Archaeology has unearthed the glories of ancient Jewish buildings throughout the Mediterranean, but what has remained shrouded is what these buildings meant. Building Jewish first surveys the architecture of small rural villages in the Galilee in the early Roman period before examining the development of synagogues as ""Jewish associations."" Finally, Building Jewish explores Jerusalem's flurry of building activity under Herod the Great in the first century BCE. Richardson's careful work not only documents the culture that forms the background to any study of Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity but also succeeds in demonstrating how architecture itself, like a text, conveys meaning and, thus, directly illuminates daily life and religious thought and practice in the ancient world.
- ISBN10 1932792015
- ISBN13 9781932792010
- Publish Date 30 October 2004 (first published 1 January 2004)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Baylor University Press
- Format Paperback
- Pages 466
- Language English