In this symposium, brought to you by Biblical Archaeology Society and the Museum of the Bible, three leading scholars R. Steven Notley, Jordan J. Ryan, and James R. Strange discuss what the New Testament, ancient texts, and archaeology reveal about the first-century world of Jesus of Nazareth and his earliest followers. In addition to reviewing the historical, geographical, and biblical evidence for Jesus and his teachings, particular focus is given to new archaeological findings related to Second Temple Judaism and the realities of daily life in Roman Judea, including recently excavated villages, synagogues, and pilgrimage routes in Jerusalem and the Galilee. The symposium is moderated by Glenn Corbett, Editor-in-Chief of Biblical Archaeology Review magazine, and Robert Duke, Chief Curatorial Officer of the Museum of the Bible, who will lead a concluding panel discussion in which audience members can engage the scholars with their own questions about Jesus’s life and times.

Lectures

Reading the Gospel in the Land
R. Steven Notley, Pillar College

The Jewish scholar, David Flusser, once remarked that the question is not whether Jesus was Jewish, but what kind of Jew was he? To answer Flusser’s question, the serious reader of the Gospels must consider the religious, linguistic, and geographical setting for the accounts, which serves as something of a frame for the New Testament presentation of the historical Jesus. One should be familiar with Jesus’s engagement with Jewish thought in the first century, as well as the nuances of the Hebrew language environment in which Jesus lived, spoke, and taught. Finally, no serious consideration of the historical geography of the Synoptic Gospels can be reconciled with the prevailing scholarly approach that assumes Luke’s dependence upon Mark’s Gospel. This dated scholarly notion has cast a long shadow over historical Jesus studies. Throughout the Second Gospel, a confused and anachronistic setting for Roman Judaea is presented. Yet, scholars take little note that Mark’s lapses are absent from Luke’s Gospel. These deft geographical and archaeological details are devoid of any theological significance, which might explain Luke’s need to “correct” Mark, as is often assumed. Instead, they point to Luke’s independence from Mark and correspond with his value as an important witness to Jewish life and faith in the first century.

The Synagogue and Village Life in the Time of Jesus
Jordan J. Ryan, Wheaton College

All four canonical Gospels depict synagogues as an important site for Jesus’s teaching, especially during his Galilean ministry. Recent archaeological excavations have greatly expanded our understanding of early Roman-period synagogues in Galilee, Judea, and Gaulanitis through the discovery of several Jewish public buildings that have been reasonably identified as synagogues. We now have as many as 16 candidates for early Roman (63 BCE to 135 CE) or late Hellenistic (167-63 BCE) period synagogues. Each discovery provides new data that can help us to better understand the nature of early synagogues, which can in turn help us to better contextualize and situate Jesus’s ministry. These discoveries go hand in hand with the ongoing excavation of Roman-period villages in Galilee, which have helped to illuminate the nature of Jewish daily life and religion. Synagogues help us to better understand the nature of public Jewish life, both religious and civic, in these same villages, and provide us with a fuller picture of the world in which the gospel narratives and the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth took place.

Jerusalem Pilgrimage in Jesus’s Time
James R. Strange, Samford College

The Canonical Gospels, Josephus, Philo of Alexandria, and rabbinic texts all reference regular and widespread Jewish pilgrimage to Jerusalem during the time of the Second Temple. Surely such a practice that reputedly involved so many people left an imprint in the archaeological record. This presentation examines two kinds of material remains from which we can infer the practice of pilgrimage, one an installation and the other an object. First, the presence of large, stepped water pools near the Temple Mount suggests that not only priests but also Jerusalem pilgrims immersed themselves in order to enter the Temple courts in a ritually pure state. Second, the “preferential distribution” at Galilean sites of Herodian/knife-pared lamps made from Jerusalem clays implies that pilgrims brought these lamps home with them. If this is the case, then a lamp from Jerusalem carried meaning beyond mere illumination. The act of pilgrimage had ongoing and repeated consequences in Galilean Jewish households.

Glenn J. Corbett, editor-in-chief of Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR)

Dr. Glenn J. Corbett is editor-in-chief of Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR) magazine and a specialist in the archaeology of the lands of the Bible, with more than two decades of excavation and field experience working on projects in Jordan, Turkey, and Israel. Prior to joining BAR, Glenn was associate director of the American Center of Research (ACOR) in Amman, Jordan, where he directed the award-winning Temple of the Winged Lions project in Petra. In addition, while working as program director for the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, he spearheaded efforts to help preserve threatened archaeological sites and museums in Yemen and other countries ravaged by conflict.

Robert Duke, University of California, Los Angeles

Dr. Robert "Bobby" Duke (University of California, Los Angeles) serves as the Chief Curatorial Officer and as the Director of the Scholars Initiative at Museum of the Bible. He is also a professor in the Honors College and former dean of the School of Theology at Azusa Pacific University. He is the author of The Social Location of the Visions of Amram (Peter Lang) and Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic Dictionary (Zondervan).

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