Did Jesus spend his missing years as a simple carpenter in the tiny rural village of Nazareth?
New Testament scholar Richard Batey thinks not. His research into the ancient city of Sepphoris, known in Jesus鈥� time as the 鈥渏ewel of Galilee鈥� and an easy walk from his boyhood home of Nazareth, suggests a much broader picture.
鈥淛ust four miles from Nazareth was this wealthy city, a center of trade,鈥� says Batey, book author and professor emeritus of religion at Rhodes College. 鈥淲as Jesus a poor rural carpenter, or was he a tradesman who worked in this cosmopolitan city among people of many cultures? Sepphoris changes our ideas about Jesus and gives us a whole new perspective for understanding the Gospels.鈥�
Batey鈥檚 upbringing didn鈥檛 suggest that he would develop a radically new interpretation of Jesus鈥� life. Raised in Nashville, he attended Bible class every day from first grade through his undergraduate years at David Lipscomb College. Batey then attended Vanderbilt, where he earned a bachelor of divinity and a Ph.D. in religion. The late theological scholar William K. Grobel, then a professor in the School of Religion, greatly influenced his studies. 鈥淗e was an amazing teacher,鈥� Batey says.
In 1979, Batey and his wife, Carolyn, first visited the site of the abandoned city of Sepphoris, destroyed in the Arab鈥揑sraeli War. He then teamed up with prominent archaeologist James F. Strange, and together they led the University of South Florida鈥檚 excavations at Sepphoris from 1984 to 1989.
Now part of Israel鈥檚 Zippori National Park, the excavations have uncovered a wealth of ancient art, notably the mosaic known as the Mona Lisa of Galilee, as well as paved streets, Jewish ritual baths, a synagogue, early Christian churches, a 4,000-seat theater and a grand Roman villa鈥攁ll evidence of the many cultures that lived and worked in the city.
Batey, a member of the Society for New Testament Studies, has presented lectures on the importance of Sepphoris in Jesus鈥� life to leading New Testament scholars at the excavation site, in England at the University of Kent and the University of Cambridge, and for the National Geographic Society.
鈥淭hinking of Jesus as an urbanite changes our understanding of his teachings, parables about kings, taxes, power and authority鈥攅ven the Sermon on the Mount,鈥� Batey says. 鈥淭hese references suggest cultural horizons far wider than a remote Galilean village.鈥�
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