A History of New Testament Times in Palestine, 175 B.C.-70 A.D.

What was Jerusalem like when Jesus walked the earth?

How was Judea governed?

And how did the average Jewish person live two thousand years ago?

These questions, along with many other fascinating ones, are fully examined by Shailer Mathews through the course of this fascinating work.

Beginning in the period prior to the Roman conquest Mathews explores what life was like in Palestine under the Seleucid Empire which had controlled the area since Alexander the Great.

Mathews examines the emergence of the Jewish state in the aftermath of the revolt led by Judas Maccabaeus and how this period contrasted with that which had preceded it and the Roman rule that would shortly follow it.

Mathews' work is a fascinating history of the early Jewish state and the rulers that emerged there in the years before and after the birth of Christ.

Particularly interesting is the thirteenth chapter which examines the historical world that existed which Jesus was alive. It is a captivating book that demonstrates how Jesus was not born into a vacuum but that he interacted with the world that he saw around him.

"the present work is to be most heartily commended to all that wish to know the course of Jewish history during the eventful period with which it deals; and that means to all students of the New Testament, for the work of Christ and his apostles can be understood only when viewed in its setting in the life of the people from whose bosom they came." The Journal of Religion

Shailer Mathews was a liberal Christian theologian, involved with the Social Gospel movement. Mathews was a prolific author, served as president of the Chicago Society of Biblical Research twice and also served as dean of the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. His book A History of New Testament Times in Palestine was first published in 1899.