Crossing Galilee : Architectures of Contact in the Occupied Land of Jesus

This book attempts to understand Jewish religion from the inside in first century Galilee. The autor's basic thesis is that first century Jews (at least in Galilee) saw the world in terms of flows--flows of water, goods, money, and people--originating in God and passing through the countryside. Their conflict with Roman power lay in the Roman's diversion and damming of those flows. The difficulty with the book is the author's failure to provide an adequate definition of her argument. Her ideas are very interesting, and at times seem persuasive, but in the end there is a failure of communication. In the hands of another author willing to spend more time leading the readers, I think her thesis might be more effective. 001a......Page 1 003......Page 2 004......Page 3 005......Page 4 006......Page 5 007......Page 6 008......Page 7 009......Page 8 010......Page 9 011......Page 10 012......Page 11 013......Page 12 014......Page 13 015......Page 14 016......Page 15 017......Page 16 018......Page 17 019......Page 18 020......Page 19 021......Page 20 022......Page 21 023......Page 22 024......Page 23 025......Page 24 026......Page 25 027......Page 26 028......Page 27 029......Page 28 030......Page 29 031......Page 30 032......Page 31 033......Page 32 034......Page 33 035......Page 34 036......Page 35 037......Page 36 038......Page 37 039......Page 38 040......Page 39 041......Page 40 042......Page 41 043......Page 42 044......Page 43 045......Page 44 046......Page 45 047......Page 46 048......Page 47 049......Page 48 050......Page 49 051......Page 50 052......Page 51 053......Page 52 054......Page 53 055......Page 54 056......Page 55 057......Page 56 058......Page 57 059......Page 58 060......Page 59 061......Page 60 062......Page 61 063......Page 62 064......Page 63 065......Page 64 066......Page 65 067......Page 66 068......Page 67 069......Page 68 070......Page 69 071......Page 70 072......Page 71 073......Page 72 074......Page 73 075......Page 74 076......Page 75 077......Page 76 078......Page 77 079......Page 78 080......Page 79 081......Page 80 082......Page 81 083......Page 82 084......Page 83 085......Page 84 086......Page 85 087......Page 86 088......Page 87 089......Page 88 090......Page 89 091......Page 90 092......Page 91 093......Page 92 094......Page 93 095......Page 94 096......Page 95 097......Page 96 098......Page 97 099......Page 98 100......Page 99 101......Page 100 102......Page 101 103......Page 102 104......Page 103 105......Page 104 106......Page 105 107......Page 106 108......Page 107 109......Page 108 110......Page 109 111......Page 110 112......Page 111 113......Page 112 114......Page 113 115......Page 114 116......Page 115 117......Page 116 118......Page 117 119......Page 118 120......Page 119 121......Page 120 122......Page 121 123......Page 122 124......Page 123 125......Page 124 126......Page 125 127......Page 126 128......Page 127 129......Page 128 130......Page 129 131......Page 130 132......Page 131 133......Page 132 134......Page 133 135......Page 134 136......Page 135 Recent books about Jesus and early Christianity can be divided into two kinds: those that examine the life and work of the historical Jesus prior to his death and those that reconstruct events between JesusG death and the writings of the first Gospels. SawickiG s provocative book challenges the results of both kinds of research by using both archaeology and anthropology to situate Jesus clearly in his Galilean cultural context. Sawicki contests recent portraits of Jesus as a Mediterranean peasant, a Cynic sage, or the convener of a fellowship of equals. In addition, she calls into question readings of ancient Galilee that emphasize it as a society marked simply by economic stratification or by an G honor-shameG sociology. Rather, she discovers the Galilean JesusG indigenous cultural idiom in its material structures for the negotiation of kinship, the management of labor, the distribution of commodities, and the construction of gender. SawickiG s book is the first to balance classical urban archaeology against the more recent archaeology of villages and of local and regional commerce. It frames current issues in Jesus research in terms that can guide both ongoing village excavations in Israel and responsible exegesis of the Gospels in church and academy. Marianne Sawicki is the author of Seeing the Lord: Resurrection and Early Christian Practices. For: Seminarians; graduate students; biblical archaeologists "Marianne Sawicki brings to life the Galilee of Jesus' day. Using both archaeology and anthropology to situate Jesus clearly in his Galilean cultural context, she challenges recent studies of the historical Jesus and early Christianity. She calls into question readings of ancient Galilee as an economically stratified society marked by an "honor-shame" sociology. Sawicki discovers the Galilean Jesus' indigenous cultural idiom in its material structures for the negotiation of kinship, the management of labor, the distribution of commodities, and the construction of gender. Crossing Galilee frames current issues in Jesus research that can guide ongoing archaeological excavations in Israel and responsible exegesis of the Gospels in church and academy."--BOOK JACKET. Marianne Sawicki. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 199-250) And Index.