Jesus & the Forgotten City: New Light on Sepphoris and the Urban World of Jesus

by Richard A. Batey, J. Robert Teringo (Illustrator)

Did Jesus spend his youth in an isolated village? Or was he immersedin a world of commerce, provincial government, and the arts? Traditionally Jesus is pictured as "a rural son of the Galilean countryside whose only urban excursion was to Jerusalem," relates noted historian Paul L. Maier in the foreword. "Richard A. Batey finds that portrait faulty," Maier continues. "In these intriguing pages, he overlays a fresh dimension of cosmopolitan culture onto the image of Jesus, bursting the bucolic frame that has thus far tended to delimit it. The ruins of the palace, colonnades, forum, theater, and villas at Sepphoris show that the Galilean culture affecting Jesus was far more sophisticated and urban than was previously thought possible." Amid beautiful illustrations and photos by the staff of the National Geographic Society, Batey's images of Sepphoris reveal a city that Jesus almost certainly knew. In fact, the excavations have turned up evidence of political and social institutio

Genres: History

224 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1992

Reviews

[Lance Ralston]

While this book purports to be a treatise on the Galilean city of Sepphoris, it's far more the author's exposition of portions of Jesus' adult life. The early couple chapters do treat with the history of Sepphoris, but only in a cursory manner. This book could have been made into a pamphlet in it's core treatment of Sepphoris.