Andrew Silow-Carroll is the editor-in-chief of JTA
Hershel Shanks, editor of Biblical Archaeology Review, talks about the ancient inscriptions on a first-century stone burial box that refer to Jesus of Nazareth, during a press conference at a Washington hotel, Monday, Oct. 21, 2002. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
JTA — Hershel Shanks, the one-time publisher and editor of Moment magazine and a powerhouse in the popularization of biblical archaeology, has died at 90.
He died Feb. 5 at his home in Washington, D.C., from COVID-19, his daughter told The Washington Post.
An attorney by training, in 1975 he started Biblical Archaeology Review, a Washington-based magazine that reached more than 250,000 subscribers at its peak in the early 2000s. The magazine took scholarly works on Middle East history and archaeology and adapted them for a popular audience with titles like “Did a Rolling Stone Close Jesus’ Tomb?” and “What We Don’t Know About Moses and the Exodus.” Readers ranged from devout Jews to evangelical Christians.