for almost a century and a half, yet the Christian population struggles to exist. As one of the smallest religious groups, Christian missionaries have struggled to make inroads within this country. Thais do what is best for the community over themselves. They want to receive benefit today for their efforts. With little to no hope found for the next better life sought after in Buddhism, one would think Christianity would provide this hope. However, it is out …

Witchcraft, Demons, And Spiritual Death: An Apologetic For The Bible's Prohibition Against Witchcraft, Joshua Dean Wrenn

Masters Theses

This paper attempts to apologetically defend the Bible's intolerance against witchcraft and other related activities that are prohibited in the Old Testament. It does so by showing that Witchcraft and other related activities gets one involved with demonic entities. It shows how demonic entities are deceitful, and how they are actually the ones behind the power of witchcraft. The paper starts by studying the history of ancient witchcraft, which is something that is useful for understanding the witchcraft of today. It then builds a profile of demons. The paper shows what demons physically do and what they attempt to get …

The Pragmatic Effect Of Φιλέω And Αγαπάω In John 21:15-17, Steven J. P'Pool

Masters Theses

The final chapter of John’s gospel is central to the New Testament in that it depicts the risen Jesus appearing to His disciples and sharing a meal with them, restoring Peter to his place as a leader among his brothers, and records John’s eyewitness testimony to the events reported. It is in verses fifteen through seventeen of chapter twenty-one that attention turns to Peter and John, with the latter eaves dropping on the conversation. John records the conversation in these three verses in which Jesus restores Peter from his trio of denials prior to Jesus’ crucifixion with three opportunities for …

What Hath Jerusalem To Do With Chile: Towards An Evangelical Understanding Of The Enneagram And Its Usage For Spiritual Development, Wesley E. Scholtz

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Currently, it is estimated that the personality testing market is worth approximately $2 billion. The Church has expressed interest in understanding personality types through various testing methods. The Enneagram offers a possibly ancient method to help people understand who they are in a spiritual capacity, which can be an aid in connecting more closely with God. This dissertation addressed the research gap that exists within the current literature which is the lack of data concerning whether adults who are professional, ordained ministers are aware of, use, and may be skeptical of the Enneagram. The research method in this dissertation was …

A Byzantine-Period Monastery And Farmhouse In Nahal Pehar (Giv‘Ot Bar), In The Northern Negev, Nir-Shimshon Paran

'Atiqot

A Byzantine-period monastery and farmhouse were uncovered on the southwestern bank of Naḥal Peḥar, within the modern settlement of Giv‘ot Bar, in the northern Negev. The monastery was well-preserved, attesting to the daily life of the monks in the Negev in the Byzantine period. It was paved with poorly executed mosaic floors, probably laid by the monks themselves. Most of the finds in the monastery were uncovered on the floors, attesting to its orderly abandonment in the late Byzantine or beginning of the Umayyad period (sixth–seventh centuries CE). The monastery seems to have belonged to the widespread ecclesiastical system documented …

Intermediate Bronze Age Fauna From A Suspected Cultic Area At Nahal RefaʼIm, Liora Kolska Horwitz

'Atiqot

A small assemblage of faunal remains was recovered from four archaeological contexts excavated on the northern bank of Naḥal Refaʼim. These include Bronze Age rock-cut pits (Area 100), a structure (Area 300), a burial cave (Area 500) and an Ottoman-period shomera (Area 400). The remains represent almost exclusively domestic taxa—sheep, goat, cattle and donkey—some of which exhibit butchery marks, other modifications or burning. The faunal assemblage from the pits, together with other complementary data, may attest that the pits were used as favissae (cultic storage pits) associated with ritual activities at the site.

Intermediate Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age Ii And Iron Age Ii Pottery From Nahal Refa’Im, Lilly Gershuny

'Atiqot

The pottery assemblage from the Naḥal Refa’im site originated in three different archaeological contexts: pits, structure(s) and a burial cave. These findings attest that the main period of occupation was during the Intermediate Bronze Age. One pit may have been reused for burial in Middle Bronze Age II, and the burial cave was visited in Iron Age II, possibly by the inhabitants of nearby Khirbat er-Ras.

Intermediate And Middle Bronze Age Settlement Remains, Domestic Worship, Pits And Burial Practices In Nahal RefaʼIm, Jerusalem, Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah, Alexander Onn

'Atiqot

Excavations on the northern bank of the Refa’im Valley uncovered four sites: a shaft tomb and building remains with a standing stone dating to the Intermediate Bronze Age; a concentration of eight pits dating to the Intermediate Bronze Age and the Middle Bronze Age II; and an Ottoman-period agricultural watchtower. The building remains and installations were probably part of the Intermediate Bronze Age settlement along Naḥal Refa’im. The standing stone’s prominent location, and the large concentration of pits and installations near it, may support its identification with domestic worship. The thin fill at the bottom of some of the pits …

Light-Microscopic And Spectroscopic Analyses Of The Skin Materials Used In The Tefillin And Mezuzah Slips From The Judean Desert, Yonatan Adler, Theresa Emmerich Kamper

'Atiqot

Among the Dead Sea Scrolls is an assemblage of ancient tefillin and mezuzah slips—ritual artifacts composed of thin animal skins inscribed with passages from the Pentateuch. This paper presents the results of light-microscopic and spectroscopic analyses conducted on 26 tefillin and 8 mezuzot from the Judean Desert caves. These analyses provide the first opportunity to identify the following characteristics on these artifacts: animal species; skin thickness; skin layers present; tannage; side/s of skin with writing. In time, these characteristics took on ritual significance, especially in later rabbinic halakhah. A significant finding is that the ancient tefillin analyzed here were all …

An Iron Age Iib–C Hebrew Stamp Seal With Apotropaic And Prophylactic Properties From The Southwestern Corner Of The Temple Mount, Jerusalem, Filip Vukosavović, Ronny Reich, Navot Rom, Yuval Baruch

'Atiqot

An Iron Age Hebrew iconic stamp seal was uncovered near the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The seal, made of black stone, depicts a winged genie and a personal name, Yehoʽezer son of Hoshaʽyahu. This is the first depiction of the winged genie iconography in the region found in an archaeological excavation. Influenced by Neo-Assyrian art, the seal was created in Jerusalem by a local artist for Hoshaʽyahu, a member of the Judean elite, during the Assyrian Century. Later on, the seal was inherited by his son, Yehoʽezer. In addition to being used as a stamp, the …

Evidence Of Worship In The Rock-Cut Rooms On The Eastern Slope Of The City Of David, Jerusalem, Eli Shukron, Liora Freud, Helena Roth, Reli Avisar, Efrat Bocher

'Atiqot

This paper presents the finds retrieved from a unique series of rock-cut rooms found on the eastern slope of the City of David. These rock-cut rooms stand out in terms of their architectural features, as well as the artifacts discovered within them, all of which reflect on their function as a cultic complex, likely constructed in the Middle Bronze Age, with its final stage in Iron Age IIB. This complex offers profound evidence for the diversity of cultic practices in the capital of the Kingdom of Judah.

The Emergence Of Worship And Religion In The Neolithic Period: Direct And Indirect Evidence From Moẓa (Motza), Hamoudi Khalaily, Anna Eirikh-Rose, Ianir Milevski

'Atiqot

Evidence of worship and religion in the form of architectural remains is rather scanty before the shift in human behavior, from hunter-gatherers to sedentary communities, and the emergence of permanent settlements. Communal and ritual structures first appeared in the Natufian culture (12,500–9400 BCE) and expanded during the Neolithic period (9400–5300 BCE), alongside the treatment of burials linked to ritual related to ancestor worship. The excavations at Motza’s Final PPNB (7100–6700 BCE) layer exposed many non-residential structures, some presumably used for worship and ritual. Some burials, including the one interpreted here as a shaman burial, included objects of symbolic importance. Cultic …

Beauty And Gore: Unsettling Audiences In The 2018 Production Of Ang Paglilitis Ni Mang Serapio, Sophia Martha B. Marco, Svetlana Antropova

Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities Asia

No abstract provided.

Review Of Notes On Bakya And Other Essays, Jose Monfred C. Sy

Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities Asia

No abstract provided.

A Stewardship Of Land And Creatures, Jeremy Hummel

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"A fuller, richer vision of agriculture is no less than one that supplies varied types of services for humans while also ministering to the need for creation to praise its Creator through its own being."

Posting about the calling of agriculture from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

A Stewardship of Land and Creatures

A Mamluk-Period Mausoleum Near The ‘Sleepy Spring’ At Safed (Ẓefat), Hervé Barbé

'Atiqot

A trial excavation near the ‘Sleepy Spring’ fountain in Safed revealed the remains of a mausoleum, which was built during the late Mamluk period and remained in use until the early twentieth century. Three late Ottoman-period tombs found within the vaulted structure, and Ottoman-period cist tombs adjacent to the building, attest to the burial function of the site. No pre-Mamluk-period finds were uncovered at the site, indicating that the earliest occupation in this part of the ancient town was in the Mamluk period. Based on archaeological excavations and textual sources, urbanization of Safed was intensified during the Mamluk period, possibly …

The Faunal Remains From Ramla, Dana Shtainberg Finali, Ram Bouchnick

'Atiqot

The majority of the faunal remains from the excavation at Ramla were retrieved from Area A. The assemblage mostly comprises domestic livestock, including domestic fowl. It also includes a few remains of wild mammals, fish and songbirds. The very low numbers of pig bones at the site are characteristic of assemblages associated with cultures that imposed a taboo on eating pork, as Jewish and Muslim communities. The assemblage appears to represent refuse deposits, although their precise origin is unclear.

Early Bronze Age Fauna From Tel Lod, Edward F. Maher Maher

'Atiqot

The excavations at Tel Lod yielded a small zooarchaeological assemblage, primarily dating to Early Bronze Age IB (Strata VII–IV); the material from the latest occupation (Strata III–II) dates to late EB IB or the EB IB/EB II transition. The fauna of both phases is dominated by domestic stock, comprising sheep, goats, cattle and pigs, which were used both for primary products, such as meat, and secondary products, such as dairy, wool, hair, traction and for breeding. Wild animals, such as boar, gazelle, deer and hare, were also occasionally exploited.

Early Bronze Age Ia Settlement Remains At Ḥorbat Ḥammim (South), Near Modi‘In, Edwin C.M. Van Den Brink, Liora Kolska Horwitz, Ofer Marder, Henk K. Mienis

'Atiqot

The excavation at Ḥorbat Ḥammim (South) yielded a rock-cut basin and a small cave within a limestone bedrock outcrop. The basin is similar to other rock-cut installations previously exposed in the area and dated to the Chalcolithic period.
The manmade rock-cut cave was entered through a shaft. The sediments from the shaft and the cave consisted of many potsherds, stone tools and animal bones, that may have been washed into the cave, or intentionally discarded in it. The cave may have been quarried as early as the Late Chalcolithic period, although the bulk of the pottery dates to EB IA, …

The Mollusks From Tel Bet Yeraḥ, Inbar Ktalav

'Atiqot

Bivalve remains retrieved from EB II–III Strata at Tel Bet Yeraḥ include specimens originating from the Sea of Galilee and from the Mediterranean Sea. The mollusks indicate the exploitation of nearby sources for food and raw material for fashioning decorative items, as well as long distance trade connections with the Mediterranean coastal region. A broken valve of Glycymeris nummaria, with an artificial perforation in the umbo, was probably collected on the shore and used as a pendant.

The Fauna From Tel Bet Yeraḥ, Miriam Pines

'Atiqot

A small assemblage of 20 bones was retrieved from Tel Bet Yeraḥ, the majority originating from EB III Strata III–I. Most of the bones belong to adult sheep/goat and cattle.

A Ceramic Zoomorphic Figurine From Tel Bet Yeraḥ, Nadeshda B. Knudsen

'Atiqot

A well-made ceramic zoomorphic figurine was recovered from a domestic EB IB context (Stratum V) in the southern part of Tel Bet Yeraḥ. The physical characteristics of this figurine suggest that it was intended to represent an equid, possibly a donkey. Such animal figurines are common at Early Bronze Age sites, usually representing familiar domesticate animals. The purpose of these figurines remains obscure, with multiple suggestions offered, including their use as toys, talismans, teaching aids, exchange tokens, or for rituals.

“The Centrality Of ‘Life’ For Johannine Ethics”, Craig R. Koester

Faculty Publications

Jan van der Watt has described ethics as rational and systematic reflection on actions that are deemed positive or negative. Basic questions involve the point of departure and the aim of ethical action. He rightly identifies God as the authoritative center for Johannine ethics and makes two observations that warrant further development. First, as the point of departure, “God is the living God (6:57), the God who is life and gives life,” and Jesus too “is and brings life.” Second, in “line with the task of Jesus, the aim of believers is to give, sustain, and promote life.” “Promoting life …

“You Shall Be As Gods”: Xenogears, Gnosticism, And Gaming On The Mystical Marketplace At The Turn Of The Millennium, Alexander Sutton

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis explores the role of Christian Gnosticism in the Japanese role-playing video game (JRPG) Xenogears, developed by Square Co. Ltd. and released in Japan and the United States in 1998. In tracing its historical context, development, and localization I argue that Xenogears is an important text in the history of mediated religion in global popular culture. In comparing the game’s narrative against ancient Christian Gnostic texts such as The Apocryphon of John, The Reality of the Rulers, and the Gospel of Judas, I show how the game harmonized, mediated, and reproduced ancient Gnostic mysticism for its players to emulate. …

Not Forgotten, A. Sue Russell, Rochelle Scheuermann, Amanda Allen

Academic Books

No abstract provided.

Cosmic Redemption And Christology: The Timeless Christ-Hymn Of Colossians, Rinah Fiol

Beets Paper Contest

The letter to the Colossians, a nominally Pauline letter whose authorship is disputed, presents an intricate message about the supremacy of Christ and the cosmic reconciliation He mediates. Specifically, it contains a beautiful Christ-hymn in Col. 1:15-20, which holds critical implications for viewing the identity of Christ and the scope of redemption. In examining scholarly conversations on the language and message of the Christ-hymn, these questions can be more fully understood and applied to Christian life regardless of time and place.

The Fear Of God: The Foundation Of The Divine Covenants Through The Blood Sacrifice And Meal Of Exodus 24:4–11 And 1 Corinthians 11:23–32., Matthew Taylor Propst

College of Theology and Ministry Dissertations, Projects, & Theses

The Fear of God and its relevance to establishing the Old Covenant and the New Covenant is vital in understanding the nature of the role of sacrificial blood and meal in Exodus and 1 Corinthians. The Fear of God acts to establish and maintain proper covenantal relations with God and a covenant community’s cohesion. There is also an element where those that participate in covenants are required to live under its commandments by self-sacrificial behavior.

Chapter 1 introduces the issue of this thesis within certain parameters and boundaries alongside the purpose and objectives this issue wishes to address. Chapter 2 …