Author’s Blog
The Shapira Quest and the Secrets of Freemasonry
Freemasonry has long occupied a peculiar place in the public imagination. To some, it is a noble fraternity devoted to charity, moral instruction, and brotherhood. To others, it is a source of rumor, secrecy, and endless conspiracy. That tension is hardly new. In many...
The Moses Scroll – Published Five Years Ago Today!
I published The Moses Scroll five years ago today (24 February 2021). Thousands have read the book and despite its controversial content, most reviews have been positive. Top scholars have engaged my work and referenced it in leading journals (Semitica, Dead Sea...
The Moses Scroll: Reopening the Most Controversial Case in the History of Biblical Scholarship
Is the Oldest Hebrew Bible Text Still Missing — or Have We Already Seen It? In 1883, the Jerusalem antiquities dealer Moses Wilhelm Shapira presented a set of blackened leather strips written in ancient Hebrew script. He claimed they had been discovered around 1865 in...
The History of the Embalmed Manuscript as Shapira Related it to Dr. Ginsburg – Tuesday, 7 August 1883
Since the original publication of this blog post, I have expanded my research into the provenance of the Shapira fragments with a more comprehensive paper. This work compares six key nineteenth-century accounts that document the origin and history of these enigmatic...
The Sad Business of the Moabite Pottery – A Letter of Explanation – Monday, 6 August 1883
Having read the newspaper reports in The Times and The Jewish Chronicle over the previous weekend from his room in the Cannon Street Hotel, Shapira knew that he had to provide his side of the Moabitica scandal since it was obvious that this unfortunate incident had...
London’s First Look at Shapira’s Leather MSS
On 20 July 1883, Moses Wilhelm Shapira arrived unannounced at 1 Adam Street in London, the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) headquarters. Walter Besant, the secretary of the PEF, greeted him. Shapira informed Besant that he had brought a manuscript to London written...