Jesus and Archaeology [Paperback]

James H. Charlesworth (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2006

Archaeology still has many things to reveal about the life and world of Jesus of Nazareth. To touch a two-thousand-year-old pot held by a Jew who lived in a small village frequented by Jesus can bring us closer to understanding those who were touched by Jesus. Jesus and Archaeology contains the revised and edited lectures that leading archaeologists and biblical scholars presented at a gathering in Jerusalem to celebrate the new millennium. Many contributors came directly from their excavations in places like Bethsaida, Capernaum, Nazareth, and Jerusalem to share their discoveries and insights, focusing on the question In what ways do new archaeological discoveries clarify the world, life, and thought of Jesus from Nazareth? Readers of Jesus and Archaeology will gain many new insights into the life and times of this fascinating Galilean Jew.

Product Details

• Paperback: 740 pages
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; 1st ed edition (July 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080284880X
• ISBN-13: 978-0802848802
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #850,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jesus and History, January 21, 2007

By 

Steve Jackson "stevejackson100atyahoocom" (New England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jesus and Archaeology (Paperback)

In 2000, a number of scholars met in Jerusalem to deliver papers on archaeology and the historical Jesus. These papers have been gathered in this excellent collection edited by Professor James Charlesworth of Princeton Theological Seminary.

Taken as a whole, the collection discuss all the major issues and relevant locations concerning the archaeology of the Holy Land as it touches on Jesus. For example, the two articles on archaeology and John's Gospel total almost one hundred pages. There is some overlap among the various articles and a couple are somewhat "off topic" (but useful nonetheless).

Unfortunately there is no completely satisfactory introductory work on this topic. Perhaps the best is Crossan and Reed's EXCAVATING JESUS, which is quirky at places and should be used with caution.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comments by Michael Calum Jacques author of '1st Century Radical'., November 14, 2008

By 

Michael Calum Jacques ""author of 1st Cen... (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jesus and Archaeology (Paperback)

Published around July, 2006 and weighing in at over 760 pages, 'Jesus and Archaeology' constitutes a major contribution to the title's field by a scholar with a distinguished pedigree. James H Charlesworth is perhaps best known for being closely involved with research and publishing in connection with the Dead Sea Scrolls, indeed, he heads the team of DDS scholars at Princeton Theological Seminary.

The archaeological sites covered within 'Jesus and Archeology' are mainly situated within Jerusalem, Galilee and Samaria; the work contains discussions and explanations of some of the various techniques employed by modern day archaeologists and historians. This is a very useful and quite considerable one-volume fund which will be usefully and possibly frequently dipped into by scholars, expositors and lay folk alike. It is logically presented and quite readable, even for non-specialists in this area.

Some previous reviewers - within critical circles - have questioned precisely how much genuinely fresh light is cast upon the First Century culture of Jesus and his contemporaries within this work, but few can question the progress outlined on the Qumran sites and at various other sites within and around the Jerusalem Old City - it was only quite recently, after all, that the exact location of the pool of Siloam was found and settled upon. Further north, sites about Galilee continue to illuminate and illustrate aspects of ancient Jewish Palestinian life under Roman occupation - such as the adoption of Roman imagery and iconography by certain sectors of the Jewish upper class strata (if indeed such termas themselves are not exssentially anachronistic)!

As this reviewer has already indicated, he is convinced that the majority of readers with anything like a committed interest in the question of Palestinian antiquity and it's relationship to and with Jesus of Nazareth - and it's difficult to imagine anybody considering purchasing this book, who is not genuinely interested in its field of study - will find it to be a useful source to refer to again and again. It is not a work for the dilettante, but neither is it inaccessible by any means.

Michael Calum Jacques

14 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cutting-edge compilation, December 8, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jesus and Archaeology (Paperback)

Edited by James H. Charles worth (Professor of New Testament Language and Literature and Director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Project at Princeton Theological Seminary), Jesus and Archaeology is an anthology of scholarly essays by learned authors, many of whom worked recently and directly in excavations at Bethsaida, Capernaum, Nazareth, and Jerusalem. Essay topics range from "Did Jesus Attend the Synagogue?" to "Jesus and Resurrection Faith in Light of Jewish Texts" to "The Christian Apocrypha and Archaeology" and much more. A handful of black-and-white photographs, a selected bibliography, an index of scripture and other ancient texts, and a glossary round out this cutting-edge compilation of what the latest archaeological findings tell us of Jesus and the era in which he lived.