Professor Tabor in the Old City, Jerusalem

James D. Tabor is Professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he has taught since 1989. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1981 in New Testament and Early Christian Literature. He previously held positions at the University of Notre Dame (1979-85) and the College of William and Mary (1985-89).  His research interests have focused on the historical Jesus, Christian Origins and ancient Judaism.

Tabor is the author of four books and numerous scholarly articles. His first book was a study of the mysticism of the apostle Paul titled Things Unutterable (1986), based on his University of Chicago dissertation. The prestigious Journal of Religion named it one of the ten best scholarly studies on Paul of the 1980s. Tabor then turned to an analysis of attitudes toward religious suicide and martyrdom in the ancient world, the results of which appeared as A Noble Death, published by HarperCollins in 1992 (co-authored with Arthur Droge). Although the book centered on the history of such ideas in the ancient world, the results of this research have had immediate application in the contemporary discussion of the ethics of volunteer death and assisted suicide. It received an extensive essay review in Christian Century. During the 1993 Branch Davidian crisis in Waco, Texas, Tabor applied his expertise in interpreting biblically oriented apocalyptic worldviews to understanding the situation. As a result of his involvement  Tabor published Why Waco? Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America (University of California Press, 1995), which he co-authored with Eugene Gallagher. Harper's magazine published a lengthy excerpt from the book (July, 1995). In 1995 he testified before Congress as an expert witness on Waco.

Tabor's latest book, The Jesus Dynasty: A New Historical Investigation of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity (Simon & Schuster, 2006) presents the results of his work on the historical Jesus over the course of his career to a general audience.. It has been translated into 25 languages and has become an international bestseller. He is currently completing a sequel to this study that deals with the apostle Paul.

Over the past two decades Tabor has combined his work on ancient texts with field work in archaeology. He has worked at a number of sites in Israel and Jordan including Qumran, site of the Dead Sea Scrolls (1991, 1996), Wadi el-Yabis in Jordan (1992, 1996), Masada (1994), and Sepphoris (1996, 1999, 2000). In 2000 he teamed up with Dr. Shimon Gibson to excavate a newly discovered cave at Suba, west of Jerusalem that dates back to the Iron Age but was used for ritual rites in the early Roman period (2000-2006). Tabor and Gibson were also the principals involved in the discovery a 1st century Jewish burial shroud in a looted tomb at Akeldama. Their latest project is an ongoing excavation in Jerusalem on Mt. Zion.

Tabor serves as main editor of the Original Bible Project, an ongoing effort to produce a new translation of the Bible. Tabor is a popular public lecturer and writer and is often consulted by the national media (Time, Newsweek, USNews&World Report, NYTimes, LATimes, WashPost, Wall St. Journal, Harpers, AP, NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX). His work has been featured in several TV documentaries (PBS Frontline, Discovery, Learning Channel, History Channel, BBC, Channel 4 UK).