Jodi Magness (born September 19, 1956) is an American archaeologist, orientalist and scholar of religion.

She serves as the Kenan Distinguished Professor for Teaching Excellence in Early Judaism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Magness is a popular professor whose "unique teaching style of using vivid anecdotes [keeps] students on the edge of their seats".

[2] Magness has been a guest on the National Geographic Channel's The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, a documentary television series exploring religious beliefs across cultures around the world.

Magness has strongly criticized the docu-drama The Lost Tomb of Jesus of James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici, stating that "at the time of Jesus, wealthy families buried their dead in tombs cut by hand from solid rock, putting the bones in niches in the walls and then, later, transferring them to ossuaries".