Presented at
2025 Abraham and His Family Conference
Saturday, May 3 and Saturday, May 10, 2025
Sponsored by The Interpreter Foundation, Brigham Young University Religious Education,
Scripture Central, and FAIR Latter-day Saints
A quick glance at the book of Genesis reveals virtually no connection between the founder of the biblical tradition, Abraham, and its holy city, Jerusalem. And yet upon closer inspection one finds occasional clues embedded in the text, all of which reverberate in the stories of David and Solomon regarding the selection of Jerusalem as the capital of the newly established kingdom and the construction of the Temple on Mt. Zion.
Download audio recording
Gary Rendsburg
Gary A. Rendsburg serves as the Blanche and Irving Laurie Chair in Jewish History and holds the rank of Distinguished Professor at Rutgers University. His wide-ranging scholarship covers the history, literature, and archaeology of ancient Israel, though he also has developed a second expertise in the medieval Hebrew manuscript tradition. Prof. Rendsburg has visited all the major archaeological sites in Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, plus he has worked in the world’s leading libraries, including the Vatican Library, the Bodleian Library (Oxford), the Cambridge University Library, and the Library of Congress. He has held visiting positions at the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Pontifical Biblical Institute (Rome), and the Getty Villa (Los Angeles).
