Victor Ekong
The Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC will host Professor R. Steven Notley on Oct. 1 for a special event called “Locating the Lost City of the Apostles,” which will focus on the biblical city of Bethsaida-Julias.
Notley will explain why he considers this to be the most probable site of the New Testament town of Bethsaida and the hometown of apostles Peter, Andrew, and Philip.
For years, archaeologists have searched for the Church of the Apostles and the ancient Jewish fishing village of Bethsaida, which later became the Roman city of Julias.
Professor Notley has conducted four seasons of excavation at the historical dig site, El-Araj.
He has led groups of people to Israel and the eastern Mediterranean region for 30 years and has served as the academic director of the El-Araj Excavation Project since 2016.
Also, Notley has been the Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins and the director of graduate programs in Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins at Nyack College in New York City since 2001.
About the Event:
After years of digging, Professor R. Steven Notley believes he can prove the true location of biblical Bethsaida, also known as the “Lost City of the Apostles.”
Get the latest scoop on his excavation site, El-Araj, from Professor Notley and learn why he thinks it is the best candidate for biblical Bethsaida during this special program held in person at Museum of the Bible and virtually through Zoom.
Notley will be joined by Steven Fine, Professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University, as a respondent.
The event will be held in person at the Museum of the Bible and online.
A question and answer session is scheduled after the presentation.
“I served as a professor of the New Testament for 18 years, and the identification of the precise location of Bethsaida-Julias has long been a lingering question in the geography of ancient Galilee,” …”Dr. Notley’s work is enlightening and provocative. This is a discussion you want to take part in.”
Jeffrey Kloha, Ph.D. The chief curatorial officer at Museum of the Bible.
Speakers in the event and their brief Bio
R. Steven Notley is Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins on the New York City campus of Nyack College (2001–present) and director of the graduate programs in ancient Judaism and Christian origins.
He received his PhD from the Hebrew University, where he studied with David Flusser.
Dr. Notley lived for 16 years in Jerusalem with his wife and four children, during which time he was the founding chair of the New Testament Studies program at the Jerusalem University College. He is the author of many books and articles.
He continues collaborative research and publication with Israeli scholars in the fields of historical geography, ancient Judaism, and Christian origins.
Since 2016 he has served as the academic director of the El-Araj Excavation Project in its search for first-century Bethsaida-Julias, the “Lost City of the Apostles.”
Steven Fine is the Dean Pinkhos Churgin Professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University, director of the YU Center for Israel Studies, the Arch of Titus Project, and the YU Israelite Samaritans Project.
A cultural historian of ancient Judaism, Fine’s most recent book is, The Menorah: From the Bible to Modern Israel (Harvard University Press, 2016).
His Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World: Toward a New Jewish Archaeology (Cambridge, 2005, 2nd ed., 2010) received the 2009 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award of the Association for Jewish Studies.
Fine is a founding editor of IMAGES: A Journal for the Study of Jewish Art and Visual Culture. Fine’s next exhibition, The Samaritans: A Biblical People, will open at YU Museum in fall 2021.
For More information on the Museum of the Bible’s “Locating the Lost City of the Apostles” event, click here.
