Boy Jesus: Growing Up Judean in Turbulent Times

by Joan Taylor, Tracy Russell (Narrator)

As a boy, Jesus was a refugee, an outsider, an immigrant in Galilee in which he grew up, and affected by horrific atrocities by the occupying Roman overlords.

All this and more is explored in this scholarly but highly accessible investigation into the world of Jesus, ranging from his birth to his coming of age and beyond. Joan Taylor, a world authority on the history and literature of the first century CE, draws both on the latest archaeological findings and on the historical clues to be found within ancient texts of the period. The result is a book that brings the story of Jesus' childhood clearly and vividly to life as never before, while also pointing to the many ways in which Jesus' experiences as a child are likely to have influenced his life, attitudes, and actions as an adult.

Figures, images, and further reading can be found in the audiobook companion PDF download.

Genres: History, Christian, Nonfiction, Religion, Biblical Studies

Audible Audio

First published February 20, 2025

Reviews

[Allen Abbott · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

In Boy Jesus, Taylor definitely challenges the majority opinion of modern Jesus scholarship, but in a winsome and fresh way. I'd highly recommend to anyone interested in learning more about Jesus's birth and childhood, as well as the late Second Temple Judean and Galilean contexts. Because I'm not qualified to argue either for or against her defense of the more traditional views regarding Jesus's origins (i.e. that he was born in Bethlehem, that his family understood itself as belonging to the Davidic line, that they fled to Egypt when Jesus was a young boy, etc.), I'll be interested in hearing how it's received by the scholarly community.

[McKenzie Crockett · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you LOVE learning bible history or history in general, this book will be so interesting for you. Joan Taylor clearly put so much time and research into this book and I do think it can be trusted! Obviously, there is no way to know what Jesus’ true childhood was really like down to its core, but she provides a lot of historical context to say what it would be like during those times.

Personally, Boy Jesus did sort of drag for me. While I’m typically interested in this kind of thing, it was a little more in depth than I usually care to go and at the end of the day, I wouldn’t say it really strengthened my relationship to God or the Bible or anything of the sort and I didn’t always enjoy it. I’d say if the writing style was broken up some how or maybe if some comparisons were made to life today it would have been an easier read for me. Not that you need to be a scholar to read this, but I’m not a history buff or anything so it got stale quick for me.

Especially because we didn’t really actually see “boy Jesus” until like halfway through the book. A lot of it was geographical and cultural for a long time. Important to the story, but looonnnggg.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of interesting things to think about. The archeological details actually bored me, and I was not expecting that. Overall, glad I read it, and it really gave a compelling sense of what it probably was like to grow up as Jesus. Nothing theological necessarily, but rooted in the worldly reality.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book where leading expert on Second Temple Judaism, Joan Taylor, explores what the landscape and environment was like when Jesus was. child. An incredibly informative and thorough work I would recommend to anyone looking to expand their knowledge of Judea and Galilee in the first century.

My only gripe with this book was Taylor’s over reliance and reference to early new testament apocryphal works, especially infancy gospels such as the Protoevangelium of James. While these works are interesting to study, they should not be considered as authoritative by any means or even credible as eyewitness accounts of the day. These works have dubious provenance at best and at worst are outright forgeries. Taylor to some level seems to take the stories in these books at face value at some level regardless of them perhaps being written hundreds of years later and half a continent away. If you want to explore the new testament apocrypha further I cannot recommend enough Early New Testament Apocrypha edited by J. Christopher Edwards from Zondervan Academic (ironically the same publisher?). It does a fantastic deep dive into each of the most prevalent works in the genre and explores their provenance, likely source and background, and content.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subtitle should be highlighted: turbulent times. Jesus's boyhood environment was characterized by extreme violence, government oppression, and great danger, especially for someone of Jesus' background and ethnicity. Nazareth was not a peaceful agrarian village, but was located right in the middle of the dangers. Bethlehem even more so. Jesus' family would have been very aware of their Davidic genealogy, something that greatly increased the personal danger to them. The author delves deeply into the extra-canonical sources to describe these dangers, as well as the likely growing-up activities of young Jesus. It's no wonder that in his early ministry, Jesus asked people to not publicize his miracles.
The author has an obvious respect for the New Testament documents, but also is obviously not a fan of inerrancy or divine inspiration. Because she is open to the critiques of the skeptics, her defense of the historical accuracy of the Gospels is all the more persuasive.

[James Veliky · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite episode of “ Pittsburgh Dad” is when he teaches Bible School. He focuses the episode on when Jesus, at age twelve, was separated from his parents for three days only to be found answering questions to wise teachers in the synagogue in Jerusalem and reprimanding his frantic parents with” did you not know that I must be in my Father’s places.” Pittsburgh Dad concludes the lesson with “I don’t want to say that he was grounded but we don’t hear from Jesus again for eighteen years”.
This dense work from Biblical scholar Joan Taylor aims to fill in the unknown years of Jesus as a boy. She describes the land that Jesus grew up in as hostile and anything but idyllic. Some surprising and very different takes on the birth and early life of Jesus that I have carried with me since childhood.
Thank you Joan Taylor. You are great.

[Philip Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prof Taylor is a master of her subject area. The level of historical investigation in this book is deeply impressive. I’m not qualified to assess all her conclusions and arguments and I will need to re-read her chapter dealing with Jesus’ conception to figure out exactly what she does and doesn’t claim. As a historical and archaeological investigation in to the circumstances of Jesus early life, very stimulating.

[James-Michael Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audible version and the narrator's mispronounciation of varous names was very distracting (especially how she kept saying "beth-LEE-hem"). I think this is probably a book much more helpful when read, rather than listened to.

[R.j. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three is the most I can give this. It was okay. But a word error on page 2 certainly didn’t help.

I got through it.

[Inez Finley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, thorough book. Know going in that it is not a light read - very academic. Took me quite a while to complete, but so glad I read it.

[Bob H · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, at first glance, the story of Jesus in his childhood, up to the age of 12 or so -- and based on inference from the four biblical Gospels. It's much more than that, however, in a formidably-researched book on his life and times then (the bibliography, footnotes and such run to about 90 pages in addition to the roughly 250 pp. of text). The author has placed Jesus' childhood in the context of local social conditions and economy, as well as the violent conditions in the court of King Herod and his heirs, and Egyptian society in the time of his family's exile in Egypt. The author sources not just the Gospels but contemporary sources, the Paidika (the Infant Gospel of Thomas), the Roman-era historians (notably Flavius Josephus, Suetonius and Tacitus). This book would be an informative source for ministers seeking new insights in the Gospel and other references, and this is a rich source. Highly recommend.

(Copy provided by Amazon Vine).

[Falon Barton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was able to read this book in advance of publishing to write some reviews about it, and I found it hard to put down. The history is dense but accessible, and the challenges to some standard historical-critical interpretations of Jesus’ childhood were compelling. (Biblegateway, Churchsource, and Faithgateway)