Galilean Upstarts: Jesus' First Followers According to Q

by Leif E. Vaage

Who were the first followers of Jesus in Palestine? How were they responsible for gospel traditions that grew out of developments at the eastern end of the Mediterranean basin in the cradle of Syrian Christianity? Did these "Galilean upstarts" constitute the earliest form of Christianity known to us?
Based on a thorough study of the literary stratum biblical scholars have designated "Q," Professor Vaage concludes that these "Galilean upstarts" looked very much like Cynics, claimed to be acting as agents of God's kingdom, wandered from town to town trading their uncommon wisdom for gestures of hospitality, practiced asceticism, looked back to John and Jesus as heroes of their fledgling movement, and conducted a form of popular resistance to the official truths and virtues of their day.

239 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1994

About the author

A pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada he also teaches every year on the behalf of the United Church of Canada at the Universidad Bíblica Latinoamericana Recinto Lima in Perú (South America). During the last 20 years, since completing doctoral studies at the Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California, his scholarly interests have revolved around the following four issues: i) the social practices of biblical interpretation, especially in Latin America; ii) the social projects of earliest Christianity, especially those associated with the historical Jesus and his first followers in Galilee and with the historical Paul; iii) the diverse modes of social critique and alternative social construction, especially in ancient Cynicism, Christian asceticism, and modern anarchism; and iv) the social significance of the human body in and for these practices and projects. These projects have made him otherwise an avid exponent of arboreal exegesis with a chain-saw, German shepherding into the woods, writing for poetic vengeance, and learning how to dance with progressive rigor mortis.

Reviews

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure: Leif Vaage was a student colleague of mine in the New Testament Ph.D. program at Claremont Graduate School (now University) in the early 1980s. Nevertheless, I can objectively say that Leif's Galilean Upstarts is a great source for ancient Cynic parallels to the New Testament Sayings Source (Q). I agree with his position that the earliest followers of Jesus located in Galilee in the 40s, 50s, and 60s CE adopted the lifestyle and general worldview of the typical Cynic philosopher of that time. For this position, Leif and I are dependent on the great scholarly work of Burton L. Mack, Myth of Innocence; The Lost Gospel. Burton was a professor of New Testament at Claremont when Leif and I were there. Leif's book is not for the laodicean general reader. The book will test your "sticktoitiveness" and your ability to use a dictionary. Leif loves to use words unheard in usual discourse. He is in fact a poet. But his book is great, if you want to see a persuasive accumulation and presentation of the evidence for the notion that the earliest followers of Jesus located in Galilee in the 40s, 50s, and 60s CE adopted the lifestyle and general worldview of the typical Cynic philosopher of that time.