John of History, Baptist of Faith: The Quest for the Historical Baptizer

By James F. McGrath
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2024), 486 pp., $59.99 (hardcover and eBook)

Reviewed by Zeba Crook

In a style that is easy to read, James F. McGrath has undertaken this study into the historical John the Baptist in the true spirit of scientific inquiry: It is daring, creative, and exploratory. As with all novel scientific experiments, however, value is not always measured in terms of success but rather learning, for one can learn as much from a failed experiment as from a successful one.

In terms of goals, McGrath is emphatically not attempting a biography of the historical John the Baptist. Rather, he is interested in exploring the challenges and possibilities of such an undertaking. As such, this book is structured around topics related to the search for John, not around topics related to his life or chronology, though McGrath does in the process make many claims about what we can know about John (all of them interesting, some of them provocative, and many of them unpersuasive).

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In the book’s nine chapters, McGrath successively argues that John the Baptist is as central to the New Testament’s Q source (a hypothetical collection of Jesus’s sayings) as Jesus is; he defends the use of Mandean sources (third-century CE gnostic writings) in the search for the historical John the Baptist; and he argues that if one assumes continuity rather than rupture between John and Jesus, a good deal of information about John can be revealed. He then posits that shared echoes and phrases in several late infancy narratives of John suggest access to early (and therefore reliable) features of the John story, and explores the unique aspects of John’s baptism. McGrath also claims that Jesus’s use of the term “son of man” can be related to John’s reference to the one coming after him. Finally, he traces the origins of Gnosticism to the intersection of ancient Israelite traditions and John’s baptism itself, and traces the use of Abba in prayer to John the Baptist, from whom Jesus learned as one of his disciples. There is so much here that is creative and provocative that it will take scholars generations to unpack.

For many of the claims of this book to be persuasive, one must first accept that the Gospels are essentially history with bits of theology that can be easily spotted and removed. One must also accept that collective memory is essentially reliable and that unreliable memories are easily spotted and explainable. The problem with both presuppositions is that they are no longer defensible.

First, scholars used to imagine theological influence on the Gospels like chocolate chips in a cookie. They believed they could discover the bits of theological influence and remove them, leaving historically reliable material. But contemporary historiography sees theological influence more like the flour used to make the cookie, not the chocolate chips added to it. And one cannot distill flour from a cookie once it is baked. New Testament scholars have realized that there can no longer be any quest for the historical Jesus: Our sources and criteria simply cannot get us there. McGrath knows and cites this critical work but does not appear to take it very seriously in many of the claims he makes about John and Jesus.

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Second, I concur with McGrath that we need to think of the various pieces of information about John the Baptist (e.g., the Gospels, Josephus, Mandean) as forms of collective memory. They are collective memory because none of the sources was written by an eyewitness, or even likely by a person with access to an eyewitness. The problem is that McGrath relies on the popular perception that collective memory is essentially reliable—especially if focused on a story’s general essence as opposed to its details. But there is a good deal of research that shows that accuracy is far from the primary concern of collective memory. This does not mean, of course, that there is never anything accurate in collective memories. The crippling problem is that there are no methods or criteria that can distinguish accurate collective memories from manufactured ones (except perhaps in the most fantastic cases, such as snakes speaking to humans). Yet McGrath repeatedly imagines that collective memories about John the Baptist are essentially reliable.

This study reflects many of the very best traits of long-past scholarship on the New Testament: It is rich in research, erudite, sweeping in its expertise, and thoroughly familiar with a wide array of primary sources. But it also approaches its task in ways that reflect some of the naiveté of this past scholarship: that we can know the thoughts and motivations of Jesus or John the Baptist, and that we can access those through a nuanced reading of ancient Christian writings (suggesting a very high interest in historical accuracy on the part of those writers). Repeatedly, McGrath makes statements about John based on things Jesus said or did, without first establishing the historical accuracy of those things. A book on John the Baptist that took seriously the demise of the criteria used in the search for the historical Jesus might have looked very different.

McGrath correctly opines that perfect certainty is not required for historians to be able to say something. However, historians also need to be able to admit when the number and nature of the sources on a topic do not allow them to say very much at all. I think the topic of John the Baptist is perhaps one of those topics.

Zeba Crook is Professor of Religion at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He focuses on Christian origins and the historical Jesus.

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Lost Words and Forgotten Worlds: Rediscovering the Dead Sea Scrolls

By Andrew Perrin
(Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2025), 348 pp., 66 figs. (color & b/w photos, maps); $28.99 (paperback), $25.99 digital)

Reviewed by Abigail Naidu

Nearly 80 years after their initial discovery, the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) continue to make headlines. Despite this fascination, many are unfamiliar with the portal these manuscripts open onto ancient Jewish life or the light they shed on the history and evolution of the Bible. In this lively and often humorous book, author Andrew Perrin does more than introduce the scrolls. He makes years of scholarship accessible, allowing readers to encounter the scribes of the scrolls and step into the world in which they lived.

A newcomer to the scrolls is faced with puzzling labels for the manuscripts, incomplete texts, and esoteric language. With a clear and pedagogical style, Perrin methodically explains and unpacks these ancient artifacts, equipping the reader with the tools to explore them further. He frequently includes excerpts from the documents themselves, accompanied by comprehensive explanations that contextualize the contents and elucidate their significance. Non-specialist readers are guided through the issues that have dominated scrolls scholarship in recent decades, including the stability of biblical texts through centuries of transcription, the social landscape the scribes inhabited, and the archaeology of the site of Qumran near where the scrolls were discovered.

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The author describes the book as “an invitation,” an opportunity to journey into the words and worlds of the DSS that spanned the third century BCE to 70 CE. To this end, readers receive a crash course on ancient Jewish groups. Along-side overviews of the Pharisees and Sadducees, Perrin presents the primary sources on the Essenes, the group most often identified with the Qumran site and the DSS. In addition to the writings of Josephus, Philo, and Pliny, excerpts from the scrolls themselves are discussed, including the so-called “Rule Texts,” which provide instructions for life in the community. Perrin nuances the popular image of an ascetic, all-male community dwelling in the desert, demonstrating continuity as well as tension with broader Jewish society.

The Qumran site, nevertheless, remains central to any study of the scrolls, and readers will find a comprehensive overview of the site and its archaeology. Material remains—from burial grounds to pottery bowls to toilets—are introduced, explained, and contextualized, with a balanced presentation of the key scholarly debates. Perrin is careful to remind his readers of the need to consider the site and the scrolls on their own terms first, before putting them into conversation. He also acknowledges where we find more questions than answers, highlighting the humility and caution that is necessary when we study Qumran and its inhabitants.

Many will come to the scrolls by way of the Hebrew Bible, and the manuscripts continue to fuel debates about the reliability of the Bible. The DSS have given us the earliest copies of some of the Hebrew scriptures, and Perrin guides the reader along the route from ancient manuscripts to modern translations. The very term “Bible” is now considered anachronistic when applied to the scrolls, and we are helped to see “scripture as it was then before exploring what it has come to be now.” Using examples from the DSS, Perrin discusses scribal errors, variant readings, and scribal interpretation. His approach is balanced, acknowledging the complexity of the manuscript history of scriptural texts and the textual fluidity evidenced in the scrolls, but also the consistency evident across many biblical manuscripts.

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Two subjects broached by Perrin are absent from many earlier introductions to the scrolls, and these chapters feel particularly fresh. First is the issue of forgeries, which has become topical following the identification of forged scroll fragments in several North American and European collections. Readers are introduced to the fascinating task of identifying forgeries through a series of “red flags,” including uncertain provenance but also claims of “groundbreaking” texts that just happen to solve theological controversies. Second, Perrin draws on his own specialization in the DSS to provide an overview of the texts written in Aramaic, a collection which—though less familiar to many—has significantly broadened the scholarly perception of Second Temple Judaism.

Replete with snappy soundbites, color pictures, and an engaging style, this book provides an easy entry into the words and worlds of the DSS. Perrin succeeds in presenting the best and most up-to-date scholarship on the scrolls in a consistently accessible way. He guides his readers through the key issues raised by the DSS, and at each juncture helps us see why the evidence of the scrolls matters, and what they have taught us.

Abigail Naidu is a doctoral researcher in theology and religion at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. Her doctoral project examines the Temple Scroll.

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The Syriac World: In Search of a Forgotten Christianity

By Françoise Briquel Chatonnet and Muriel Debié, trans. by Jeffrey Haines
(New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 2023), 304 pp., 68 b/w figs., 11 maps; $35 (hardcover and eBook)

Reviewed by Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent

Go east across the Euphrates River and journey to meet the Syriac Christians. They are still there and continue to speak, teach, and worship in both the classical and modern dialects of their own language—Syriac. When you pack your bag, don’t forget a guidebook: Françoise Briquel Chatonnet and Muriel Debié’s The Syriac World. This book touches upon nearly every aspect of the Syriac Christian tradition, bringing its people, religious legacy, language, and history to life. By attending to the Syriac heritage, you will see the Christian tradition and its Aramaic-speaking founder (Jesus) with a fresh pair of eyes. This book is beautifully illustrated with photos and maps, providing a visual journey even for armchair pilgrims.

The Syriac tradition, whose literary heritage is almost exclusively Christian, has gained more attention in the Anglophone world in the past three decades due to increased scholarly focus. Despite this growing recognition of the Syriac tradition in academic circles, a comprehensive book was missing—until now.

In the first few centuries following the death of Jesus, Christian missionaries moved east along the trade routes to Upper Mesopotamia and as far as India. Christian legend teaches that one of the 72 missionaries Jesus commissioned was Addai, who converted the city of Edessa to Christianity. The people of Edessa, modern-day Şanlıurfa (Urfa) in southeastern Turkey, spoke an Aramaic dialect known as Syriac, which became a critical cultural language of Syro-Mesopotamia. The contributions of Syriac-speaking Christians produced the third-largest Christian corpus of texts after Greek and Latin. The standard Bible for the Syriac churches, the Peshitta, is a vital attestation of its prominence, since its text of the Old Testament was translated directly from Hebrew. The enduring legacy of the Syriac-speaking Christians and their resilience in the face of historical adversities is a testament to their enduring spirit.

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The Syriac World opens the Syriac tradition in an accessible way with chapters addressing the origins of the Syriac language and community, its distinctively Christian identity and literary heritage, and early legends about the beginnings of the Syriac Christian community. Although Syriac Christians never enjoyed the freedom of their own country, they have made far-reaching contributions to a wide range of fields. The crown jewel of Syriac literature is perhaps theological poetry, demonstrated most profoundly in the works of the fourth-century poet and theologian Ephrem the Syrian. Ephrem wrote hymns about the Bible and composed them for women’s choirs. His hymns illustrate how the Syrians privileged metaphors and images from the Bible and nature to speak about God and God’s interactions with humanity. However, the contributions of the Syriac Christians do not end in the fourth century.

As this book shows, the Syriac Christians studied all branches of learning and offered their study as a holy gift to God. They composed theological texts, established schools and monasteries, studied and translated the Bible, and composed stories about their saints. They worked as doctors, philosophers, and scientists under Muslim rulers. They traveled as missionaries, bringing their language and brand of Christianity with them. This book brings the reader into the monasteries of the Syriac-speaking Christians, places of rich scholarly formation that trained the bishops who would be critical players in the theological controversies of the fifth and sixth centuries. One meets not only the Syrian Christians but also the cultures with which they came into contact. The authors shed light on the rich translation culture of the Syriac traditions: Greek into Syriac and Syriac into Greek, as well as Latin, Armenian, Georgian, Ethiopic, Middle Persian, Arabic, Sogdian, Uighur, Turkish, and Malayalam translation efforts.

The Syrian Christian heritage has persisted since the late antique period, radiating from its geographical roots in Upper Mesopotamia to Iran, Iraq, Syria, the Gulf States, Central Asia, China, and India. Now, Syriac Christians have planted new churches in the diaspora, in dialogue with the modern cultures of Europe and North America. The living heirs of this Syriac Christian heritage include the Syrian Orthodox Church, the Church of the East, the Syrian Catholic Church, the Maronite Church, the Malabar and Malankara Churches of India, and the Chaldean Church. The Syriac World celebrates the persistence of this venerable tradition and its ancient and modern communities that identify with their Aramaic roots and continue to commemorate the heroes and minds who shaped their tradition.

Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent is Associate Professor of Religious Studies in the Department of Theology at Marquette University. She is an expert in Syriac studies and early Christianity, with a special interest in hagiography.

This article was first published in Bible History Daily on November 27, 2024.

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The Book of Esther

Word for Word Bible Comic series
(Bristol, United Kingdom: Word for Word Bible Comics, 2024), i–ix + 84 pp.

Review by Jonathan Redding

The Word for Word Bible Comic series aims to present the complete Bible in a graphic novel format. The series currently includes ten comics, each based on individual biblical books, from the Book of Judges to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Here, I review two bright, colorful, and high-quality additions to the series, the Book of Esther and the Book of Acts.

One immediately feels the time, effort, and creativity behind their conception and execution when flipping through and seeing the full-color panels that present both biblical books in a traditional comic-book style. Each uses the New International Version (NIV) as their translation, and unlike other comic-style biblical treatments, such as The Action Bible or The Brick Testament, these use the books of Acts and Esther in their respective entireties. This is a considerable strength, as similar publications only offer selected bits and pieces of certain biblical books. Using complete biblical texts makes Word for Word a unique illustrated interpretation, supplementing complete written texts with visual understandings.

Both books include introductions that unpack how the comics interpret and treat the text. This information is quite helpful, as it orients the reader to the “how” and “why” of specific interpretive choices. Both also include the names of various professionals and specialists who were consulted about biblical and theological issues, as well as ancient history and culture. This is another way Word for Word does not claim to be the definitive, end-all-be-all biblical illustration project. Rather, each book is the result of specific choices made by selected people.

Herein lies a foundational issue: Does placing the biblical text alongside interpretive illustrations limit or bias the reader’s interpretation, like when a popular book gets the movie treatment and readers who see the film first come to associate a given actor with a character before reading the book? This can and does narrow the scope of how one engages a written text. Experienced bibliophiles can approach Word for Word as an interpretive exercise in and of itself, considering the design choices illustrators made for different characters and story elements. However, remembering the Word for Word series calls itself a “Bible Comic” and not “The Bible” highlights the choices necessary to illustrate both Esther and Acts.

The conversion story from Acts 4:1–4. From Acts of the Apostles, wordforwordbiblecomic.com.

Some choices work quite well, like the inclusion of women among men at the conversion story of Acts 4:1–4. Scholars widely accept the presence of women in many such biblical episodes, even when the text itself seems to only reference the number of men who were present (i.e., Jesus feeding the 5,000 reflects the number of men present, not the greater total). Including women visually makes their presence explicit. Acts is a full book with many characters, places, and moving parts. For even the most seasoned reader, it can be confusing and difficult to keep track. That said, the illustrations help the reader keep track of who is who and what they are doing.

Esther and the Persian king Xerxes (Esther 2:17). From The Book of Esther, wordforwordbiblecomic.com.

With Esther, it is refreshing to see that the illustrators make the titular character a typical woman of the Persian period and do not force her into our modern conceptions of beauty, as the biblical text offers few specific details about Esther’s appearance. She looks like a real human being, not a supermodel transported back in time. Such choices create space for young readers to identify with Esther while also eliminating the need to make Esther aesthetically appealing by modern standards. In fact, Esther’s artistic depiction makes her look a lot like the expelled Queen Vashti, showing that Esther is indeed a woman and not some idealized figure of beauty. The book also does not shy away from the overtly sexual nature of the king’s request to spend time with multiple virgins (2:2–4), going as far as to show King Xerxes starting to disrobe. Indeed, neither volume avoids difficult images and issues, including sexually charged and violent, bloody imagery. Seeing the physical altercations that occur throughout Acts makes the words on the page more palpable and tactile. Watching soldiers bleed and die in Esther alongside Haman and his sons’ impaled bodies underscores what is at stake for Esther, Mordechai, and their fellow Judeans.

Other choices do not hold up as well. For example, in Esther, the verses discussing the book’s connection to Purim are minimized and reduced to the margins, making this key point about the purpose of Esther feel rushed. It reflects a potential Christian bias, as contemporary Jewish communities hold Esther as foundational to the Purim holiday and its practices. In Acts, the stylistic choice to have Jesus appear with white hair and a white beard feels out of place and incongruous with the text itself. Further, any time the Holy Spirit possesses or speaks through someone, the speakers’ pupils disappear, and their eyes get a bluish hue. This makes them look like extras in a superhero story more than apostles sharing their faith. It is also odd that both books have a “12+” age advisory (other books in the series have a “15+” advisory), as the Bible itself carries no such guardrails.

That said, each volume’s strengths outweigh potential shortcomings. A welcome addition is the thorough historical explanations after each book’s conclusion. It allows the reader to consider questions of historicity and compare non-biblical evidence to form an independent understanding of complex issues around dating, composition, and archaeological evidence connected to Acts and Esther. This sum total of strengths makes them each a worthy addition to current illustrated interpretations and receptions of biblical texts.

Jonathan Redding is Associate Professor of Religion and Anne MacLeod Cognard, PhD Professor in the Humanities at Nebraska Wesleyan University. He specializes in apocalyptic literature, specifically the books of Daniel and Revelation.

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Jerusalem Through the Ages: From Its Beginnings to the Crusades

By Jodi Magness
(New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2024), x + 614 pp., 157 b/w figs., 16 color plates; $39.99 (hardcover), $27.99 (eBook)

Reviewed by Shimon Gibson

Keeping abreast of the ever-expanding body of scholarship on ancient Jerusalem has become a formidable task even for someone like myself who specializes in the archaeological history of the city. Consequently, anyone writing a single-volume archaeological study of Jerusalem that is both comprehensive and unafraid to engage in matters of interpretation is attempting the impossible. Yet this is precisely what Jodi Magness has achieved. Hers is a remarkably stimulating, well-written, and informative book—a boon for professionals, students, and the general public alike. Such a feat may be virtually impossible to replicate. Anyone who obtains a copy should treasure it, because it may very well be the last of its kind.

In Jerusalem Through the Ages, Magness, one of the leading archaeologists excavating in Israel today, covers a vast array of material culture associated with Jerusalem, drawing from the results of early digs in the 19th century up to the systematic scientific work being undertaken today (many of the results mentioned in the book are still unpublished). Recounting virtually everything that we know about the city from its earliest beginnings in the Neolithic period to the medieval era, Magness covers roughly 8,000 years of history. And she does so with diligence and remarkable insight, adding 82 pages of notes and 56 pages of bibliography. Yet she does not lose the student or general reader, who may not be compelled by the minutia of scholarly debates.

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The book opens with an introduction on topography and sources, followed by a chapter on some of the key explorers of Jerusalem from the 19th century to the present. Magness then proceeds to examine the principal (and sometimes even obscure) archaeological discoveries of each historical period in turn—from the Middle Bronze Age to the Crusaders. There are individual chapters dedicated to Jebusite, Israelite, Judahite, post-Exilic (Persian), Hasmonean, Herodian, Roman, Byzantine, early Islamic, and Crusader Jerusalem. In an epilogue, the author also briefly touches on British Mandatory Jerusalem.

Magness naturally excels in the historical periods and subjects on which she has conducted her own extensive field-work—especially the Greco-Roman and Byzantine eras. Among the best, and full of insights, are her discussions of the Third Wall of Jerusalem and the city’s northern outskirts at the time of Aelia Capitolina—the Roman colony founded on the ruins of Jerusalem.^*

Most remarkable, however, Magness surpasses her predecessors in the balancing act of providing up-to-date scholar-ship together with a well-written story. In comparison, popular historian Simon Sebag Montefiore’s Jerusalem: The Biography (Vintage Books, 2011), although excellent when it comes to the history of the city, is lacking in regard to the contributions archaeology has made since the last century. Katharina Galor and Hanswulf Bloedhorn valiantly attempt to re-address this in their The Archaeology of Jerusalem: From the Origins to the Ottomans (Yale Univ. Press, 2013), but they themselves readily admit having to contend with a vast amount of information from the many digs conducted in the city and not wanting to provide “exhaustive lists and descriptions” that might compromise the clarity of their text. In this regard, Max Küchler’s Jerusalem: Ein Handbuch und Studienreiseführer zur Heiligen Stadt (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007) does try to do exactly that by providing the reader with an inexhaustible quantity of data with analysis amounting to more than 1,200 pages, which is both overwhelming and inaccessible to non-German readers. On the other hand, Andrew Lawler’s accessibly written Under Jerusalem (Doubleday, 2021) deals very specifically with the ideological and political issues behind the archaeological exploration of Jerusalem, without delving into the details of archaeological data.

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It is then easy to see the exceptional value of this new book. In the future, I expect similar attempts to focus increasingly on specific historical periods and specialized subjects, while mainstream publications on ancient Jerusalem are likely to shift toward the exceedingly general and interpretative, shaped by the particular viewpoints and interests of their individual authors. Jodi Magness has carried out her task with admirable commitment and alacrity, even though, as she modestly acknowledges, “Jerusalem is so rich in remains, so incredibly layered and complex, that it is impossible to know everything about it.” I will treasure my copy.

Notes:

* See Hanan Eshel, “Aelia Capitolina: Jerusalem No More,” BAR, November/December 1997.

Shimon Gibson is a professor in the History Department at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. He co-directs the Mt. Zion excavations in Jerusalem.

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The Boomer Archaeologist: A Graphic Memoir of Tribes, Identity, and the Holy Land

By Thomas Evan Levy, illustrated by Lily Almeida
(Sheffield: Equinox, 2025), 408 pp. / $39.95

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Acclaimed archaeologist Thomas Levy’s new autobiographical graphic memoir, The Boomer Archaeologist, follows Levy from his childhood to recent retirement, tracing his path from globe-trotting archaeologist to tenured professor at the University of California, San Diego. The memoir—told through quirky, comic book-like illustrations—recounts Levy’s life and career during a series of imagined phone conversations between Levy and the book’s illustrator, Levy’s niece and U.K.-based artist, Lily Almeida.

As the book’s title makes clear, Levy is part of the “boomer” generation that came of age when the “American Dream” promised citizens they could rise to the pinnacle of their chosen professions and pursuits. His Jewish identity also weaves its way through the memoir: his values learned from his family, which left Russia because of anti-Jewish pogroms, his service in the Israel Defense Forces, and his marriage to a woman of South Asian descent who converted to Judaism. (The book’s postscript also takes on recent anti-Semitism in the U.S., which Levy sees as an unfortunate harbinger of societal collapse.)

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The memoir goes on to document the many transitions that have characterized Levy’s professional journey. He began his career studying the very ancient human past, the Chalcolithic period (literally, the “Copper-Stone” age [c. 4500–3300 BCE]), during which metals were first mined and exploited. Fellow archaeologists have long recognized Levy as a leading expert on early copper production and metallurgy. Levy earned this reputation from his work at Khirbat en-Nahas (located in Wadi Faynan in present-day southern Jordan), site of the largest copper mining and smelting installation in the ancient world.

Levy’s early interests also focused on anthropological archaeology (especially ethnoarchaeology), an examination of the past through the lens of ancient and more recent socio-economic conditions in traditional societies. In later years, Levy embraced “cyber-archaeology,” especially the use of digital methods and techniques to record and preserve threatened archaeological sites in conflict zones.

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Interestingly, the memoir goes into less detail about some of Levy’s other key contributions to the field. For example, Levy’s team at Khirbat en-Nahas uncovered a possible tenth-century BCE Edomite connection to King Solomon, which has since served as a counter-weight to archaeologist Israel Finkelstein’s dismissal of a substantial Israelite kingdom during the time of the United Monarchy.

Second, while excavating in Israel at the site of Lahav (possibly biblical Ziklag), Levy recovered a pottery sherd inscribed with the name of the Egyptian king Narmer. Narmer’s reign began at the end of the fourth millennium BCE, and most scholars consider him the unifier of Egypt and the founder of the First Dynasty.

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More recently, another breakthrough came near the coastal city of Dor in northern Israel, where Levy and his colleagues in marine archaeology recorded evidence of the oldest tsunami in the eastern Mediterranean, dating to the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic period (c. 9700–6750 BCE).

Although the book is an autobiography that paints a flattering picture of its subject, it will certainly appeal to both “boomers” and archaeology enthusiasts who enjoy learning about the inventive, successful, and risk-taking pioneers who have shaped the modern field of biblical archaeology.

Donald Kane is Chair of the Biblical Archaeology Forum (BAF), President of the Biblical Archaeology Society of Northern Virginia (BASONOVA), and Trustee of the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem.

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Boy Jesus: Growing Up Judean in Turbulent Times

By Joan Taylor
(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2025), xvi + 340 pp., 16 color plates, 12 b/w figures; $29.99 (hardcover).
Review by James W. Barker

Travel back in time to witness the early life of Jesus. Joan Taylor’s Boy Jesus vividly reconstructs the historical background of Jesus’s birth and childhood. Taylor thoroughly engages the details of the gospel stories while supplementing the biblical accounts with the archaeological record. A helpful timeline along with many detailed maps and colorful figures complement Taylor’s crisp prose as Joseph, Mary, Jesus, and even King Herod come to life.

The opening chapters address the multifaceted meaning of the Greek word Ioudaios. The word means “Jewish” regarding religion and ethnicity, “Judean” regarding geography, and “Judahite” regarding ancestry. Even though it’s always the same Greek word in the Gospels, Taylor often highlights how one connotation may be more pertinent at one point or another. For example, Herod the Great was “king of the Jews” because he was Rome’s designated ruler over the territory of Judea and Samaria. However, Herod was not a “Judahite” who descended from the patriarch Judah or, by extension, King David. Taylor calls attention to Herod’s descent from the Idumeans, who converted to Judaism, but it might have been helpful to point out that Herod himself was fully “Jewish” in terms of religion, since he was not a convert himself.

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Throughout the book, Taylor finely threads a needle pertaining to memory and historicity. Taylor avoids any dismissiveness in claiming that the gospel stories of Jesus’s early life are simply made up. At the same time, Taylor grants ancient authors creative license in their storytelling, although there were constraints as to how much could be invented outright. Overall, Taylor accepts Matthew’s birth story as most accurately retelling Joseph’s memories. According to Taylor, Luke’s opening chapters were not originally part of the Gospel. Nevertheless, she acknowledges that Luke could preserve some of Mary’s treasured memories. As even later accounts, the Infancy Gospels of James and Thomas increasingly stretch the imagination. Yet even those texts could convey kernels of truth, such as Jesus’s being born in a cave, working in carpentry, and receiving some education.

Taylor’s expertise in archaeology definitely makes the book worth reading. It is chock full of fascinating historical details, the majority of which come from Taylor’s own painstaking research. Many of her findings are not well known, even by biblical scholars. For example, King Herod’s destruction of Davidic genealogical archives and desecration of David’s tomb accentuate the inherent danger in hoping for a Davidic messiah. Similarly, after the death of Herod, the Roman governor of Syria named Varus waged war to subdue Judean territory. Taylor compellingly explains how these were much more volatile and violent times than previous scholarship has acknowledged. One takeaway is that the holy family’s flight to Egypt is far more historically plausible than many scholars admit. Moreover, the family’s refugee status would have affected how they thought about themselves and how others thought of them.

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The Gospels devote only a few pages to any of the events before Jesus was approximately 30 years old. Taylor’s book covers those stories in great detail, but all the more impressively she elucidates the historical background—much of which would have been known by the earliest readers of the Gospels.

Although I typically prefer footnotes to endnotes, endnotes were the right choice for this book. In the notes, Taylor astutely guides inquisitive students and scholars through a century of differing viewpoints. Yet there are no footnotes to detract from her careful observations and explanations, so the ten chapters (240 pages) of main text can suffice for readers who prefer to rely solely on Taylor.

Boy Jesus will no doubt become a significant and lasting contribution to our historical understanding of the turbulent world in which Jesus was born and raised.

James W. Barker is Associate Professor of New Testament at Western Kentucky University. His areas of interest include early Christianity and the relationship between the various gospel accounts of Jesus’s life.

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Excavating the Land of Jesus

How Archaeologists Study the People of the Gospels

By James Riley Strange
(Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2023), 192 pp., 29 b/w figs., 2 maps; $29.99 (hardcover and eBook)

Reviewed by Matthew J. Grey

In recent decades, scholarship on the New Testament has reflected a growing interest in the archaeology of Roman Galilee and how its material culture illuminates the historical Jesus, the social setting of his earliest followers, and the Jewish context of the New Testament. As a result, the past 20 years have seen a flourishing of archaeological activity around the Sea of Galilee. This includes the excavation of villages, synagogues, and industrial centers within the vicinity of Jesus’s ministry as well as new research on the region’s first-century politics, economy, networks, religious dynamics, and daily life. However, for New Testament readers with a limited background in archaeology, it can be difficult to know how to access, approach, and interpret the relevant archaeological evidence responsibly.

In response to this challenge, James Riley Strange has written a short but very helpful volume, Excavating the Land of Jesus: How Archaeologists Study the People of the Gospels. As both a professor of New Testament and an archaeologist with extensive excavation experience in the Galilee, Strange is uniquely well-positioned to bridge the disciplinary divide that often exists between those who read the Gospels as literary, historical, or scriptural sources and those who explore the physical setting in which the early Jesus movement emerged. His book skillfully introduces non-specialist readers to the field of archaeology, with an emphasis on the critical intersection between the New Testament and the material culture of the Galilee from the second century BCE through the second century CE.

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Although other volumes have recently provided updates on specific aspects of this topic—such as surveys of newly excavated sites or studies of Galilean daily life—Strange’s book focuses on the process of archaeological research itself. It begins with providing clear definitions of what archaeology is (the systematic recovery and interpretation of ancient remains) and is not (a resource for either proving or merely illustrating the Gospels) as well as a brief history explaining how the archaeology of Roman Galilee emerged as a distinct discipline, somewhat separate from traditional biblical archaeology. The bulk of the book then walks the reader through the main types of problems archaeologists try to solve and the various methods they use to solve them, with each issue illustrated by case studies drawn from the local material culture. In short, this book helps its reader understand how archaeologists think and work, particularly when dealing with such significant historical or religious texts as the Gospels.

Strange covers basic problems such as knowing where to dig and how to identify biblical sites (for example, highlighting recent efforts to locate and excavate first-century Magdala), how to dig, what questions to ask, and which methodologies would provide the best answers (describing, as an illustration, the construction, occupational phases, and subsequent excavation of a hypothetical village home). He further explores the problem of knowing how to use both ancient texts and archaeology to understand the past. To demonstrate the value of this, Strange shows how it might look to place into conversation the information about locations and travel found in the Gospel of John with the remains of first-century road systems and village networks between Galilee and Jerusalem.

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Along with these useful examples, Strange also considers other important issues faced by archaeologists working in the Galilee of the Gospels. These include the need to understand ancient technologies, such as the complex process of olive oil production assumed by the numerous biblical allusions to dining, healing, or the lighting of homes. Finally, he explores the importance of understanding the social values of group identity as reflected in the common profile of “household Judaism” (with its distinctive pottery assemblages, ritual purity features, and dietary practices) and the role of synagogue buildings as gathering places within Jewish settlements. Each of these archaeological issues, Strange demonstrates, significantly illuminates our understanding of the social, cultural, and economic context of the New Testament in a way that would not have otherwise been obvious.

Illustrated with maps, plans, reconstructions, and photos, Excavating the Land of Jesus is an easily accessible and valuable resource for any New Testament reader, student, or scholar who seeks to better understand how careful archaeological work can be placed into conversation with the Gospels and how that conversation can provide critical perspectives on the material world of Jesus.

Matthew J. Grey is Associate Professor in the Department of Ancient Scripture and an affiliate faculty member of the Ancient Near Eastern Studies program at Brigham Young University.

This article was first published in Bible History Daily on July 17, 2024.

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Mount Machaerus

An Introduction to the Historical, Archaeological, and Pilgrim Site Overlooking the Dead Sea in the Kingdom of Jordan
By Győző Vörös
(Amman: The American Center of Research, 2024), hard cover, 171 pp., 96 figures; free download available from the ACOR website.

Reviewed by Konstantinos Politis

This concise book includes a century of the most important studies and discoveries of Machaerus. The first chapters begin with a comprehensive review and interpretation of John the Baptist’s days at the citadel as mentioned in the New Testament (Matthew 14:1–12) and by Roman accounts (esp. Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 18.109–119). Colorful maps, images, and sketches indicate the strategic location of the site. Next, the early 19th-century “rediscovery” of Machaerus and its identification near the modern village of Mukaur or Mukawer is described; it is intriguing that a form of the name was preserved for millennia and alludes to the persistence of an oral tradition about John the Baptist in the vicinity.

The first hundred years of research (up to 2007) is recounted with labelled topographic photographs and plans. The successive archaeological excavations and finds of both American and Italian scholars are recounted. Vörös also gives his own analysis and interpretation of the discoveries, which in some cases were enigmatic. But his perseverance and dedicated scholarship succeeds in bringing some of these “lost” finds to light.

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Vörös skilfully and convincingly defines “two distinct components” of his investigations in Chapter 4: historical sources and archaeology. He demonstrates that “Machaerus is a perfect example of historic archaeology” and that there is concordance between the two disciplines. Archaeological discoveries have verified ancient accounts. This important conclusion is expanded in chapters 5, 6, and 7, where architectural reconstructions coupled with imaginative biblical illustrations make the site and its legendary episode come to life.

The last chapter highlights the fact that Machaerus and Kallirhoe, its port on the Dead Sea, continued to function during the Byzantine and early Islamic periods as pilgrimage sites. This explains why the latter is prominently portrayed (and undoubtedly the former, had the depiction not been damaged) on the unique sixth-century mosaic floor map at Madaba in Jordan.

Vörös not only exceled in updating our academic understanding of Herodian Machaerus but also conducted professional conservation and restorations of the buildings (particularly the palace complex). This succeeded in preserving and presenting the ancient site for future generations. Furthermore, his tireless and enthusiastic public outreach, through lectures and various programs, has kept the site alive and relevant to locals and visitors alike.

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Notes:

[i] See Machaerus I: History, Archaeology and Architecture of the Fortified Herodian Royal Palace and City Overlooking the Dead Sea in Transjordan. Final Report of the Excavations and Surveys 1807–2012 (Milano: Edizioni Terra Santa, 2013); Machaerus II: The Hungarian Archaeological Mission in the Light of the American-Baptist and Italian-Franciscan Excavations and Surveys. Final Report 1968–2015 (Milano: Edizioni Terra Santa, 2015); Machaerus III: The Golden Jubilee of the Archaeological Excavations. Final Report on the Herodian Citadel 1968–2018 (Milano: Edizioni Terra Santa, 2019); and Machaerus: The Golgotha of John the Baptist. The Herodian Royal City Overlooking the Dead Sea in Transjordan, Where Princess Salome Danced. Archaeological Excavations of the Hungarian Academy of Arts 2009–2021 (Budapest: Publishing House of the Hungarian Academy of Arts, 2022). Machaerus III won the 2021 BAS Publication Award for “Best Scholarly Book on Archaeology.”

Konstantinos Politis is a seasoned field archaeologist of the eastern Mediterranean lands ranging from prehistory to Ottoman times. His focus has been on late antiquity to the early medieval period.

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This article was first published in Bible History Daily on May 15, 2024.

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Ancient Synagogues Revealed 1981–2022

Edited by Lee I. Levine, Zeev Weiss, and Uzi Leibner
(Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, The Institute of Archaeology – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jeselsohn Epigraphic Center of Jewish History, 2023), xx + 300 pp.
Reviewed by James Riley Strange

Click here to purchase Ancient Synagogues Revealed 1981–2022.

Archaeological exploration of synagogues in the land of Israel has been going on since at least the late 19th century, and debates about synagogues have always been energetic. The chief disputed issues are chronology (When were the first synagogues built? In what periods did different styles emerge?) and activity (What practices happened in synagogues? Were these primarily religious or non-religious practices?).

Why do people care about these questions? One reason is that, if we can answer them, we will know more about the earliest centuries of two great world religions in the land where they began: Judaism and Christianity. Not only so, but we will also gain insights into Judaism’s response to Christianity’s control of the region under the Byzantine Empire and the arrival of Islam in the seventh century.

It turns out that more than archaeologists and scholars of early Judaism and Christianity care about these things. For this reason, in 1981 the Israel Exploration Society published Ancient Synagogues Revealed, edited by Lee I. Levine, a luminary in the field of synagogue origins. It has taken 42 years for the companion volume to arrive: Ancient Synagogues Revealed 1981–2022, edited by Levine and two other noted archaeologists, Zeev Weiss and Uzi Leibner.

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A significant aspect of the book is the editors’ willingness to preserve disagreements among archaeologists. In the editors’ essays and in various chapters, readers will see elements of debated issues, and what is at stake in the debates is clear as well.

Whereas the first volume presented excavated buildings in half of its 36 chapters (the remaining 18 chapters contained discussions of such things as typology, architectural prototypes, and art and architecture), the new volume surveys 35 buildings in 36 chapters! That lets us know how much work has happened in the intervening years. In the first volume, for example, we learned about two Second Temple-period synagogues at the sites of Masada and Gamla, whereas in the second volume we have chapters on six synagogues from this period. The first volume had a single chapter on the art and architecture of synagogues of the Golan but no chapter on an excavated building, but now we can read about six buildings in that region.

Turning to the book’s contents, opposite the title page (p. ii) readers will find a helpful color map of synagogue sites in Israel and the West Bank. The text begins with three introductory essays by the editors: the first on how archaeology has made an impact on the study of Judaism in Late Antiquity, the second on synagogue art, and the third on the dating of synagogues. Chapters on synagogue buildings are presented in five sections: Galilee (15 chapters), Golan Heights (six chapters), Samaria (only one synagogue has a chapter; the other chapter is a brief discussion of Samaritan synagogues as a distinctive category), Judea and southern Israel (eight chapters), and synagogues outside of Israel (five chapters). A list of abbreviations and a brief yet helpful glossary end the book.

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Chapters contain many quality images, often including aerial photos of the site (a regular feature made possible by the use of drones) and images of objects and inscriptions associated with the buildings. Readers will no doubt also appreciate the many three-dimensional artistic renderings of what the buildings might have looked like when they stood, for it can be difficult to make sense of an architectural floor plan or stone-by-stone drawing.

It’s worth noting, however, that some chapters have a limited bibliography or none (e.g., Qaṣrin). In some cases, this lacuna is due to the lack of final publications. Still, one goal of such a volume is to point readers to additional important resources. BAR readers may fill in some gaps at the Bornblum Eretz Israel Synagogues website.

Ancient Synagogues Revealed 1981–2022 is not available through most popular booksellers (including Amazon) and, if purchased from the United States, costs around $120, including shipping from the Israel Exploration Society. Owning a copy, however, is not an insurmountable challenge, as the IES’s website allows credit card purchases. And, despite the cost, this is a book that people interested in the topic, both specialists and non-specialists, will want on their shelves.

James Riley Strange is the Charles Jackson Granade and Elizabeth Donald Granade Professor in New Testament at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, and Director of the Shikhin Excavation Project.

This article first appeared in Bible History Daily on March 20, 2024.

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