The Harpercollins Visual Guide to the New Testament

by Reed, Jonathan L.

• ISBN13: 9780060842499
• ISBN10: 0060842490
• Format: Paperback
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

This one-of-a-kind presentation of the New Testament world and its archaeological treasures provides a new, more complete understanding of the world in which Christianity was born. Through lavish photographs, architectural plans, extensive maps, and detailed charts, you can explore the landscape of Nazareth where Jesus grew up; sit at the shores of Galilee where he preached; and enter the streets and temple of Jerusalem where his ministry was fulfilled. An experienced archaeologist and biblical expert will guide you throughout your journey around Israel and beyond-on the Mediterranean voyages of Paul to the homes and synagogues of the Roman Empire, where he planted the seeds of Christianity. Visit Emperor Nero's "Golden House," witness the desperation of the Jewish revolutionaries at Masada, and explore the magnificent basilicas of Constantine the Great. The HarperCollins Visual Guide to the New Testament features: Rich descriptions of the worlds of Jesus, Paul, and the first Christians Full-color photographs of excavations, artifacts, coins, and pottery from New Testament sites Extensive maps Architectural floor plans of temples, palaces, and synagogues Commentary on how archaeology relates to the Bible Examination of modern excavation techniques and methods A beginners' guide to understanding pottery, coins, temples, and inscriptions

Table of Contents

Archaeology and the New Testament	p. 2
What Archaeologists Do	p. 16
Jews Among Greeks and Romans	p. 34
Galilee and the World of Jesus's Ministry	p. 54
The Archaeology of Jerusalem and Jesus's Passion	p. 78
Paul and the Cities of the Roman Empire	p. 100
The First Christians and the Jewish Wars	p. 122
The Christian World After the New Testament	p. 140
Glossary of Archaeological and Architectural Terms
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

The HarperCollins Visual Guide to the New Testament
What Archaeology Reveals about the First Christians

Chapter One

Archaeology and the New Testament

Archaeology is imperative for the study of the New Testament. There is no chance of understanding Jesus or Paul, Peter or Mary, with out understanding their world. And there is no way to reconstruct that world with out archaeology. Over the past century, hundreds of excavations and thousands of archaeologists have turned up coins and pots, statues and architecture from ruins all across the Mediterranean.

These finds revolutionize our understanding of the New Testament. Most people are drawn to archaeological discoveries because they provide a tangible link to the past. Holding a storage jar found in Galilee from the time of Jesus or walking on a mosaic from a Roman city visited by Paul is a powerful experience. It provides an intimate glimpse into the past and helps us imagine the lives of people who were once real, not just names in a book.

People are fascinated with what archaeologists do and envious of their travels to places described in the Bible. But they are also confused by archaeologists' technical terms and perplexed by competing claims regarding matters that seem irrelevant. Laypersons have to dig through layers of jargon to access a newly discovered artifact or put up with academic bickering about the artifact's interpretation, which kills the novice's enthusiasm. The goal of this book is to cut through those scholarly layers and take the reader on a visual tour of archaeology that relates to the New Testament. This book is intended to be a guide unencumbered by technical and theoretical terminology. Its ambition is to nurture enthusiasm and pique curiosity, and to do so in an intellectually responsible and archaeologically credible manner. This Visual Guide to the New Testament presents a picture of the most important artifacts, buildings, sites, and excavations relating to the world of Jesus and his first followers.

The illustrations in this book are not merely visual aids that accompany New Testament passages. Instead, they provide a window onto the ancient Mediterranean world that will transform the reader's understanding of the New Testament. For example, it is only after looking at the kinds of houses in which Jesus's Galilean disciples grew up that we can understand their awe at the Temple in Jerusalem. Only by examining shipwrecks at the bottom of the Mediterranean can we appreciate Paul's dogged commitment to spread his message. And only by surveying the numerous temples, statues, and inscriptions that proclaimed the Roman caesars to be sons of god can we comprehend the perils of proclaiming Christ the Lord.

Can archaeology confirm the New Testament?

We begin by looking at common expectations of archaeology. The most pressing question asked of archaeologists is whether their discoveries confirm the truth of the New Testament. Sometimes proof seems tantalizingly close, and other times frustratingly far. But even if finds cannot convincingly confirm a New Testament passage, archaeological artifacts can nevertheless profoundly affect our understanding of the New Testament's message. Archaeology may not be able to prove—or disprove, for that matter—the accuracy of the New Testament, but it teaches us much about the lives and beliefs of those earliest Christians.

Our first example is a hyped archaeological find that failed to prove anything. Hailed as the greatest archaeological discovery ever, this limestone box was inscribed with the words "James, the son of Joseph, the brother of Jesus." These boxes are common around Jerusalem; they are called ossuaries and were used by Jews during Jesus's time to deposit the bones of the dead, but this ossuary, purchased in an antiquities shop in Jerusalem, was notable for its inscription. Written in Aramaic, the language of Jesus and other Jews in the first century, it was thought to have contained the bones of James, another son of Joseph the carpenter. According to the New Testament's book of Acts, as well as the Jewish historian Josephus, James was an important leader in the early church who was stoned to death in 62 CE, right about the time to which the ossuary was dated. Initially, some experts authenticated the inscription based on the style of the Aramaic letters, and some geologists confirmed the box's antiquity with scientific tests. But their expert advice only ruled out a clumsy forgery.

This was a crafty forgery. Investigation by the Israel Antiquities Authority exposed the inscription as a fake. The Authority's Theft Unit linked the owner of the ossuary to a warehouse that served as a forger's workshop, with dental drills, chemicals, and soils from various archaeological sites, and scores of fake artifacts and inscriptions in various stages of production. A scientific panel concluded that though the box was ancient, the inscription was modern; it cut through the ancient surface, disturbing what geologists call biovermiculation, the bacterial erosion that takes place over centuries and looks like tiny, coral-like pits under magnification. The patina, a thin weathering that forms over time on stone surfaces, covered most of the ossuary with a crystalline sheen and a cauliflowerlike appearance, including parts of the inscription. But microscopic examination revealed that areas around and within the inscription had been carefully coated with a fake patina. The James ossuary, it turned out, was a hoax. It did not prove anything about James or Jesus. But hoaxes do not disprove anything, either.

In the end, the ossuary was not a direct archaeological link to a New Testament figure; it only served as a reminder that none of the main characters of the New Testament left traces in the archaeological record. There are links to tangential figures mentioned in the Gospels and Acts, however. Archaeologists in Israel found a plaque inscribed by Pontius Pilate, the governor who condemned Jesus to crucifixion, and an ossuary that belonged to Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest who participated in Jesus's trial. And excavators in Greece uncovered an inscription naming Galho, the procurator who tried Paul, according to Acts 18, and a pavement stone naming Erastus, whom Paul mentions in his letter to the Romans. . . .

The HarperCollins Visual Guide to the New Testament
What Archaeology Reveals about the First Christians. Copyright © by Jonathan Reed. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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Excerpted from What Archaeology Reveals about the First Christians by Jonathan L. Reed
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.