"Jonathan Reed, brings the Galilee of the historical Jesus to life in this accessible and extensive archaeological survey. Drawing on his years of field experience in Galilee, Reed illustrates how the archaeological record has been misused by New Testament scholars, and how synthesis of the material culture is foundational for understanding the Galilean origin of Christianity and the Jewish culture from which it arose. This new study demonstrates the necessity of considering the specifically Galilean local conditions in the interpretation of New Testament texts. In the first section of his book, Reed shows how settlement patterns and artifacts from Galilee point to close ties between Judean and Galilean Jews during Jesus' time, as well as the ways that Roman urbanization projects at Sepphoris and Tiberias commercialized agrarian peasant life in Galilee. In a second section Reed focuses on the archaeology of Sepphoris, the largest city in Galilee, just north of Nazareth, and Capernaum, Jesus' base of operations at the periphery of Roman power centers. In his final section Reed concludes that our understandings of New Testament texts are enriched considerably by a careful study of the Galilean context of the writings."--BOOK JACKET.