Politicians spend millions to bring their message to as many voters as possible. Their campaign trails zigzag across the country, with long stops in the big cities, while their snappy one-minute ads dominate the nation’s airwaves. Before leaders can make any change, they know they must first be heard. The same was true in biblical times. So why did Jesus establish his ministry in provincial Galilee rather than populous Jerusalem, the hub of political and religious power? Only a compelling commitment to something—or someone—in the north can explain “Why Jesus Went Back to Galilee,” argues Jerome Murphy-O’Connor.

A professor of New Testament and intertestamental literature at the Ecole Biblique et Archeolgique in Jerusalem, Murphy-O’Connor wrote the popular travel guide The Holy Land: An Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700 (Oxford Univ. Press, 1992), now in its third edition. A member of BR’s editorial advisory board, Murphy-O’Connor has contributed several articles to this magazine, including “On the Road and on the Sea with St. Paul” (Summer 1985) and “What Really Happened at the Transfiguration?” (Fall 1987).