ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the Jewish and Christian groups in eastern rural Galilee particularly in relation to synagogues that recent archaeological excavations have firmly dated to Late Antiquity. While many older historical reviews have replicated polemical accounts found in many Christian and Jewish literary sources, several scholars have concluded that the portraits advocating separation and antagonism need to be balanced by evidence, literary and archaeological, demonstrating parallel developments and social and cultural interaction between different communities. The incongruity between religious rhetoric and more diverse social reality has led many scholars to re-evaluate the scope of influence of Christian and Jewish religious expert groups. Interestingly, the rabbinic policy of ignoring the detailed characteristics of their opponents and blending them all together has clear parallels in Christian sources. While late antique synagogues could be taken as spaces that gave expression to a distinct Jewish identity, many scholars have actually recognized how, for example, synagogue art developed alongside Roman and Christian art.
