Thread: Biblical Archaeology Review Archive $29.95
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Old 07-06-2015, 11:37 PM   #2
GtrsRGr8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Difflugia View Post
The Biblical Archaeology Review Archive 1975-2012 DVD, previously $129.95, is $29.95 until August 31. I'm guessing that they're getting ready to update the archive to 2015 and are trying to clear out old stock.

The DVD serves up a website that allows browsing or searching the full text and images of all the issues of BAR. It actually runs a webserver and displays it on Firefox right from the DVD without needing to be installed. There's no DRM as such, so individual articles can be printed or saved as web pages. The DVD contents can also be copied to a local hard drive or USB drive and run from there.

Note that if you also subscribe to the BAR digital edition (currently $19.95), issues from 2011-2015 can be downloaded as PDF, so it's possible to have the entire run of BAR in electronic format.

Unfortunately, it can only be displayed on a Windows PC or Mac (it won't run on Linux even with WINE and the webserver only serves to localhost, so I can't connect with a tablet or anything).

Tech note: The articles are stored in an unencrypted MySQL database as straight HTML and the web pages are PHP/perl, so the whole thing's pretty hackable if you have the inclination.

There's also an archive of the now defunct Bible Review on sale for $29.95, but that one's based on Libronix software and has DRM. Libronix software isn't too bad, but the inability to even copy/paste articles is a deal-breaker for me.
Great find.

For those who are not familiar with BAR, it is excellent. I think that their intended audience is the layperson (the editor, in fact, does not have any degree in archaeology or any related field). But, some of the articles do get pretty technical, so it is not for the casual reader or someone who just has a passing interest in Biblical archaeology.

Archaeological data, like data in any other scientific field, are subject to interpretation. There are liberal and conservative Biblical archaeologists in this regard. The primary point of difference between the two has to do with how much of the Bible's history is accurate. The liberals in Biblical archaeology are known as "Minimalists"--as their name suggests, they take the position that very little, if any, of the Bible is historically accurate. BAR generally seems to take a conservative approach, although they do publish articles from Minimalists.

The $29.95 price is a real bargain. As Difflugia mentioned, the price for one year's subscription is $19.95. Recently, I've needed to buy a couple of single issues to do some research, and paid $6 each at the Books-A-Million. BTW--the material in BAR does not really go out of date, but builds upon what has been written in the magazine in the past.

I have seen offers of archives from them occasionally for the same, or about the same, price. I've been tempted, but so far haven't bitten. My issue is trying to keep my holdings up to date. For example, if I buy the archive and the 2011-15 supplement, what will I do next year? Is there a yearly supplement? Even if there is, that could be a hassle; besides, I would like to read each issue of the magazine as it comes out, not wait until the supplement has been produced. (I'm honestly asking for suggestions here.) There are other magazines that I've been tempted to buy their archive CD/DVD, and had the same issue--e.g., National Geographic.
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