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Sociology and the Jesus Movement
Hardcover with dust jacket. Very good condition
178 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 1990
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May 29, 2024
A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON JESUS AND EARLY CHRISTIANITY
Author and former professor of religion and liberal studies Richard A. Horsley wrote in the Introduction of this 1989 book, “This study takes Gerd Theissen’s ‘Sociology of Early Palestinian Christianity’ as its starting point because it has been the most influential sociological treatment of earliest Christianity to date… He has recognized that early Christianity was diverse. Hence he focuses locally on the Palestinian ‘Jesus movement.’ … My uneasiness with his method led me into a critical review of the very sociology I had learned under Talbott Parsons himself… which in turn forced me to rethink some of my own assumptions. Finally, dissatisfaction with Theissen’s overall reconstruction forced an attempt at an alternative view.” (Pg. 9-10)
He states, “Since social reality is relational and historically dynamic, one of the principal desiderata for understanding the Jesus movement in the context of ancient Roman Palestine would appear to be a clearer sense of the overall political-economic-religious structures in which groups and ideologies operated and the conflicts inherent in the determinative social relations.” (Pg. 12)
He outlines, “Life in ancient Jewish Palestine was very different from life in modern urban industrialized America or Europe… it was not so much social rootlessness as the threat of rootlessness that lay behind the Jesus movement and similar social phenomena… underlying the seemingly abstract ‘threat of rootlessness’ lay fundamental social-religious problems many of which were explicitly addressed by the Jesus movement. It is precisely these social problems that need explanation… We may … want to understand why it is the movement emphasizes forgiveness of sin, apparently in a situation in which sin serves as an explanation for suffering and illness… Other contemporaneous … movements may provide some helpful comparisons and contrasts with the Jesus movement on some of these issues that require explanation.” (Pg. 67-68)
He notes, “the period of Jesus’ ministry and the nascent Jesus movement is neatly framed by two massive popular revolts. The frustration and resentment that had been building up under Herodian oppression and repression erupted in the form of movements led by popularly acclaimed ‘kings’ in every major Jewish district at Herod’s death in 4 BCE… these were rebellions of the peasantry against the Herodian regime and high priesthood as well as against the Romans.” (Pg. 87)
He observes, “Although there is no evidence of a pervasive apocalypticism in ancient Jewish Palestine, it is evidence from apocalyptic literature such as the Dead Sea Scrolls and from Synoptic Gospel materials that at least some Palestinian Jewish circles lived in the understanding that their lives and situation were under the control of demonic forces. Sociologically, the key to a more adequate understanding of particular apocalyptic visions and/or the more general sense that life was caught up in a struggle between divine and demonic forces is surely their relation to the fundamental conflict in the historical situation.” (Pg. 98)
He acknowledges, “Part of our problem is the paucity of texts that would provide any direct evidence concerning the concrete social form of the Jesus movement in Palestine. But unless we are prepared to imagine that there was no continuity between Jesus’ ministry and the Christian churches that produced and read the Gospels… then we must imagine a social context at the outset of the movement to which those sayings pertained.” (Pg. 106)
He states, “the Jesus movement was a new ‘family.’ Those who had joined the movement, at whatever cost in terms of disruption of their previous pattern of life… even if it also entailed ‘persecutions.’… The most fundamental socio-economic unit in a traditional agrarian society such as Jewish Palestine was the patriarchal family… villages being composed of several such fathers’ houses, with broader patriarchal kinship patters being important in intro- and inter-village relationships… the heavy economic pressures on peasant family producers for tithes, taxes, and tribute, were gradually undermining and disintegrating the patriarchal family as well as local community relations generally through indebtedness and loss of land.” (Pg. 122-123)
He states, “It is not surprising that a movement responding to the social malaise of the people came into conflict with the rulers. Insofar as the Jesus movement was alleviating the problems that were rooted in the fundamental social structural conflict in Jewish Palestine, as exacerbated by Roman imperial rule, it might appear that it would have mitigated the basic class conflict. The very opposite was the case, however… Whether because of its aggressive criticism of the rulers and their retainers or simply because of its aggressive criticism of the rulers and their retainers or simply because the rulers were threatened by it, the Jesus movement further exacerbated rather than mitigate the fundamental structural conflicts.” (Pg. 130)
He points out, “That the Palestinian Jesus movement rejected the ruling institutions, particularly the Temple and high priesthood, is made all the more credible by the high priestly rulers’ continued attempts to suppress the movement… Luke’s picture of an intense ‘faceoff’ between the priestly rulers and Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem itself may be overly schematic, but his portrayal of the systematic attempt to pursue and root out Jesus’ followers within and outside of Palestine is corroborated by Paul’s own testimony.” (Pg. 133-134)
He concludes, “Reconstruction of the Jesus movement as comprised primarily of ‘wandering charismatics’ or Cynic-like itinerant beggars leaves out of consideration the broader dimensions evident in the sources and leaves us unable to account for the renewal or formation of the local communities… for the very process of ‘group-formation’ that is presupposed in the literature produced by this vigorous new movement that emerged in first-century Jewish Palestine. The leadership of this movement can be understood most appropriately not as individualistic itinerants but as prophetic catalysts of the broader movements.” (Pg. 143-144)
This book will be of keen interest to those studying the historical background of the time of Jesus and early Christianity.
Author and former professor of religion and liberal studies Richard A. Horsley wrote in the Introduction of this 1989 book, “This study takes Gerd Theissen’s ‘Sociology of Early Palestinian Christianity’ as its starting point because it has been the most influential sociological treatment of earliest Christianity to date… He has recognized that early Christianity was diverse. Hence he focuses locally on the Palestinian ‘Jesus movement.’ … My uneasiness with his method led me into a critical review of the very sociology I had learned under Talbott Parsons himself… which in turn forced me to rethink some of my own assumptions. Finally, dissatisfaction with Theissen’s overall reconstruction forced an attempt at an alternative view.” (Pg. 9-10)
He states, “Since social reality is relational and historically dynamic, one of the principal desiderata for understanding the Jesus movement in the context of ancient Roman Palestine would appear to be a clearer sense of the overall political-economic-religious structures in which groups and ideologies operated and the conflicts inherent in the determinative social relations.” (Pg. 12)
He outlines, “Life in ancient Jewish Palestine was very different from life in modern urban industrialized America or Europe… it was not so much social rootlessness as the threat of rootlessness that lay behind the Jesus movement and similar social phenomena… underlying the seemingly abstract ‘threat of rootlessness’ lay fundamental social-religious problems many of which were explicitly addressed by the Jesus movement. It is precisely these social problems that need explanation… We may … want to understand why it is the movement emphasizes forgiveness of sin, apparently in a situation in which sin serves as an explanation for suffering and illness… Other contemporaneous … movements may provide some helpful comparisons and contrasts with the Jesus movement on some of these issues that require explanation.” (Pg. 67-68)
He notes, “the period of Jesus’ ministry and the nascent Jesus movement is neatly framed by two massive popular revolts. The frustration and resentment that had been building up under Herodian oppression and repression erupted in the form of movements led by popularly acclaimed ‘kings’ in every major Jewish district at Herod’s death in 4 BCE… these were rebellions of the peasantry against the Herodian regime and high priesthood as well as against the Romans.” (Pg. 87)
He observes, “Although there is no evidence of a pervasive apocalypticism in ancient Jewish Palestine, it is evidence from apocalyptic literature such as the Dead Sea Scrolls and from Synoptic Gospel materials that at least some Palestinian Jewish circles lived in the understanding that their lives and situation were under the control of demonic forces. Sociologically, the key to a more adequate understanding of particular apocalyptic visions and/or the more general sense that life was caught up in a struggle between divine and demonic forces is surely their relation to the fundamental conflict in the historical situation.” (Pg. 98)
He acknowledges, “Part of our problem is the paucity of texts that would provide any direct evidence concerning the concrete social form of the Jesus movement in Palestine. But unless we are prepared to imagine that there was no continuity between Jesus’ ministry and the Christian churches that produced and read the Gospels… then we must imagine a social context at the outset of the movement to which those sayings pertained.” (Pg. 106)
He states, “the Jesus movement was a new ‘family.’ Those who had joined the movement, at whatever cost in terms of disruption of their previous pattern of life… even if it also entailed ‘persecutions.’… The most fundamental socio-economic unit in a traditional agrarian society such as Jewish Palestine was the patriarchal family… villages being composed of several such fathers’ houses, with broader patriarchal kinship patters being important in intro- and inter-village relationships… the heavy economic pressures on peasant family producers for tithes, taxes, and tribute, were gradually undermining and disintegrating the patriarchal family as well as local community relations generally through indebtedness and loss of land.” (Pg. 122-123)
He states, “It is not surprising that a movement responding to the social malaise of the people came into conflict with the rulers. Insofar as the Jesus movement was alleviating the problems that were rooted in the fundamental social structural conflict in Jewish Palestine, as exacerbated by Roman imperial rule, it might appear that it would have mitigated the basic class conflict. The very opposite was the case, however… Whether because of its aggressive criticism of the rulers and their retainers or simply because of its aggressive criticism of the rulers and their retainers or simply because the rulers were threatened by it, the Jesus movement further exacerbated rather than mitigate the fundamental structural conflicts.” (Pg. 130)
He points out, “That the Palestinian Jesus movement rejected the ruling institutions, particularly the Temple and high priesthood, is made all the more credible by the high priestly rulers’ continued attempts to suppress the movement… Luke’s picture of an intense ‘faceoff’ between the priestly rulers and Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem itself may be overly schematic, but his portrayal of the systematic attempt to pursue and root out Jesus’ followers within and outside of Palestine is corroborated by Paul’s own testimony.” (Pg. 133-134)
He concludes, “Reconstruction of the Jesus movement as comprised primarily of ‘wandering charismatics’ or Cynic-like itinerant beggars leaves out of consideration the broader dimensions evident in the sources and leaves us unable to account for the renewal or formation of the local communities… for the very process of ‘group-formation’ that is presupposed in the literature produced by this vigorous new movement that emerged in first-century Jewish Palestine. The leadership of this movement can be understood most appropriately not as individualistic itinerants but as prophetic catalysts of the broader movements.” (Pg. 143-144)
This book will be of keen interest to those studying the historical background of the time of Jesus and early Christianity.
Displaying 1 of 1 review