June 8, 2018
Sussita Mountain
From our colleagues in Israel …
May 8, 2018
Upcoming Lecture: Christian Identity from the ground up: a case study of Hippos Palaistinēs
Dr. Schuler will deliver a plenary lecture at the upcoming meeting of the Society of LCMS Theological Professors at Concordia Wisconsin on 23 May.
Prospectus: This paper explores the formation of Christian identity at the site as has been revealed in recent excavations. The paper highlights the role of church construction in supplanting paganism, the reverence of the sacred dead within the city in contrast to pagan and Jewish practices, the novel practice of religious community in an urban context, and the import of baptism and the eucharist in the move toward Chalcedonian Christianity. Evidence of residual pagan practices in Christian contexts illustrates the fluid and incomplete nature of that identity formation.
April 2, 2018
The End of Christianity at Hippos: The Sixth to the Eighth Centuries
On Saturday, 14 April, Dr. Mark Schuler will deliver a lecture on “The End of Christianity at Hippos: the Sixth to the Eighth Centuries” at Macalestar College in St. Paul as part of a conference on Byzantium and Early Islam: Exploring the Late Antique Transition. Other speakers at the conference include Andy Overman, Gideon Avni, Walid Atrash, Stephen Shoemaker, Alan Walmsley, Gaby Mazor, and Vanessa Rousseau.
January 20, 2018
New Archeological Exhibition Tells the Story of Hippos During the Transition From Paganism to Christianity in the Land of Israel
What is a pagan amulet against indigestion doing in a Byzantine church at Hippos? Did the processions of debauchery and drinking honoring the god of wine Dionysus continue during the Christian period? And did the goddess of good fortune Tyche still protect Hippos centuries after the disappearance of belief in the Greco-Roman gods? A new exhibition at the University of Haifa’s Hecht Museum summarizes 18 years of exploration in the ancient city of Hippos
February 9, 2019
Sabbatical Approved
by Mark Schuler (administrator) • Research Phase, Sabbatical
Thanks to actions of the Board of Regents at Concordia Saint Paul, I have been approved for a sabbatical for the coming school year. The primary purpose of this sabbatical is to prepare a final report on the Northeast Insula Project at the Hippos Excavations.
I will again spend a month this summer at Sussita conducting a study season. I will completely re-examine and re-describe the site. Part of this work will involve making a 3D digital scan of the complete work using the Leica BLK360 scanner.
I also plan to use this blog site to track the work and update followers on my progress.
Again, my thanks to the university for making this sabbatical possible.