Jesus, a Jewish Galilean: A New Reading of the Jesus Story

by Seán Freyne

In his latest book, Sean Freyne draws on his detailed knowledge of Galilean society in the Roman period, based on both literary and archaeological sources, to give a fresh and provocative reading of the Jesus-story within its Galilean setting. Jesus, a Jewish Galilean focuses on the religious as well as the social and political environment and examines the ways in which the Jewish religious experience had expressed itself in Galilee. It examines the ways in which the Jewish tradition in both the Pentateuch and the Prophets had constructed notions of an ideal Galilee. These provided the raw material for Jesus' own response to the issues of the day, from which he fashioned his own distinctive views of Israel's restoration and his own role in that project.

Although Freyne is in touch with all recent scholarship about the historical Jesus, he brings his own distinctive take on the issues both with regard to Galilean society and Jesus' grounding in his own religious tradition. His Jesus is both Jewish and yet distinctive in his concerns and the ways in which he responds to the ecological, social and religious issues of his own time and place. Freyne seeks to retrieve the theological importance of Jesus' own message, something that has been lost sight of in the trend to present him primarily as a social reformer, while acknowledging the dangers of modernising Jesus.

Genres: History

228 pages, Paperback

First published December 10, 2004

About the author

Sean Freyne is Professor of Theology (emeritus) in the School of Religions and Theology, Trinity College, Dublin. His academic interests include a study of Galilee in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, the historical Jesus, the gospels, and aspects of early Jewish and early Christian history and development. He has published several books, most recently Jesus a Jewish Galilean: A New Reading of the Jesus Story. Dr. Freyne has lectured widely in Australia and in the U.S., at Loyola University New Orleans, and was a visiting scholar at the University of Notre Dame. Most recently, he was Visiting Professor of Early Christian History and Literature at Harvard Divinity School (2007–2008). He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy and a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, as well as a trustee of the Chester Beatty Library of Oriental Art, Dublin.

Reviews

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jesus, a Jewish Galilean A New Reading of the Jesus Story by Seán Freyne, you may want to check this other note https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/05/... a different view on the subject

8 out of 10

Last night, Iran has attacked Israel with a barrage of ballistic missiles, and what better moment to look at A New Reading of the Jewish Galilean than this…I am joking, it does not look as if I will deal with the book, except to say that it seems inert resting, it is the time to learn more about Jesus and the Jews right now…

The apocalypse may soon be coming, what with World War III so close, so we need to see what is going on there, and the millennia that we have in the background, and the way that we could go up in smoke, or the mushroom cloud, nonetheless, before that, I wonder what the price of oil is now, and what the reaction will be
The pundits on CNN and BBC last night were very catastrophic, some of them, a former Israeli ambassador to the US was determined that his country should, maybe would take revenge with full force – the spoiler alert was up there, in case you missed, here is one here – against either the refineries, oil industry of the Shia State…

Or the nuclear facilities, and Jesus Christ (there you are, there is an attempt to get back to Jesus, The Jewish Galilean and The New Reading of the Jesus Story) that is a terrible perspective, indeed, if they allow the ayatollahs to get one or a few atomic bombs, then we could probably say goodbye to Israel in the (near) future
A spokesman for the Pentagon or The State Department was saying last night that Iran was taking revenge for the death of a terrorist, and indeed, that Nasrallah dude was just that, and a mass murderer to boot, he had killed Jewish people, Americans and Lebanese, so to celebrate him, declare days of mourning is heinous

Paradoxically, the ayatollahs – I first put in the Iranians, but that would be to put people like Asghar Farhadi https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... in the same box – are not the only ones in the bestiary, there is Erdogan, a NATO member, who mourned for the Hamas killer…
Evidently, he is on the side of Hezbollah now, and that is outrageous, I mean to have the pariahs in that camp, of the enemy, is one thing, but to see your ally siding with them, you have to think well, the friend of my enemy is my enemy, just like the friend of my friend could be really close, but we are getting into a different realm
Thomas Mann https://realini.blogspot.com/2021/09/... has short story that stayed in my mind, this character is complaining that around him, many people insist ‘I love you so much, there are no words to describe it’, which is so preposterous, the personage then goes to explain why…

The opposite is true, we have words like love, friend, which we can only read about, or find in art, because there meaning is so vast, there is so much there, that we cannot say love, since when it is tested, it proves to be infatuation, sexual attraction or something else, but not love, that is for the books, opera…
Friend is another such precious word, and a friend is meant to prove his loyalty, support, but mostly, we use too many words for which we do not have the significance – Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/07/... has written the glorious:

The King’s English – Guide to Modern Usage and has the same conclusion, we have to avoid many terms, because they have lost, or changed their meaning, one example being infamous, which comes from infamy, only in the present, or at the time when King wrote his opus, it is just the same as famous, for many
So, what will happen in the Middle East now, and in the near future, since ‘in the long term, we are all dead’, a quote from John Maynard Keynes, what will Israel do, will they attack oil facilities, then the price of everything will jump, because oil is still essential, and therefore everything else that is transported will see the effects?

Would it be the nuclear works, which makes sense, this ex ambassador kept saying it is in the DNA of the state of Israel, and I am now thinking of Munich https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/10/... the tragedy of the Olympics, and then the execution of those responsible for the massacre
Or think about 7 Days in Entebbe https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/06/... the absolutely supernatural operation, in which the brother of the so much hated Benjamin Netanyahu died, that had troops sent to some thousands of miles, to save hostages taken by the PLO

The 2022 Pulitzer Prize Winner was The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/08/... and we have a jocular, formidable, extremely entertaining story of the family
I am biased, hence I wish Israel wins, I am prosemitic, if there is such a word, I feel that, if we look at literature, painting, science (Einstein, right?), motion pictures, you find the crème de la crème including a disproportionate number of Jewish people, because they are so damn good, my absolute number one is Marcel Proust https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/04/... and I have started to learn Hebrew – nipaghes mahar ba boker

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

[Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book, but definitely dense. Prof. Freyne (may he rest in peace) demonstrated in this text his mastery of New Testament scholarship, particularly that pertaining to studies of the Historical Jesus. He set out to strongly push Galilee into the consideration of Jesus' self-understanding and mission, and I think he did that quite well. It's hard to say if his treatment and information is (was) "new," per se, but my guess is that scholars found this quite fruitful. Kudos to my professor!