Religion, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 13, 2018

Could God Help You Live Longer?

Being religious may come with a longevity boost, a new study suggests. The study, which analyzed the obituaries of more than 1,000 people across the United States, found that people with a religious affiliation lived nearly 4 years longer, on average, than those without a religious affiliation. The findings held...

Jul 18, 2018

Shroud of Turin Is a Fake, Bloodstains Suggest

The Shroud of Turin is said by some to be the burial cloth of Jesus and by others a medieval forgery. Now, a new study using modern forensic techniques suggests the bloodstains on the shroud are completely unrealistic, supporting arguments that it is a fake. The Shroud of Turin is...

Jul 23, 2018

What's Behind 'Weeping' Virgin Mary Statues?

In a Catholic parish in Hobbs, New Mexico, a statue of the Virgin Mary has been weeping. Onlookers have gathered out of curiosity, and also for prayer and healing. The liquid on the statue has been found to be olive oil and balsam – the same mixture that is used...

Jul 24, 2018

Rare 'Lunar Bible' That Visited the Moon Is Up for Auction

How much would you pay for a Bible that flew to the moon? A rare, miniature Bible that traveled on board NASA's Apollo 14 mission in 1971 is up for auction, with bidding — currently underway — starting at $50,000. Along with the microform King James Bible, which is mounted...

Aug 7, 2018

Rare Medieval Bible Returned to Canterbury Cathedral 500 Years After It Was Lost

A pocket-size, 13th-century Bible was just returned to the library of England's Canterbury Cathedral, after being lost for 500 years. The medieval Bible was lost during the 16th century, when Henry VIII ruled England and led the English Reformation that divided the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church....

Sep 5, 2018

Ancient Church Hidden in Turkish Lake. And a Pagan Temple May Lie Beneath It.

When Mustafa Şahin first saw photographs of the submerged ancient church under the waves of Turkey's Lake Iznik, he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. The head of archaeology at Bursa Uludağ University had been searching the shores of the lake for several years, but it wasn't until local...

Sep 16, 2018

Legends of a Medieval Female Pope May Tell the Truth

Medieval legends claim that Pope Joan was the first and only female pope. And now, an analysis of ancient silver coins suggests that the ordained woman may have actually lived. According to legends from the Middle Ages, a pope named John, or Johannes Anglicus, who reigned during the middle of...

Oct 17, 2018

Stephen Hawking's Final Book Says There's 'No Possibility' of God in Our Universe

From his desk at Cambridge University and beyond, Stephen Hawking sent his mind spiraling into the deepest depths of black holes, radiating across the endless cosmos and swirling back billions of years to witness time's first breath. He viewed creation as a scientist, and when he was called to discuss...

Oct 22, 2018

Dead Sea Scroll Fragments in Museum of the Bible Are Fake

At least five of the 16 Dead Sea Scroll fragments in the Museum of the Bible are fakes, an independent study has concluded. The Museum of the Bible, which opened in Washington, D.C., last year, had been under scrutiny for publishing and displaying the texts despite their murky origins. The...

Nov 27, 2018

Earliest Depiction of Jesus Christ in Israel Discovered. Here's What It Shows.

Emma Maayan-Fanar was looking for shade from the desert sun when she saw the face of Jesus. The art historian from the University of Haifa in Israel had been studying crucifixes and other motifs on the stone lintels of the ancient churches and houses of the ruined city of Shivta...

Dec 3, 2018

This Ring Bears the Name of the Man Who Condemned Jesus to Death. Who Really Wore It?

A copper finger ring, dating back around 2,000 years, with an incised Greek inscription saying of Pilatus has been unearthed in the West Bank. The discovery of the ring has led to speculation that it may have belonged to Pontius Pilatus (also called Pontius Pilate), the Roman prefect of Judea...

Dec 25, 2018

10 Fascinating Biblical-Era Discoveries from 2018

2018 Biblical-Era Finds (Image credit: Photo12/UIG via Getty Images)With signs of human settlement dating back at least 10,000 years, the Holy Land is a fertile ground for archaeologists. Hardly a month seems to go by without constructions workers building a new road or housing development stumbling upon some evocative evidence...

Jan 3, 2019

Trump Calls Wall 'Moral' Because Vatican Has One. So What's Its History?

Any border wall between the United States and Mexico can't be immoral, President Trump said at a Cabinet meeting yesterday (Jan. 2), because the Vatican has one, too. When they say the wall’s immoral, well then you got to do something about the Vatican, because the Vatican has the biggest...

Feb 19, 2019

Customs Letter About a Long-Lost Suitcase Leads to Artifacts from Desert with Early 'Jesus' Painting

The ancient desert village of Shivta in southern Israel made headlines when archaeologists discovered a wall painting there that is thought to show the baptism of Jesus Christ, the earliest representation of Christ known in Israel. Now, they have found about 140 long-lost artifacts from the village, which showed up...

Feb 22, 2019

Biblical Archaeology: The Study of Biblical Sites & Artifacts

While the definition of biblical archaeology varies from scholar to scholar, it generally includes some combination of archaeology and biblical studies. The magazine Biblical Archaeology Review defines biblical archaeology as A branch of archaeology dealing with the archaeology of biblical lands that informs our understanding of the bible and/or the...