Excavating Jesus

Historical understanding of the world in which Jesus lived has grown by leaps and bounds in the last few decades. However, lesser known but still spectacular advances in first-century Palestinian archaeology also explain a great deal about Jesus, his followers, and his teachings. Excavating Jesus is the first book to combines these two fields of knowledge, and it does it in a fresh, accessible way that will interest biblical scholars, archeologists, and anyone with an interest in early Christianity.

Written by John Dominic Crossan, the world’s premier Jesus scholar, and leading archeologist Jonathan L. Reed, each chapter of Excavating Jesus focuses on a major modern archaeological or textual discovery and shows how that discovery opens a window onto a key feature of Jesus’s life and teachings.

John Dominic Crossan is generally regarded as the leading historical Jesus scholar in the world. He is the author of several bestselling books including The Historical Jesus, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, The Birth of Christianity, and Who Killed Jesus? He lives in Clermont, FL.

Jonathan L. Reed teaches New Testament and Christian Origins at La Verne College, La Verne, CA. He is a leading authority on first-century Palestinian archaeology, has been involved in several major digs, and is now the lead archaeologist at Sepphoris. He is the author of Archaeology and the Galilean Jesus. He lives in Upland, CA.

“This is a fascinating and exhilarating study, which breathes new life into the quest for the historical Jesus.”

- Karen Armstrong, author of A History of God