ReViews: Ancient Christianity as Reflected in Its Churches

Christians and Christianity, Vol. III, Churches and Monasteries in Samaria and Northern Judea

Edited by Noga Carmin (Jerusalem: Judea & Samaria Publications [Civil Administration of Judea & Samaria], Israel Antiquities Authority, 2012), xii + 498 pp., $62 (hardcover)

Christians and Christianity, Vol. IV, Churches and Monasteries in Judea

Edited by Noga Carmin (Jerusalem: Judea & Samaria Publications [Civil Administration of Judea & Samaria], Israel Antiquities Authority, 2012), xiii + 506 pp., $62 (hardcover)

A surprisingly large number of Byzantine churches and monasteries have been discovered in the Holy Land during the last four decades. They include monumental pilgrimage churches erected in sanctified places, parish churches of various kinds and sizes, monastery churches and chapels. Taken together, they illuminate the various types of church construction, the development of Christian liturgy and the spread of Christianity in the Holy Land.