NEWS

Brief

Dr. Jodi Magness, the Kenan Distinguished Professor for Teaching Excellence in Early Judaism at UNC has received a top book award from the American Library Association. Her book, "The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls" (Eerdmans, 2002), was named an "outstanding academic title" Choice magazine.

Each year Choice editors award the designation to about 10 percent of the 6,600 books they review during the previous year, based on excellence in presentation and scholarship, importance relative to other literature in the field, originality or uniqueness of treatment and other considerations.

"An experienced archaeologist, Magness took as her task the complete and thorough reinvestigation of all known archaeological findings at Qumran and their correlation with the textual evidence provided by the Scrolls and by other ancient authorities," wrote Choice reviewer L.J. Greenspoon. "The result is a work of wide appeal."

Last fall, the book was named the Best Popular Book on Archaeology by the Biblical Archaeology Society.

Magness, who teaches in the department of religious studies in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences, is a leading expert on the archaeology of Palestine.

Photo url:  http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/faculty/magness_jodi.jpg

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