The construction of Galilee as a place for the historical Jesus—part II

Abstract

In the Third Quest for the Historical Jesus, Galilee again came into the center of discussion, partly because of a general interest in local and regional studies, and partly because of the results of archaeological excavations. Many of the categories from the nineteenth century are still at work, e.g. nationalism (now identified with the state of Israel), but new perspectives from cultural studies and from economic and socio-political structures have gained importance. There are many areas of discussion, both in terms of traditional questions, like the degree of Hellenistic influence in Galilee, and new issues. Among the latter are methodological issues--e.g. concerning the interpretation of archaeological excavations and the use of social-science models in the reconstruction of ancient societies--and substantive issues of how to understand the relations between cities and peasant villages in Galilee. There are many challenges at the beginning of the twenty-first century, most pressing among them the need to see Galilee as part of the larger surrounding area and to study the role of Jesus in shaping the identity of Galilee in terms of resistance to existing power structures.

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The descriptions of Galilee in the nineteenth and early twentieth century were formed by the major cultural paradigms of European societies of the time. An unfortunate end product of this process was the picture of Galilee as an "Aryan" homeland for Jesus by some scholars in Nazi Germany. This discredited the search for an historical Galilee. Also, the New Quest for the historical Jesus that arose in Germany after the II World War was primarily concerned to see Jesus in relation to Judaism as a religious system. In consequence, there was little interest in regional or local studies. It was only towards the end of the century that there was a new wave of interest in Galilee.

The Third Quest: Galilee at Center Stage

Why did Galilee gain new significance and come into the center of discussion in the third quest?

It was partly because of a general trend in historical and religious studies towards social and local contexts, but there was also a more specific reason in the spectacular results of archaeological and historic studies of Galilee within the newly established state of Israel.

First of all, from the 1960s onwards there was in biblical and religious studies a change from a mere history of ideas approach, to a concern with the political, social and economic contexts. This corresponds to a general shift in the study of history that now somewhat belatedly enters the study of religions in first-century Palestine. One typical aspect of this renewal was an emphasis on local and regional studies--a turning away from the larger national history to the study of specific social and cultural communities. Another aspect was the influence of the social sciences, and thereby the explicit use of models and discussions of theories and presuppositions. This increased contact between the social sciences and the humanities in terms of common perspectives, methods and areas of study, has also resulted in establishing cultural studies, which focus on the cultural world of a region or a group, with culture so to speak as an all encompassing theme, comprising material, aesthetic and ethical aspects.

These general developments had an effect upon the study of the historical Jesus as well (Moxnes 1999: 135-37), and resulted in renewed interest in Galilee as the "home place" for Jesus. Consequently, the quest for Galilee is part of the turn in history in general towards social history, towards the history of groups and local communities, away from the large metaphysical histories.

This is how Sean Freyne (1995a) outlines the challenges of describing Galilee in the Third Quest. The Third Quest, he explains, looked for the historical Jesus within a different context and looked for different "shaping factors" for Jesus' life and career than the Second Quest. The context was not just religious, as in the Second Quest, but geographical, political, social, and economic. Moreover, it is not studied in general terms, but "within a specific social and cultural world," drawing on archaeological as well as literary evidence, recognizing that one must use "social sciences in developing adequate models for understanding the social dynamics of that world." Freyne concludes by saying that these factors have changed the perspectives from which the search for the historical Jesus is conducted. And one of the results is that Galilee has come onto center stage as the social and cultural world that shaped Jesus.

But there is also a more specific reason for this focus on Galilee, provided by recent archaeology. An extensive program of excavations in Galilee has opened up new vistas and contributed to new knowledge about Galilee in Antiquity. Excavations in Galilee during the last twenty years have brought to light material remains that cover almost every aspect of life in Galilee from the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods: villages and towns, with houses of a large variety of types and sizes, palaces, synagogues, aqueducts, roads, and of course all sorts of pottery, housewares, mosaics, tools--even a fishing boat from the Sea of Galilee! Whole towns have been brought to life, with the most extraordinary findings probably in Herod Antipas' city of Sepphoris (Nagy et al.). This large activity has sparked interest among many scholars in different fields: in archaeology, art history, Rabbinic studies, early Christian studies, and history of the Greco-Roman period. Among the results of this activity are international conferences on Galilee, large exhibitions of art and archaeology, and publications on Galilee (Levine; Meyers 1999; Edwards & McCollough).