The representations of religious tension between the polytheistic humans and the monotheistic Cylons in the Sci Fi (now Syfy) channel’s hit series Battlestar Galactica (2003–2009) is nowhere more evident than in the human “convert” to monotheism, Gaius Baltar, who struggles to proselytize his minority beliefs to other humans. Ancient Jewish…[Read more]

Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents provide readers with often radical re- visions and critiques of biblical texts. This article asks how the principal characters’ affective engagements with Scripture vary, and considers the extent to which fiction may “play” with the Bible, despite its authoritative distanc…[Read more]

Modern science fiction writers often draw upon the biblical flood story as inspiration for their own narratives. It is not uncommon to find humans fleeing on space arks to escape some cosmic disaster. In the process of adapting the biblical narrative to contemporary circumstances, these writers also frequently transform the unnamed female…[Read more]

In the virtual world elaborated in Marvel’s movies (the “Marvel Cinematic Universe” or MCU), “science” is creatively, strategically confused with “magic” and/or “religion.” Key supernatural/magical elements of the franchise’s comic-book source material are “retconned” (retroactively granted new narrative coherence and continuity) as advanced…[Read more]

This article considers several instances of biblical reception in the science-fiction role-playing game Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games/Sony, 2017). The game’s characterisation of technology, science, and religion has led some commentators to understand Horizon Zero Dawn as presenting a firm rejection of religious narratives in favour of s…[Read more]

Introduction, Greek text, and English translation of 3 Apocryphal Apocalypse of John, a Byzantine question-and-answer dialogue between Abraham and John set after Jesus’s ascension.

These seven alphabetic gravestone texts and one-coin texts from Sidon date to the Hellenistic era based upon their religious themes and their Greek Island letter styles. In contrast, one earlier coin style from Sidon from the Persian period has the Phoenician letter style. Their underlying language is Akkadian which was the empire language of…[Read more]

This paper translates the inscriptions found on five bronze spearheads found near the village of el-Khadr located 2 miles (5 km) west of Bethlehem. Their underlying language is Alphabetic Akkadian and not Hebrew. These spearheads were part of a cache of 26 found near Bethlehem which were first published by Frank Moore Cross in 1954 and 1980. Four…[Read more]

This article publishes a new join in SAA 18 100, a letter providing crucial historical detail about the assassination of Sennacherib in 681 BC. Published in Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires no. 2 (June 2019): 88-90.

A plaque on the wall indicates that this temple in Ekron (Tel Miqne) was devoted to enabling the powers of Yahu. The word “Yahu” is mentioned twice along with the full moon god Su and the image opener goddess, Utu, who is the feminine complement to Yahu. Ekron at this time was ruled by Assyria having been rebuilt over an older destroyed Phi…[Read more]

This tablet was declared a fraud my many because it could not be translated from Hebrew yet this paper proves the tablet is authentic because it can be translated from Alphabetic Akkadian, a script unknown when the tablet was discovered. This tablet was once stored in a treasury room in Jerusalem’s royal palace or first temple as evidenced by m…[Read more]

The Moabite Stele text is a line by line philosophical/religious debate. It was written in Alphabetic Akkadian which was the common trading language of the ancient Mediterranean as evidenced by a growing corpus of texts. The Moabite text is also the earliest archaeological linguistic evidence of Jewish (Judahite) culture yet discovered. This is…[Read more]

This early (northern) Israelite student teaching text blames the cause of the 840 BCE Elijah drought on the astrological powers of the Ancient Pagan Paradigm. It shows a Pagan Israel just prior to the Yawist revolution by referencing the gods Hu as the Healer, Su as the shepherd corresponding to the full moon, and the goddess Utu as the Opener of…[Read more]

Three previously untranslated Philistine (Sea Peoples) texts are translated in the empire language of Alphabetic Akkadian/Aramaic. Their script style is in the Minoan lineage which began with the Phaistos Disk and continued on with Linear A. Unlike those texts these texts are now fully alphabetic meaning their inner word signs are consonants…[Read more]

Two early and still readable linear texts were found carved on the walls of turquoise mine L at Serabit el-Khadim in the Sinai of Egypt by William Petrie in 1906. They were never properly translated. These texts were inscribed within bas-relief steles indicating they were officially sanctioned texts. These texts reference a dimmed sun which would…[Read more]

Translations of three graffiti type texts dating from the last years of ancient turquoise mine at Serabit el-Khadim in the Sinai blame jealousy for an ongoing drought. This drought is continuing due to the lack of magic crafters needed to overcome that negative emotional magic. These texts are in alphabetic Akkadian using a script which derives…[Read more]

The inscriptions at Wadi el-Hol just north of Memphis, Egypt are a late variant of Minoan Linear A showing its progression towards alphabetic writing with its treatment of phoneme signs more as wildcard signs able to be followed by any vowel sound. The Minoans were in Egypt during the early 18th dynasty as revealed by Minoan artwork discovered at…[Read more]

Reading the biblical conquest stories in light of the UN Declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

This note examines the use of the term “daric” in 1 Chr 29:7 for its ideological purposes, concluding that the anachronism was deployed purposely to signal resistance to imperial rule.

This note examines the use of the term “daric” in 1 Chr 29:7 for its ideological purposes, concluding that the anachronism was deployed purposely to signal resistance to imperial rule.