The activity of Jesus before the beginning of his ministry at the age of thirty-three has been the subject of much speculation. Did he travel beyond the borders of Palestine in search of wisdom and knowledge? Where did he acquire the great learning that impressed those who listened to him preach and allowed him to engage in debates with Scribes and Pharisees?

A series of legends suggest that Jesus traveled to the British Isles with Joseph of Arimathea, who was engaged in the tin trade. Using these legends as a starting point, Gordon Strachan uncovers a fascinating network of connections between the Celtic world and Mediterranean culture and philosophy.

Drawing from the biblical image of Wisdom as the "master craftsman," Strachan explores the deep layers of mystical knowledge shared by the Jewish-Greek world and the northern Druids - from the mystical geometry of the masons and builders that Jesus would have encountered in his work as a craftsman in Palestine, to Gematria or the numerical coding of the Old and New Testament.

This book forms the basis of the documentary film "And perhaps those feet," which was screened at the BFI in London in 2010.