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Archaeology and the Galilean Jesus: A Reexamination of the Evidence

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Jonathan Reed has written a critique of that form of biblical scholarship which is primarily text-centered and where exegesis is the main goal. What is needed instead is not just an awareness of more more artifacts, but an examination of the material culture that impinge upon Christian origins. Reed sees the real value of archaeology as being able to reconstruct the social world of Jesus and his followers.

In Part One, Reed considers the identity of the Galileans. They are not descendants of Israelites of the Northern Kingdom; there is an absence of settlements for over a century after the conquest of Tiglath-pileser. They are not Itureans; signs of their settlements may be found in adjacent areas but not in Galilee. The Galileans are primarily Jews; they settled Galilee during the Hasmonean period and used the same domestic space (artifacts and the like) as found in Judea.

Some implications for the Jesus tradition are obvious. The teachings of Jesus cannot be seen as some sort of Galilean Judaism over and against some sort of Judean Judaism. Likewise passages in Q which are supposedly based upon northern tradi-tions cannot be an attempt at reviving centuries old Israelite traditions.

Part Two focuses on two cities: Sepphoris and Capernaum. Though not mentioned in the Bible, Sepphoris is often used by biblical scholars to explain an influence of Hellenistic culture (such as Jesus' use of the word "hypocrite"). However most of the
Hellenization of Sepphoris came after the time of Jesus. Much attention has been given to the house of Peter at Capernaum. Reed focuses on the large fishing and agricultural village which was on the lower end of the economic scale.

Part Three reverses the methodological sequence of the first two parts. Rather than moving from archaeology to text, Reed moves from text to archaeology. Here Reed is attempting to show how texts fit the Galilean background and how situations in Galilee were worked into the text.

Reed is on target in his critique as evidenced by the misidentification of the Galileans. Also his book is well written and amply footnoted for those who want to know more.

As a serious amateur student of Biblical archeology, especially the Second Temple era, I enthusiastically recommend this book. The author not only brings keen familiarity with the fundaments of Israel archeology, but an unusually rich and wide appreciation of the relevant intersecting Biblical and secular literature. He puts it together with elegant clarity, caution, and moderation, and what rewarded this reader was a picture of Jesus' Galilee more detailed, vivid, plausible, well-grounded and convincing than I have gotten from any other single manuscript on this subject.

What an interesting and amazing book!! If you've ever been interested in the context of Jesus' life and teaching then this book is for you. By vividly placing Jesus in the sociological and economic Galilean context Reed (a noted authority on Jesus) brings the gospels to life like never before. Reed bridges the gap between those who are so text centered they are blind to historical realities with the world of the often myopic academic archeologist to fuse a new understanding (if not an entirely new discipline!) of the everyday dynamics of Jesus life and teachings. A must read for anyone seriously interested in a contemporary view of Jesus.

Reed has provided a very readable guide to understanding the historical Jesus in his actual context. He is an archaeologist who knows how to write stuff that can be understood by any interested reader. Anyone who wants to learn more about the setting of Jesus should have this book.

Here is a question: What city in what is now Israel, including the West Bank, was the most populous city there in the time of Jesus? Was it Jerusalem? No. Was it Caesrea Maritma, Pilate's capital? No again. It was Scythopolis, modern Bet Shean, only 22 miles from Nazareth.

Scythopolis was one of the Decapolis, the Ten Towns. It was the only one of the ten not "beyond" i.e. east of, the Jordan. It out-populated all the other nine Decapolis towns combined. This means that the Gospel references to the Ten Towns could, and perhaps should, be taken to refer to Scythopolis alone. The reference in Matthew 4:25 to the Decapolis is to Scythopolis alone, since there is a separate reference to "beyond the Jordan". Matthew 4:35 says that "great crowds" from there "followed" Jesus. The Gospel references to banks and street musicians (Matthew 11:17 -- these were really slaves[paidioi] leased by downtown businesses to provide the ancient equivalent of modern shopping mall muzak)almost certainy refer to items in Scythopolis. Mark 7:31 tells us that Jesus almost certainly preached in Scythopolis.

Here is the kicker -- this very large city, only 22 miles from Nazareth, was very wealthy and almost entirely pagan, while Sephoris, only 5 miles from Nazareth but only one quarter the size of Scythololis, was almost entirely Jewish, though wealthy.

Scythopolis no doubt discharged into Galillee a steady stream of what its citizens considered human refuse -- non-upper-class orphans, unwanted newborns, slaves too old to work or handicapped, etc. Note that the Torah (specifically Deuteronomy 15, etc.) requires the Jews to take care of their own "poor and needy" (Greek "ptochoi") and note that Jesus never accused the Pharisees of neglecting their duty in this regard, despite his accusing them of practically everything else. We can therefore conclude that the oft-mentioned "ptochoi" in the Gospels, were probably all non-Jewish, which made their predicment particularly bad. So were almost certainly nearly all of the "mikroi" ("little-ones") These were definitely not children, at least not well-cared-for children, since "mikroi" in reference to human beings in Greek at this time generally denoted their social status.

The knowledge that wealthy, pagan Scythopolis was in Jesus's time the largest city in what is now Israel is one of the treaures of this book. I have added the significance I just noted. The author does not go outsided his own expertize of archeological interpretation, which is a good thing.

Another gem is the fact that just a mile and a half from Nazareth was a manufacturing site for the production of stone cups, which required a good degree of skill. The author does not go outside his field to discuss Joseph's occupation, which was that of a "tekton" (rellaated to the root of our words "technical" and "technology") which can mean any skilled hand-worker, not just a carpenter. I think it a 50-50 likelihood that Joseph and, yes, Jesus, worked at this site, though the author offers no specuation in this regard.

Serious consideration of what the Gospels really have to say cannot take place without reading this book.

Sad thing is about such so called archeological books is they are extremely bias.
This is not a scientific approach where one takes the verifiable evidence where it leads this is a CHRISTIAN Archeologist seeking evidence that can be manipulated to agree with Biblical accounts, and denying any & all evidence that clearly shows no such "godman" ever lived.

Any REAL Archeological view would have to come down to the absolute fact that no verifiable/falsifiable evidence of anykind exist that proves any such person as a "Jesus of Nazareth" ever existed.
This author will never admit that there is no evidence at all that any such city as "Nazareth" existed until at least 100++ years after the alleged lifetime of the mythical Jesus character.

This Christian archeologist will never admit that not a single word was written by ANYBODY anywhere DURING this alleged godmans lifetime.
This CHRISTIAN archeologist will never admit the true origins of Christianity come entirely from much older Pagan religions of Sumeria, Babylon & Kemet.
This Christian archeologist will never admit that the NT is just what is known as a "Astrological Drama" written in the old pagan passion play style.
This Christian archeologist will never admit that the godman, the character Jesus is just an "ALLEGORY FOR THE SUN".
The twelve disciples are allegory for the 12 signs of the Zodiac and the so called 1 year ministry of the SUN/Jesus is merely the Sun's yearly cycle.

This same Christian archeologist list in his "top ten archaeological discoveries in Palestine and Israel" what's is called the "James' ossuary" which is a well known and documented forgery, yet he will not even admit that.

This is the usual Christian re-write of history which is what they have done for 2000 years now.

If you want REAL Archeological data & unbiased reporting of real evidence then you dont listen to a Christian concerning anything possibly related to the middle east because in order to protect their cognition, their "biblical worldview", their religion, their deity they will do and say ANYTHING and deny ALL evidence that is contrary which BTW is A LOT.

Do yourself a favor and google "Did a Historical Jesus exist? By Jim Walker. or maybe "Did Jesus ever live" by Louis W Cable and also "The Jesus Puzzle" by Earl Doherty.

This book is nothing but pure Christian Mythology & apologetics