The Serendipities of Archaeological Travel with BAS
Basilika Therma. Photo: Mark WilsonOrganizing and leading archaeological tours in the Middle East can be challenging, given its unstable political situation. Two years ago when I planned that the BAS Abraham Country’s tour begin in southeastern ...
Treasures in Clay Jars
Earlier this year a well-known New Testament scholar visited Antalya, Turkey. The two of us spoke to a group of pastors and their spouses from international churches in Europe and the Middle East. A coin hoard stored in a clay jar at the Aydın Museu ...
Destroying a Temple
The burning of the Ephesian Temple of Artemis by Herostratus The apostle Paul, writing from Ephesus to the Christians in Corinth, warned: “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple” (1 C ...
Money Talks through Ancient Coins
Usually I have to travel hundreds or thousands of miles to attend a conference. But recently, one was held near my office here in Antalya, Turkey, at the Ramada Plaza Hotel. Sponsored by the local Research Institute on Mediterranean Civilizations, it wa ...
Of Pirates and Virgins: Greek and Turkish Scholars Colloquiating
The invitation to attend the Second Greek-Turkish Symposium on Epigraphy in May was one I couldn’t turn down. It had been extended by Mustafa Adak, the chairperson of the epigraphy and ancient history department of Antalya’s Akdeniz (“Mediterranean”) Un ...
Pella: A Window on Survival
Before writing my doctoral thesis two decades ago, the only Pella that I knew about was a small town in south central Iowa famous for its windows and doors. But in the course of my research, I discovered fascinating data about another Pella located in th ...
Antipatris: Another Pauline Site Off My Bucket List
Mark Wilson Follows Paul’s Footsteps Several years ago Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson brought the subject of “bucket lists” to our attention via a movie by that name. In case you didn’t see it, Nicholson’s billionaire character assists Freeman’s in ...
Who Governed the Roman Province of Lycia-Pamphylia?
One thing I enjoy about living in Turkey is the serendipitous discoveries waiting to be found. Last year as my wife and I were returning from the grocery store, I looked into a garden and saw an ancient stone standing there. The top had later been hollow ...
Quench or Extinguish: What are We Not Supposed to do to the Spirit?
“Quench or Extinguish: What are We Not Supposed to do to the Spirit?”1 Thessalonians 5:19 One of my favorite moments is to sit around a crackling campfire on a cool evening, to warm my hands in its heat and to watch the sparks disappearing into the d ...
Paul: Bound in the Spirit for Jerusalem
"Paul: Bound in the Spirit for Jerusalem"Acts 20:22 In 2004 my wife and I made the decision to relocate to Turkey. After a time of prayer and fasting, we felt that the Holy Spirit gave us the green light to move. As we began to share our plans with fr ...