Where was Golgotha? Was Peter’s house in Capernaum? Was Mary from the town of Magdala? Where was Bethsaida? We’ve all heard the arguments, but what do the archaeological finds tell us? This book pulls together archaeological information, scattered in journals and final reports, relating to the Gospel of Luke with appealing photography, instructive illustrations, and fascinating recent finds. It uses archaeology to reconstruct the social, religious, historical, geographical, and pathological context for the story of Jesus and the Jesus-movement. The book not only features the “shiny objects” from the excavations (the beautiful pottery, buildings, and entertainment facilities) but also items that are not usually handled in glossy magazines, namely, the human, skeletal remains. Yet, these bones are an important window into the biblical world indicating lifespan, morbidity, socioeconomic standing, violence, and stature. The work will employ four areas of archaeological finds and investigations, including inscriptions, large finds (of buildings), small finds (jewelry, pottery, coins), and human remains, to help interpret and illustrate the Gospel of Luke. Along the way, it assesses several archaeological controversies, giving care to be fair to all sides but leaving the reader with the information to make up his or her own mind.

Where was Golgotha? Was Peter's house in Capernaum? Was Mary from the town of Magdala? Where was Bethsaida? We've all heard the arguments, but what do the archaeological finds tell us? This book pulls together archaeological information, scattered in journals and final reports, relating to the Gospel of Luke with appealing photography, instructive illustrations, and fascinating recent finds. It uses archaeology to reconstruct the social, religious, historical, geographical, and pathological context for the story of Jesus and the Jesus-movement. The book not only features the "shiny objects" from the excavations (the beautiful pottery, buildings, and entertainment facilities) but also items that are not usually handled in glossy magazines, namely, the human, skeletal remains. Yet, these bones are an important window into the biblical world indicating lifespan, morbidity, socioeconomic standing, violence, and stature. The work will employ four areas of archaeological finds and investigations, including inscriptions, large finds (of buildings), small finds (jewelry, pottery, coins), and human remains, to help interpret and illustrate the Gospel of Luke. Along the way, it assesses several archaeological controversies, giving care to be fair to all sides but leaving the reader with the information to make up his or her own mind.

This accessible volume describes first-century Jewish and Christian beliefs about the land of Israel and offers a full survey of New Testament passages that directly address the question of land and faith. Respected New Testament scholar Gary M. Burge examines present-day tensions surrounding "territorial religion" in the modern Middle East, helping contemporary Christians develop a Christian theology of the land and assess Bible-based claims in discussions of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle.

There is a general understanding within religious and academic circles that the incarnate Christ of Christian belief lived and died a faithful Jew. This volume addresses Jesus in the context of Judaism. By emphasizing his Jewishness, the authors challenge today’s Jews to reclaim the Nazarene as a proto-rebel rabbi and invite Christians to discover or rediscover the Church’s Jewish heritage. The essays in this volume cover historical, literary, liturgical, philosophical, religious, theological, and contemporary issues related to the Jewish Jesus. Several of them were originally presented at a three-day symposium on “Jesus in the Context of Judaism and the Challenge to the Church,” hosted by the Samuel Rosenthal Center for Judaic Studies at Case Western Reserve University in 2009. In the context of pluralism, in the temper of growing interreligious dialogue, and in the spirit of reconciliation, encountering Jesus as living history for Christians and Jews is both necessary and proper. This book will be of particular interest to scholars of the New Testament and Early Church who are seeking new ways of understanding Jesus in his religious and cultural milieu, as well Jewish and Christian theologians and thinkers who are concerned with contemporary Jewish and Christian relationships.

Drawing on his years of field experience in Galilee, the author illustrates how the archaeological record has been misused by New Testament scholars, and how synthesis of the material culture is foundational for understanding Christian origins in Galilee and the Jewish culture out of which they arose.

A premier New Testament scholar explores how Jesus' trial and execution are portrayed in the New Testament and how that portrayal has affected biblical studies, Christian theology, and Jewish-Christian relations through history. Tomson has written an accessible, responsible analysis of the biblical accounts of Jesus' death, demonstrating how, through compounded misunderstandings, they contributed to anti-Jewish sentiment in the early church and later history. Tomson's question of how Jesus is to be understood in his first-century Judean context is a critical one not only for biblical scholars, but for anyone concerned about human rights and interreligious dialogue today.

A critical analysis of the historicity of the Gospel of John Since it began in 2002, the John, Jesus, and History Project has assessed critically the modern disparaging of John's historicity and has found this bias wanting. In this third volume, an international group of experts demonstrate over two dozen ways in which John contributes to an enhanced historical understanding of Jesus and his ministry. This volume does not simply argue for a more inclusive quest for Jesus—one that embraces John instead of programmatically excluding it. It shows that such a quest has already indeed begun. Contributors include Paul N. Anderson, Jo-Ann A. Brant, Peder Borgen, Gary M. Burge, Warren Carter, R. Alan Culpepper, James D. G. Dunn, Robert T. Fortna, Jörg Frey, Steven A. Graham, Colin J. Humphreys, Craig Keener, Andreas Köstenberger, Tim Ling, William Loader, Linda McKinnish Bridges, James S. McLaren, Annette Merz, Wendy E. S. North, Benjamin E. Reynolds, Udo Schnelle, Donald Senior, C.P., Tom Thatcher, Michael Theobald, Jan van der Watt, Robert Webb, Stephen Witetscheck, and Jean Zumstein. Features A state-of-the-art analysis of John’s contributions to the quest for the historical Jesus, including evaluative responses by leading Jesus scholars •An overview of paradigm shifts in Jesus scholarship and recent approaches to the Johannine riddles Detailed charts that illuminates John's similarities and differences form the Synoptic Gospels as well as the gospel's contributions to the historical Jesus research