Combining historical, archaeological and sociological information about Galilee during the time of Jesus, Strange portrays Galilee as an ideal setting for the beginning of a new religion. His description of the region in terms of archaeological evidence, geography, infrastructure, agriculture, weather, social structure, economy, and social and religious practices makes the birth of Christianity in Galilee seem inevitable.
James Strange is a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of South Florida and has served as associate director of the Meiron Excavation Project in Upper Galilee for eight seasons. Since 1983 he has directed the excavations at Sepphoris. The coauthor of four books on archaeology, he has also contributed to volumes of collected articles: "The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Judaism," in Judaism in Late Antiquity, vol. 1, The Literary and Archaeological Sources, ed. J. Neusner (Brill, 1995); and "The Sayings of Jesus and Archaeology," in Jesus and Hillel, ed. James Charlesworth (Doubleday, 1996).
BAS 1999, VHS, 53 minutes.
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