A modern day detective story of finding out where Emmaus was: where the Risen Christ walked. Here is a brilliant piece of archaeological reconstruction to solve the problem and dazzle readers in the process. For centuries scholars have tried to work out where Emmaus was. Where, in other words, the risen Christ walked, ate and revealed himself. It is a crucial location in the map of Christian belief, and one of the great missing links of Christian archaeology, which has foxed excavators and biblical detectives for more than a millennium and a half. Where is the true site of the astonishing event recorded by St Luke? There are many sites that claim to be the original one, all with their own souvenir business and plenty to lose. Three suggested sites have been put forward. Emmaus-Nicopolis, which is too far from Jerusalem to fit the story and was a regional capital rather than a village. Emmaus-Aby Gosh, which the crusaders believed to be the true site but was not called Emmaus in the First Century AD and must be, ruled out. Finally Emmaus El Qubeibe, which was favoured by the Franciscans as the true site after the Fifteenth Century but again, was not called Emmaus in the First century. The trail went cold long ago, or so it seemed. Now Thiede has produced his most dramatic find to date. His work remains highly confidential and will cause a storm in the archaeological world when it is disclosed. The lost site of Emmaus is rising once again from the soil. This extraordinary book will astonish readers.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Thiede's 'new paradigm' is a ground-breaking work by an Anglican priest. This book bridges the gap between pilgrimage and scholarship."
(Church of Ireland Gazette )"Thiede's 'new paradigm' is a ground-breaking work by an Anglican priest. This book bridges the gap between pilgrimage and scholarship."
(, )
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
Carsten Peter Thiede is one of the most prolific, controversial and acclaimed historians of the Early Church. He has published The Jesus Papyrus and The Quest for the True Cross. Matthew d'Ancona is deputy editor of The Sunday Telegraph
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing and poorly written,
This review is from: Emmaus Mystery: Discovering Evidence for the Risen Christ (Hardcover)
I had really hoped for a lot from this book - the title promises so much, and the picture on the cover shows a really impressive-looking archaeological artefact. So, I wound up being significantly disappointed with what the book actually turned out to be: a disjointed collection of rambling stories all vaguely linked together by the search for the village of Emmaus as mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. Evidence for the risen Christ? Not really. All that Carsten Thiede manages to prove is that the actual site of the village of Emmaus most likely isn't one of the two places traditionally referred to by that name.
The writing in this book is frustratingly uneven, and jumps around from topic to topic, giving far too much unnecessary detail in certain areas and almost no detail whatsoever in others. A couple of anecdotes are repeated in multiple places throughout the book, and one of the more interesting stories is relegated to a (page-long) footnote. The glossy prints - which in this style of book traditionally show something notable or interesting - are generally just "holiday happy-snaps" of the author and his team on their dig site, along with a few uninspiring pictures of unidentifiable piles of rocks and dirt. The book also seems somewhat unfinished, with references (particularly in the final chapter) to scientific studies on certain artefacts that were in progress, but not yet completed at the time of publication. Given that the book is fairly brief at just barely over 200 pages, waiting a couple of months longer for some conclusive results could have added significantly to its value. It is noted in the introduction that the book was actually published after the death of Carsten Thiede, so I can only assume that the manuscript that ended up being published was at best a semi-final draft that was allowed to remain as close to intact as possible to avoid the appearance of having someone else rewrite his final work after his death. This is a shame, because it's honestly very difficult to read. I also have a problem with Thiede's tendency to present some slightly outlandish speculation without much documentation or supporting evidence, while loudly decrying anyone else who dares speculate in the slightest. Heaping scorn on the theories of one's rivals might be considered the norm in archaeological circles, I don't know - but when those theories are commonly accepted as fact, a somewhat more scholarly approach would be of significant benefit. The first few chapters of the book basically present a sequence of historical anecdotes and Thiede's interpretations of them, in far-from-chronological order and with little apparent rhyme or reason in the structure of the book. The final chapter is essentially a report on the dig that was the result of all this, including all sorts of (to me) irrelevant detail and criticism of the methods of various other archaeologists (comments like "unfortunately, Schick's Greek was worse than his English" just sound churlish in this context). So, in summary - 2 stars. There's not a whole lot of "evidence for the risen Christ" presented, the writing is poor, the content is scattered, and the whole affair is generally pretty unsatisfying.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A gentle ramble through history with one or two "gems",
By nacnud "dpv" (usa, tx) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Emmaus Mystery: Discovering Evidence for the Risen Christ (Hardcover)
I read the book and loved it!
I liked the gentle ramblings into details of history etc and the side stories the author goes into. It was more like taking an informative nature-trail stroll on a Sunday afternoon, rather than a route-march to a destination. The title is a bit misleading but the author does explain the historical take on what a "mystery" is. All in all I liked it.
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Emmaus Mystery considered,
This review is from: Emmaus Mystery: Discovering Evidence for the Risen Christ (Paperback)
Thiede, Carston Peter, The Emmaus Mystery; discovering evidence for the risen Christ, Continuum, London and New York, [2005]
The Emmaus story is found in chapter 24 of Luke's gospel. Cleopas and another man, never identified, are walking toward Emmaus when Jesus joins them. Only when they break bread that evening does Jesus reveal who He is, then immediately vanishes. Cleopas and his companion (possibly a rather modest Luke?) returned to Jerusalem that same evening. While the location of Emmaus is of considerable interest, the fact of it is certainly of greater importance to Christian theology. Scholars and Churchmen have sought its location for centuries. A number of factors made it difficult. "Emmaus" was a fairly common name in the time of Jesus; the name was changed to obscure its Jewish heritage; and some scribes and travelers offered confusing emendations over the first few centuries of the Common Era. Thiede makes a compelling case for his choice of the little village of Emmaus. He considers the distances involved, the length of time it takes to walk "sixty stadia", and the like. While there was an important city called Emmaus, much farther from Jerusalem, Luke specifies a "village". Though the debate will surely continue for years, Father Thiede can make no further contribution to it, as he died shortly after completing this, his most important work. L. Edward Sizemore McKinney, Texas
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