Archaeology and the Galilean Jesus: A Re-Examination of the Evidence

Archaeology and the Galilean Jesus: A Re-examination of the Evidence, by Jonathan L. Reed. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2000. Pp. xiii + 253. $30.00. Crossing Galilee: Architectures of Contact in the Occupied Land of Jesus, by Marianne Sawicki. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2000. Pp. vii + 260. $23.00. Jesus and the Village Scribes: Galilean Conflicts and the Setting of Q, by William E. Arnal. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001. Pp. xiv + 290. $26.00. This review examines three books in the field of Christian origins that employ recent archaeological discoveries and modern sociological theories in their respective historical reconstructions of the setting of Jesus. Integral to each book is the common interest in the ways in which the Herodian building projects, especially the establishment of the cities of Sepphoris and Tiberias in Galilee, could have impacted Jesus and his movement in the region. Based on the work of Reed, Sawicki, and Arnal, scholars interested in questions related to historical Jesus studies are compelled to be as aware of the material culture of Roman Galilee as the textual remains of the Gospels, Josephus, and the Mishnah. Each volume makes a persuasive argument for the necessity of integrating archaeological and literary studies and illustrates the role that anthropological and sociological theories play in this process. The authors provide a multitude of compelling, sometimes contentious analyses of the setting of Jesus that demonstrate the indispensable role that interdisciplinary studies will play in any serious attempt to reconstruct the earliest phase of Christian origins. Owing in part to his extensive field experience at Capernaum and Sepphoris, Jonathan L. Reed's Archaeology and the Galilean Jesus demonstrates the contribution archaeology has made to our reconstructions of the setting of Jesus. By beginning with questions generated from Galilean archaeology, rather than starting with questions that arise from the textual material, Reed often provides innovative and insightful reconstructions of the setting of Jesus. Except for the introductory and concluding chapters, each chapter integrates textual studies with the material culture remains excavated in Galilee in order to answer specific questions about the setting of Jesus. Reed deliberately and "unabashedly" favors the archaeological data and describes the basic pattern of each chapter as first examining "an archaeological profile" before sketching "the implications for the Gospel and historical Jesus research" (p. 20). Reed's conscious attempt to begin with questions that derive from archaeology makes this book an important contribution to historical Jesus studies. Chapter 1 serves as the introduction and provides an excursus on how archaeological material from early Roman Galilee has the potential further to impact our reconstructions of the historical Jesus. After examining the earlier "quests," Reed situates his project clearly within the bounds of the "third wave" of Jesus research, in which the sociopolitical environment of Galilee is central to the interpretation of Jesus. Owing to the inability of ancient texts to provide a reliable picture of the early Roman Galilean context, archaeological evidence must be used to fill in our reconstruction of everyday life in antiquity. Chapters 2 and 3 comprise the largest section of the book and establish Reed's position regarding several contentious issues about the demography of Galilee. In ch. 2, Reed begins his more detailed analysis of the setting of Jesus with questions about the ethnic and religious identity of the Galileans. By observing settlement patterns and specific elements from the material culture that suggest links to Judea (especially Jerusalem), he argues that Judean colonizers who moved to Galilee during the early Roman period were the primary occupants of Galilee. Relying heavily on the archaeological survey of Lower Galilee conducted by Zvi Gal (The Lower Galilee during the Iron Age, 1992), he shows that Galilee was virtually abandoned during the seventh and sixth centuries B. …