Blue Cord

In writing my previous post about the Jezebel seal, I came across the following quote in Ha’aretz:

In her paper, scheduled to appear in the highly-respected Biblical Archaeology Review, Korpel lists observations pertaining to the seal’s symbolism, unusual size, shape and time period.

What struck me as odd about this sentence is the reference to the magazine Biblical Archaeology Review as “highly-respected.”

For those of my readers who don’t know, BAR is a monthly magazine published by the Biblical Archaeology Society that covers current topics in the field of archaeology related to the Bible.   It is a very enjoyable magazine and popular among non-experts.  It prints high-quality glossy photos of archaeological finds and site, and features articles by some of the top scholars in the field.

The presence of these top scholars as authors means that there are often high-quality articles.  But this is not always the case. It is not a peer-reviewed journal.  As a result,  BAR has a tendency to publishing highly-speculative and sensationalistic articles.  It also likes to personalize differences in opinions and portray scholarly debates as fierce feuds.  Such tactics help to sell magazines, but they are out of place in scholarly discourse.

To call BAR “highly-respected” is something of an overstatement.  In general, it is looked upon with mixed-feelings by scholars.  It has some good articles and great photos, but the negatives temper our love it.  We read it, but mostly as as guilty pleasure.

To put it another way:

Biblical Archaoelogical Review is to the Journal of Biblical Literature as People is to U.S. News & World Report.