For those of you who have a Facebook account, and if you do not you can create one by going to Facebook.com, I have created a new Facebook Group called The Jesus Dynasty. The following is a general description of the group:

“The Jesus Dynasty Facebook group draws together those who have learned and benefited from the insights presented in Dr. James D. Tabor’s book, The Jesus Dynasty. Its particular focus is on the historical Jesus understood within his messianic Jewish apocalyptic contexts and in keeping up with the latest in archaeological and historical research related thereto.”

I have received over 4000 e-mails from readers of my book, The Jesus Dynasty, since it came out in 2006. These responses are mostly from the US and Canada, but also from over a dozen foreign countries. Most of these responses have been positive, probably 98% or so, which does not mean everyone loves the book–not by any means. But it has been both gratifying and fascinating to hear from so many readers–and they have taught me a lot. Since my e-mail and the Web site is not published in the book itself this means that these people had to expend the effort to look me up and take the time to write. I have slowly responded personally to each of those readers and as a result there is a loosely joined “readers community” with whom I correspond. I thought it might be interesting to try to bring them together a bit more through this group for exchanges and social interaction. They are a motley crew, in the best sense of the phrase, with little they would agree upon other than a passion for understanding Jesus as a human being in his own time and place, and the repercussions thereof.

I look forward to seeing some of you around the Facebook cyberspace.

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