Excavating Jesus : beneath the stones, behind the texts

The premier historical Jesus scholar joins a brilliant archaeologist to illuminate the life and teaching of Jesus against the background of his world. There have been phenomenal advances in the historical understanding of Jesus and his world and times, but also huge, lesser known advances in first–century Palestine archaeology that explain a great deal about Jesus, his followers, and his teachings. This is the first book that combines the two and it does it in a fresh, accessible way that will interest both biblical scholars and students and also the thousands of lay readers of Biblical Archaeology Review (150,000+ circulation), National Geographic, and other archaeology and ancient history books and magazines. Each chapter of the book focuses on a major modern archaeological or textual discovery and shows how that discovery opens a window onto a major feature of Jesus's life and teachings.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member EssFair

Written by two men—one an archeologists; the other a professor of religious studies—this text combines data from textual criticism and archeology to delve into the historical Palestine during the time of Jesus. Interesting how the data complements each other.
Three points I found interesting. 1)

Jews believed that they had a covenant with God in which He owned the land and they were to care for it and to share the products equally. Either very democratic or socialistic. Either way, the result was supposed to limit the differences between rich and poor. By the time of Jesus, the Romans or the upper class owned most of the land, so Jesus began substituting the idea of food for land since both were vital for survival. 2) Jews had a spectrum of choices in how to deal with their Roman conquerors ranging from passive resistance to active resistance—violent or non-violent—to accommodation. Jesus probably fits into the active non-violent resistance class. Once he stared his mission to establish the Kingdom of God on earth, it was inevitable that he would clash with the ruling party and be condemned to death. 3) The authors felt that the concept of Jesus’ resurrection was understood differently at the time. Unlike Julius or Augustus Caesar who were also “resurrected” as gods, the resurrection of Jesus also was a general resurrection open to all just people. The philosophical explanation got a little murky to me at this point, but the conclusion was that Jesus’ resurrection was the start of on ongoing Apocalypse. Here is my interpretation—it is up to people to work toward establishing the Kingdom of God here on earth not just expect to find it in Heaven. Once the world is transformed into the Kingdom of God, the Apocalypse will be over—there will be no need for a separation between heaven and earth.

Show Less

2 more

LibraryThing member hlselz

Found a lot of irregularities in this when I read it. Also, many errors. Overall, a good book about the cities and lives during the time of Jesus, but if youre looking for a good archaeological record from the times, skip this one.

LibraryThing member Al-G

This is not light reading, but it is an excellent look at the way archaeology helps to inform the study of the biblical text. This is a more scholarly work, more like a textbook on biblical exegesis that is based in understanding the text in the same way one would understand the layers of an

archaeological excavation. It looks at the lifestyle of ancient Palestine as revealed in the digs of the last century or so, and then explores the way these understandings enlighten the text of the Bible. For the serious biblical historian or for one who just wants to explore the deeper meanings of the biblical stories in the culture of the day, it is an excellent tool.

Show Less

Fewer