James H. Charlesworth

The serpent of ancient times was more often associated with positive attributes like healing and eternal life than it was with negative meanings. This groundbreaking book explores in plentiful detail the symbol of the serpent from 40,000 BCE to the present, and from diverse regions in the world. In doing so it emphasizes the creativity of the biblical authors' use of symbols and argues that we must today reexamine our own archetypal conceptions with comparable creativity. --from publisher description

Based on studies at Bethsaida, Capernaum, Nazareth, Jerusalem, and elsewhere, this volume shows how recent archaeological studies clarify the world, life, and thought of Jesus of Nazareth. It contains the revised and edited lectures that leading archaeologists and biblical scholars presented at a gathering in Jerusalem to celebrate the new millennium. Many contributors came directly from their excavations in places like Bethsaida, Capernaum, Nazareth, and Jerusalem to share their discoveries and insights, focusing on the question In what ways do new archaeological discoveries clarify the world, life, and thought of Jesus from Nazareth? Readers of Jesus and Archaeology will gain many new insights into the life and times of this fascinating Galilean Jew.

Alex Payne would do anything to bring his wife back from the depths of her watery grave. But when a voodoo mambo offers her help, he soon realizes that turning back the tides of life comes not without its repercussions.

"As James H. Charlesworth points out in Jesus Within Judaism, we cannot understand Jesus, nor fully appreciate him, without knowing the times in which he lived and the culture in which his thoughts were formed. Drawing on a series of spectacular recent discoveries in archaeology and in the literature of the period, Charlesworth begins the scholarly process of filling a critical gap in our historical records"--Book jacket.