One answer occurs in the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered just a few miles from where Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, along the shores of the Dead Sea.
Hershel Shanks battled top scholars to make the Dead Sea Scrolls available to the public.
Daniel Silliman| Image: Biblical Archaeology Review / Edits by Mallory Rentsch
Hershel Shanks, the founder and longtime editor of
Biblical Archaeology Review, died on Friday at the age of 90.
With his popular bi-monthly magazine, Shanks trumpeted the latest discoveries at digs across the Holy Land, promoted (and sometimes prompted) fierce archaeological controversies, and tirelessly advocated for public access to the latest scholarship.
Shanks had no credentials in archaeology, biblical studies, or the ancient Near East. He was a lawyer. He nonetheless did more than anyone in recent memory to stimulate biblical archaeology.