For­mer jour­nal­ist Alan D. Abbey is a research fel­low at the Shalom Hart­man Insti­tute and a reg­u­lar review­er of books for numer­ous pub­li­ca­tions. He is writ­ing a nov­el of first cen­tu­ry CE Roman Judaea, much of which is set at loca­tions with­in walk­ing dis­tance of his Jerusalem home.