MOREl.AND:ARCHAEOl.OGYINNEWTESTAMENTCOURSES 135descriptionofthePhariseesandseveralothersmalljewishelitegroups
ratherth~1Oa socioeconomicdescriptionofhowtheother 95 to 99 percent
ofthepopulationlived.Insummary,therearefewclassroomresources
thatarenotbeholdentoMark'snarrativeframework.
AsthesemesterprogressesandwepickuptheGospelsofMauhew,
Luke,andJohnforourconsideration,wefindliulehelpinthepresentation
oftheGalileansetting.ClearlyalloftheGospelauthorswereinfluenced
bytheirpreconceivednotionsofwhojesuswasandtheirattemptstopro-
videa "theological"explanationfortheirearlyChristiancommunities;their
interestinthesocioeconomicsellingofGalileewasonlyasa serviceto
theirtheologicalaims.
Inlightofthis,Ic<tnillustmtetothestudentsthenarrativeattemptsby
theauthorsofLukeandJohntoestablishaconnectionbetweenJesusand
jerusalem.BothauthorsconnectedJesustojerusalemina consistentpat-
tern.I canpointoutthelikelytheologicalmotiv.alionseachauthorhad,
andI cansuggeslwhatJerusalemrepresentecltotheauthorsas(heywrole
Iheirstoriesattheendofthefirstcentury.HavingcriticallyevaluatedLuke
andJohn'sstoryworld,IamleftwithlittleinthereadingmaterialthatIGill
point toin ordertoshow thestudents whatthe relationship between
GalileeandJerusalemmayhaveactuallybeen.Sinceitisnolongerpossi-
ble toaccept that Luke's idea oflarge groupsofpilgrims traveling to
jerusalemforholyd::lysmJohn'side;llh~1ljesusoftent~versedtheroads
betweenGalileeandjerusalemarerelevanttohistoricalreconstructionsof
thefirst-centurycontactsbetweenthetworegions,weneedthehelpof
archaeologytocompletethe historicalreconstruction. Unfortunately,the
textbooksdonot proVideanalternativereconstructionofthesocioeco-
nomicseningIhatdealswiththehisloricalissue.
So,tostatetheproblemevenmorebluntly,professorsofintroductory
coursesintheNewTestament(orevencoursesonthehistoricaljesus)have
veryfewresourceswhenitcomestoreconstructingthehistoricalcontexts
andsocioeconomicsituationsOlltofwhicharosetheearlyJesusmovements
andChristianity.Thetextbooksdoa finejobofrevealingthenarrativecon-
lext,buttherestillremainsa lackofinformationthatcouldbegleanedfrom
thefieldofarchaeology.Whenreconstructionsofthesocioeconomicset-
tingsareattempted,theyareoftencreatedwithintheframeworkorthought
worldsofthenarrativeGospels.'n1US,lhereis a basicassumptionthateven
thoughweknov..· thatMarkdevelopedthePhariseesastheantagonistsin
hisstoryworld,weshouldstillbeginourreconstnlcrionoflifeinfirst-cen-
turyGalileebyanalyZingtheroleofthePharisees.Reconstructionsofthe
settingofjesusthatarebasedprimarilyontheliterdrysourcesnotonlyneg-
leC! a major aspect ofscholarship but also perpetuate a misleading,
theologically predeterminedpictureofthesellingofjesusthatdoesnot
accountforthecomplexsocialworldofEarlyRomanPalestine.