Interview – Prof. Ken Dark on the Archaeology of Jesus’ Nazareth
My guest today is Professor Ken Dark. Ken is Visiting Professor at King’s College and formerly Professor of Archaeology and History at the University of Reading. His archaeological work has focused on Late Antiquity and the Byzantine Era, but, as he and I will discuss, this led him to study sites in Nazareth which will be the focus of our discussion today. His analysis of these sites is the focus of his new book Archaeology of Jesus’ Nazareth (Oxford University Press, 2023) which draws on several papers he has published based on his examination of sites and finds in Nazareth. In today’s conversation we talk about the evidence regarding the town of Nazareth in Jesus’ time and, of course, eventually get to Rene Salm’s crackpot theory that there was no such town in Jesus’ time. This is a theory so stupid that even most Jesus Mythicists reject it, but it still has currency among far too many non-believers. Ken Dark will help us to understand why it’s complete nonsense.
For those who prefer the audio version, the Podcast edition is now up on Buzzsprout or available on most podcast platforms. Or you can listen to it on the History for Atheists podcast page.
Further Reading
Dark, K., Archaeology of Jesus’ Nazareth (Oxford University Press, 2023)
Dark, K., Roman-period and Byzantine Nazareth and its Hinterland (Routledge: London, 2020)
Dark, K., The Sisters of Nazareth Convent – A Roman-Period, Byzantine and Crusader Site in Central Nazareth (Routledge: London, 2021)
History for Atheists: Jesus Mythicism 5 – The Nazareth “Myth”.
5 thoughts on “Interview – Prof. Ken Dark on the Archaeology of Jesus’ Nazareth”
Great to have an explanation of the archaeology of Nazareth from Ken Dark, although I would have found it helpful if there were a map showing the relative positions of the archaeological sites he referred to. I could understand the location of the sites near to the Church of the Annunciation, but was a bit hazy about the sites further away. The part about the decorated burial ledges in the rock-cut church made me wonder whether there was a tradition that persisted into Byzantine times of the burial of one of Jesus’ brothers there. We know from Hegesipus, quoted by Eusebius, that two of Jude’s grandsons were brought before the Emperor Domitian, so it is possible that Jude (or Joses or Simon) could have died and been buried in Nazareth (but as Ken correctly says, unprovable).
Well, alright, Tim!
Looking forward.
Hadn’t been able to find something with him that isn’t going on about Jesus house.
Have I been wrong all these years in pronouncing “annunciation” the way it’s spelled rather than “announciation” as it’s consistently pronounced in this episode?
Probably not. It’s generally pronounced “A-NUN-ciation”. Ken’s pronunciation could be an English variant or just a personal idiosyncrasy.
https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4906 “Unraveling the Myth of Nazareth.”
He concluded there was a Nazareth, but see what you think!