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Biblical Archaeology Review 44:2, March/April May/June 2018

Strata: How Many?

How many books has Hershel Shanks authored?

Answer: 14

During his incredibly busy career as editor of multiple magazines, Hershel Shanks has also authored or co-authored more than a dozen books. Thick or slim, they include:

  • The City of David: A Guide to Biblical Jerusalem (1973)
  • Judaism in Stone: The Archaeology of Ancient Synagogues (1979)
  • The Dead Sea Scrolls After Forty Years (with James C. VanderKam, P. Kyle McCarter, Jr., and James A. Sanders; 1991)
  • The Rise of Ancient Israel (with William G. Dever, Baruch Halpern, and P. Kyle McCarter, Jr.; 1992)
  • In the Temple of Solomon and the Tomb of Caiaphas (1993)
  • Jerusalem: An Archaeological Biography (1995)
  • The Mystery and Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls (1999)
  • 101 Best Jewish Jokes (1999)
  • The Brother of Jesus: The Dramatic Story & Meaning of the First Archaeological Link to Jesus & His Family (with Ben Witherington III; 2003)
  • The Copper Scroll and the Search for the Temple Treasure (2007)
  • The Dead Sea Scrolls: What They Really Say (2007)
  • Jerusalem’s Temple Mount: From Solomon to the Golden Dome (2007)
  • The World’s Oldest Tallit? (2008)
  • Freeing the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Adventures of an Archaeology Outsider (autobiography; 2010)

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This impressive list does not include the numerous supplemental issues to BAR and edited volumes, some of which appeared in multiple printings, re-editions, and translations. To set the record straight, here are the 15 books that Hershel Shanks has edited:

  • The Art and Craft of Judging: The Decisions of Judge Learned Hand (1968)
  • Recent Archaeology in the Land of Israel (with Benjamin Mazar; 1984)
  • Ancient Israel: A Short History from Abraham to the Roman Destruction of the Temple (1988, etc.)
  • Archaeology and the Bible: The Best of BAR, 2 vols. (with Dan P. Cole; 1990)
  • Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism: A Parallel History of Their Origins and Early Development (1992, etc.)
  • Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls (1992)
  • The Search for Jesus (with Stephen J. Patterson, Marcus J. Borg, and John Dominic Crossan; 1994)
  • Frank Moore Cross: Conversations with a Bible Scholar (1994)
  • Feminist Approaches to the Bible (with Phyllis Trible, Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Pamela J. Milne, and Jane Schaberg; 1995)
  • Archaeology’s Publication Problem, 2 vols. (1996; 1999)
  • Abraham & Family: New Insights into the Patriarchal Narratives (2000)
  • The City of David: Revisiting Early Excavations (2004)
  • Scholars on the Record: Insightful Interviews on Bible and Archaeology (2009)
  • Partings: How Judaism and Christianity Became Two (2013)
  • 40 by 40: Forty Groundbreaking Articles from Forty Years of Biblical Archaeology Review (2015)

Finally, we should not fail to mention these two laborious compilations that are a category of their own:

  • Who’s Who in Biblical Studies and Archaeology, 1986–1987 (1986)
  • Who’s Who in Biblical Studies and Archaeology, 1993 (1993)
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Biblical Archaeology Review