Jerusalem Tracker 15.1: New Publications about the Holy City

Helpful lists of new material about Jerusalem

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The past few months have kept me quite busy with dissertation writing, though thankfully the light at the end of the tunnel has begun to appear. This week I came up for air to compile the first half of Jerusalem Tracker 15, a quarterly list of every new publication I can find about historical Jerusalem. To make these lists, I manually comb through hundreds of periodicals, publishing house websites, newsletters, popular outlets, blogs, social media feeds, and other online spaces. See the archive of previous lists here.

The following criteria apply to publications listed below:

• They must deal with an aspect of historical Jerusalem: its direct study, appropriation, or something else.

  • Material about Jerusalem’s hinterland is included only when there is a direct connection to the historical basin.

• This list only includes titles that have been released in finalized form. Forthcoming publications are not mentioned, even if available for preorder or published in advance digitally.

• Open-access (*OA) works are noted.

• Publications in languages other than English are noted or their titles are left untranslated.

• The study of Jerusalem is inherently variegated. Material or publication outlets listed below does not imply an endorsement of their views unless stated otherwise.

• Most publications in this list were issued after late March 2026, but some older examples may appear if I omitted them previously by accident.

• If you sense that a relevant resource is missing, please feel free to leave a comment or send an email to approachingjerusalem@gmail.com.

New Articles and Book Chapters about Jerusalem

Book Reviews

• Review of Jerusalem Through the Ages: From Its Beginnings to the Crusades by Jodi Magness in Journal of Near Eastern Studies by Gideon Avni

• Reviews of Jerusalem as Contested Space in Ezekiel: Exilic Encounters with Emotions, Space, and Identity Politics by Natalie Mylonas

  • in Catholic Biblical Quarterly by Anthony I. Lipscomb

  • in Review of Biblical Literature by Corrine Carvalho

• Review of Colonial Diplomacy Through Art: Jerusalem 1918–1926 by Moya Tönnies in Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies by Yasir Suleiman-Malley *OA

• Review of Blue Jerusalem: British Conservatism, Winston Churchill, and the Second World War by Kit Kowol in History by David Klemperper

• Review of An Impossible Friendship: Group Portrait, Jerusalem Before and After 1948 by Sonja Mejcher-Atassi in Orientalistische Literaturzeitung by Christian Junge

• Review of Orthodox Choreographies: Boundaries, Borders, and Materiality in Jerusalem’s Old City by Georgios S. Tsourous in Jerusalem Quarterly by Michael Dumper *OA

History of Jerusalem: Hellenistic and Roman Periods

• “The Maccabees and the Gymnasium” in Electrum by Samuele Rocca *OA

• “The Failure of a Religious Reform: Observations on the Hellenistic Reform in Jerusalem” in Electrum by Edward Dąbrowa *OA

• “The Seleucid Akra and the Hasmonean “First Wall”: Could They Have Coexisted?” in Electrum by Ayala Zilberstein *OA

• “The Archaeology of Bethesda and Interpretation of Jesus Healing at the Pool (John 5:1–16)” in Archaeology, Jesus, and the Gospel of John by Craig R. Koester

• “The Pool of Siloam, Ritual Purification, and John 9” in Archaeology, Jesus, and the Gospel of John by Gary M. Burge

• “John, Josephus, and the Way of the Cross” in Archaeology, Jesus, and the Gospel of John by R. Steven Notley

• “Golgotha in the Gospel of John, the Tomb of Jesus, and the Underlying Topography of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher” in Archaeology, Jesus, and the Gospel of John by Shimon Gibson

• “Golgotha, the Tomb of Jesus, and the Gospel of John” in Archaeology, Jesus, and the Gospel of John by Urban C. von Wahlde

History of Jerusalem: Byzantine and Medieval Periods

• “‘Ecclesia Pulchra Satis:’ The Rise and Decline of the Eleona Church on the Mount of Olives” in In Praise of Wisdom: Studies on the Social and Cultural Worlds of Jews and Christians in Antiquity in Honour of Paula Fredriksen by Ora Limor

• “A Letter from Iran to Celebrate the Reconquest of Jerusalem. The Khwārazm-Shāh’s tahniyat-nāma to Saladin, Copied in the inshāʾ Work Qiṣṣa-yi salāṭīn (Mid-13th Century)” in Der Islam by David Durand-Guédy *OA

• “The Armenian Lectionary Reexamined: Questioning a Source for the Liturgy of Late Antique Jerusalem” in Journal of Late Antiquity by Hugo Méndez *OA

History of Jerusalem: Ottoman Period and Following

• “Rooted in the Land: Christian Endowments in Jerusalem during Ottoman Rule” in Jerusalem Quarterly by Bernard Sabella *OA

• “The Reintroduction of Bell Ringing in Late Ottoman Jerusalem” in Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies by Alex Rodriguez Suarez

• “The Evolution of Social Roles and Intellectual Orientations among Jerusalem’s Notables during the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries” (Arabic) in Ostour by Mohannad Abusarah *OA

• “Between Colonial Powers, Zionists, and Palestinian Arabs: The Iraqi-Jewish Musician ʿAzūrī Effendi/ʿEzra Aharon in Mandate-Era Jerusalem” in Relationality of the Jewish in Muslim Spaces: Moving Beyond Cultural Identities by Nili Belkind and Edwin Seroussi

• “The Religious Soundscape of the Holy Sepulchre” in Church History and Religious Culture by Alex Rodriguez Suarez

Jerusalem and Ancient Literature

• “Sublime Sanctuary: The Jerusalem Temple in the Dead Sea Scrolls” in Biblical Archaeology Review by Lawrence H. Schiffman

• “The Korahites: Open the Doors of Jerusalem” in Studia Biblica Slovaca by Bernard Gosse *OA

• “From the Prophecy of Jacob to the Pool of Siloam: The Evolution of the Interpretation of the Term šîlōh (Gen 49:10)” in Ruch Biblijny i Liturgiczny by Jakub Jacek Waszkowiak *OA

• “Turning the tables: re-evaluating the incident between Jesus and the money-changers” in Cogent Arts & Humanities by Haggai Olshanetsky, Alan Silverman, and Lev Cosijns *OA

• “Judas’ arrival on the Mount of Olives. A literary-critical study of the function of the verb προήρχετο in Luke 22:47” (Slovak) in Studia Biblica Slovaca by Radoslav Mitro *OA

• “The Sufferings of Jesus in Matthew’s Gethsemane Narrative (26:36-46)” in Studia Biblica Slovaca by Timothy Mejida *OA

• “The New Jerusalem and Greco-Roman City Founding: Revelation 19–21” in Catholic Biblical Quarterly by Rubin James Yi McClain

• “Josephus on Pompey’s Conquest of Jerusalem” in The Oxford Handbook of Josephus by Andrew M. Mcclellan

• “Iconoclastic Jerusalem: A Rhetorical Reading of Josephus’ Writings” in The Oxford Handbook of Josephus by Jason von Ehrenkrook

• “Sacred Space: Myth and Ritual in the Halakhot Concerning Jerusalem” in Sacred Space, Sacred Time in Judaism by Meir Bar-Ilan

Inscriptions from Jerusalem

• Three new chapters on inscriptions in Jerusalem have appeared in Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae Vol. 6, Parts 4-3:

  • “Jerusalem – Inscriptions from the Hellenistic period up to the destruction of the Second Temple”

  • “Jerusalem – The Roman period from 70 to the reign of Constantine”

  • “Jerusalem – Late Antiquity, from Constantine to the Arab conquest”

Pedagogy

• “Teaching Jerusalem: What Can Be Learned in a Classroom?” in Jerusalem Quarterly by Roberto Mazza *OA

Archaeology of Jerusalem: All Historical Periods

• “Reviewing the Date and Function of the “Rock-Cut Rooms” in the City of David” in Cultic Kisses: Fruitful Encounters Between Deities and Humans. Festschrift for Angelika Berlejung on the Occasion of Her 65th Birthday by Aren M. Maier

• “Jerusalem’s Shifting Center: The Western Slope of the Southeastern Ridge between the Bronze Age and the Early Persian Period” in Israel Exploration Journal by Yuval Gadot and Yiftah Shalev

• “Roads to the Holy City: An Integrated Archaeological and Spatial Analysis of Access Routes Leading to Jerusalem in the Second Century BCE–Seventh Century CE” in ‘Atiqot by Yosef Spiezer, Boaz Zissu, and Hehiel Zelinger *OA

• “Uncovering Jerusalem’s First Wall” in Biblical Archaeology Review by Unknown

• “The Stepped Podium: A Landmark on Jerusalem’s Main Thoroughfare in the Second Temple Period” in ‘Atiqot by Nahshon Szanton *OA

• “Producers and Consumers of Ceramic Building Materials in Roman Jerusalem and Its Environs” in Israel Exploration Journal by Anat Cohen-Weinberger, Shulamit V. Terem, Avner Ecker, Uzi ‘Ad and Rachel Bar-Nathan

• “Menorah Graffiti on the Streets of Jerusalem” in ‘Atiqot by Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah and Nahshon Szanton *OA

• “Umayyad Streets Leading to the Temple Mount/al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf Gates in Jerusalem: Evidence ofUrban Planning, Control and Ideology” in ‘Atiqot by Yuval Baruch *OA

• “The Burial Chapel of Melisende, Queen of the Kingdom of Jerusalem: A Reexamination” in Tel Aviv by Amichay Schwartz

• “Unearthing the Urban Landscape of Mamluk Jerusalem: Methodology, Social, and Cultural Implications” in Cities through Time: Glimpses into Urbanity and Community in Mediaeval to Modern West Asia and Egypt by Nimrod Luz *OA

Archaeology of Jerusalem: Excavation Reports

• “Excavations at Jerusalem: The Byzantine Street (Area S2)” in ‘Atiqot by Moran Hagbi and Joe Uziel *OA

• “The Pottery from the Byzantine Street (Area S2), Jerusalem” in ‘Atiqot by Itamar Taxel *OA

• “Glass Finds of the Late Byzantine–Umayyad Periods from the Byzantine-Period Street (Area S2), Jerusalem” in ‘Atiqot by Tamar Winter *OA

• “Coins from the Excavations of the Byzantine Street (Area S2), City of David, Jerusalem” in ‘Atiqot by Donald T. Ariel *OA

• “Cotton Threads from the Byzantine Street (Area S2), Jerusalem” in ‘Atiqot by Naama Sukenik *OA

• “Faunal Remains from the Byzantine Street (Area S2), Jerusalem” in ‘Atiqot by Lee Perry Gal *OA

• “Dendroarchaeological Analysis of Charcoal Fragments from the Byzantine Street in the City of David, Jerusalem” in ‘Atiqot by Mordechay Benzaquen and Dafna Langgut *OA

Archaeology of Jerusalem: New Open Access

• Avraham Faust has posted several volumes of papers presented at Bar Ilan University’s New Studies on Jerusalem Conference on his Academia page. Note that each “English Section” contains abstracts of the articles written in Hebrew.

  • Volume 13 (2007; Hebrew Section)

  • Volume 13 (2007; English Section)

  • Volume 14 (2008; Hebrew Section)

  • Volume 14 (2008; English Section)

  • Volume 15 (2009; English Section)

  • Volume 15 (2009; Hebrew Section)

  • Volume 16 (2010; English Section)

  • Volume 16 (2010; Hebrew Section)

  • Volume 17 (2011; Hebrew Section)

  • Volume 17 (2011; English Section)

  • Volume 19 (2013; English section)

  • Volume 19 (2013; Hebrew Section)

  • Volume 20 (2014; Hebrew Section)

  • Volume 20 (2014; English Section)

  • Volume 22 (2017; English Section)

New Books about Jerusalem

• The Names of Jerusalem: Jewish, Christian and Islamic Traditions by Aaron Demsky, Christophe Rico, and Iraj Sheidaee

  • See the table of contents here

• The Goldsmithing of the Holy Sepulchre, 16th-18th Centuries (French), edited by Michèle Bimbenet-Privat

• Hidden Companions: Paranormals from the Old City of Jerusalem by Ahmad Nabil

Coming soon: Jerusalem Tracker 15.2 will include new media, developments, and events relevant to historical Jerusalem.

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This material was 100% human composed. We do not use AI at any stage of research or writing.

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