collecting imperial taxes “at the nexus of interregional roads” and traffic on the Sea of Galilee. Capernaum’s synagogue, the core civic space, was where fishermen might spread messianic ideas.

Archaeologists digging along the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee believe they’ve found ... records of the pilgrimage from Bethsaida to Capernaum accordingly. “Now we have a church right ...