A First-Century Synagogue in Capernaum? Issues of Historical Method in the Interpretation of the Archaeological and Literary Data
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11819282 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Wally V Cirafesi (0000-0001-7589-2304, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Pages | 7-48 |
| Publication date | 2021-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Judaïsme Ancien - Ancient Judaism (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2294-9321 • E-ISSN: 2507-0339 |
| Publisher | Brepols (PUBLISHER • BE) |
| DOI | 10.1484/j.jaaj.5.127562 |
| OpenAlex | W4213078450 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
The question with which I am centrally concerned in this article is whether a first-century synagogue, understood as both a purpose-built structure and a formal institution of assembly, once stood in Capernaum beneath the site of its later limestone synagogue. I assess the question anew by providing methodological reflection from the perspective of Collingwoodian critical historiography. In section 2, I briefly present some of the most important aspects of Collingwood’s historical method, as well as a model of first-century synagogues based upon recent synagogue scholarship. I then use the method and the model to weigh the archaeological evidence in section 3 and the literary evidence of the Gospels in section 4. In section 5, I present my conclusion, which, while not novel in and of itself, emerges from the application of a method that, I suggest, helps to reset the terms of the debate over the presence of a first-century synagogue in Capernaum
Archaeology · Art · Historiography · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Literature · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Scholarship · Section (typography · Visual arts · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · Computer Science · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History · Law · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |