Dr. James Tabor is professor of Christian origins and ancient Judaism in the Department of Religious Studies at the University North Carolina at Charlotte where he served as Chair for ten years. Since 1990 Tabor has made 72 trips to Israel pursuing research, doing archaeology, and leading students and other adult groups who want a unique Holy Land Experience. His Ph.D. is from the University of Chicago in Christian Origins and Ancient Judaism. Tabor has combined his work on ancient texts with extensive field work in archaeology in Israel and Jordan, including work at Qumran, Sepphoris, Masada, and Wadi el-Yabis in Jordan, the Suba “John the Baptist” cave, the “Tomb of the Shroud,” and the Talpiot “Jesus” tombs. Among his publications areThings Unutterable (1985); A Noble Death (1992); Why Waco: (1995); Restoring Abrahamic Faith (2008 with new edition in 2021)); and the New York Times bestselling The Jesus Dynasty: A New Historical Investigation of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity (2006). In 2010 he published two books: The Jesus Discovery: The New Archaeological Find that Reveals the Birth of Christianity (Simon & Schuster) and Paul and Jesus: How the Apostle Transformed Christianity (Simon & Schuster). His latest two books are The Book of Genesis: A New Translation from the Transparent English Bible (2020) and Paul’s Ascent to Paradise: The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle. Tabor’s latest book, The Lost Mary: How the Jewish Mother of Jesus Became the Virgin Mother of God (Knopf) will be published in 2023. You can find all his books on Amazon. You can visit his blog at: https://jamestabor.com

Ross K. Nichols is a distinguished biblical researcher, author, educator, and explorer, known for blending scholarly insight with hands-on fieldwork. As the President and Founder of the Horeb Institute, he leads the charge in the historical and objective research and exploration of the Bible. Nichols has published five books through Horeb Press, including The Moses Scroll (2021) and Fragments of a Leather Manuscript Containing Moses’ Last Words to the Children of Israel (2021), which delve into the Shapira saga, These Are the Words: Essential Biblical Hebrew Vocabularies (2022), The Genesis Torah Tablet, and The Exodus Torah Tablet (both 2024).

Over the past decade, Nichols has traveled extensively to Israel and Jordan, leading educational tours and conducting in-depth biblical research. His work focuses on the Hebrew Bible, particularly the Pentateuch, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the significant 19th-century explorations in the Levant. He has participated in archaeological digs in Jerusalem and Biblical Tamar and co-led expeditions to locate sites from biblical wilderness narratives, notably in the search for Biblical Horeb/Sinai.

Nichols is a Vice President and ordained minister for United Israel World Union, an educational organization founded in 1944. His weekly classes on Biblical studies are live-streamed globally on his YouTube channel, @rossknicholsTV, with audio versions available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts through Horeb Radio.

Nichols’s scholarly contributions are recognized internationally; his research ranks in the top 0.05% on Academia.edu, and his upcoming entry on the Shapira Fragments will be featured in Brill’s Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He has also lectured at esteemed institutions, including the Albright Institute in Jerusalem.