The Gospels in the New Testament contain a remarkable amount of geographical information, especially in the quantity of references to areas, towns and villages that Jesus (and John the Baptist) visited. Are these genuine or fictitious? Some Jesus skeptics have doubted the existence of places like Nazareth and Capernaum. Even many New Testament scholars are unaware of the evidence for Gospel sites. Strikingly, however, a huge proportion of the place-names in the Gospels are paralleled in Jewish literature outside the New Testament, even down to some of the small villages. This illustrated lecture examines the historical evidence for the places in the Gospel, some already known, some presented for the first time. It shows how this evidence has clear implications for the reliability of the Gospel narratives.

More Capernaum, Galilee, Geography, Gospels, Historical evidence, Jesus, Jewish literature, John the Baptist, Nazareth | More from Simon Gathercole

From Series: "LTL Lecture Series Academic Year 2015-2016"

Biographical Information     Panel Participants