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The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant

John Dominic Crossan

4.06 · Rating details · 1,825 ratings · 51 reviews

"He comes as yet unknown into a hamlet of Lower Galilee. He is watched by the cold, hard eyes of peasants living long enough at a subsistence level to know exactly where the line is drawn between poverty and destitution. He looks like a beggar yet his eyes lack the proper cringe, his voice the proper whine, his walk the proper shuffle. He speaks about the rule of God and t "He comes as yet unknown into a hamlet of Lower Galilee. He is watched by the cold, hard eyes of peasants living long enough at a subsistence level to know exactly where the line is drawn between poverty and destitution. He looks like a beggar yet his eyes lack the proper cringe, his voice the proper whine, his walk the proper shuffle. He speaks about the rule of God and they listen as much from curiosity as anything else. They know all about rule and power, about kingdom and empire, but they know it in terms of tax and debt, malnutrition and sickness, agrarian oppression and demonic possession. What, they really want to know, can this kingdom of God do for a lame child, a blind parent, a demented soul screaming its tortured isolation among the graves that mark the edges of the village?"

–– from "The Gospel of Jesus," overture to The Historical Jesus

The Historical Jesus reveals the true Jesus––who he was, what he did, what he said. It opens with "The Gospel of Jesus," Crossan's studied determination of Jesus' actual words and actions stripped of any subsequent additions and placed in a capsule account of his life story. The Jesus who emerges is a savvy and courageous Jewish Mediterranean peasant, a radical social revolutionary, with a rhapsodic vision of economic, political, and religious egalitarianism and a social program for creating it.

The conventional wisdom of critical historical scholarship has long held that too little is known about the historical Jesus to say definitively much more than that he lived and had a tremendous impact on his followers. "There were always historians who said it could not be done because of historical problems," writes Crossan. "There were always theologians who said it should not be done because of theological objections. And there were always scholars who said the former when they meant the latter.'

With this ground–breaking work, John Dominic Crossan emphatically sweeps these notions aside. He demonstrates that Jesus is actually one of the best documented figures in ancient history; the challenge is the complexity of the sources. The vivid portrayal of Jesus that emerges from Crossan's unique methodology combines the complementary disciplines of social anthropology, Greco–Roman history, and the literary analysis of specific pronouncements, anecdotes, confessions and interpretations involving Jesus. All three levels cooperate equally and fully in an effective synthesis that provides the most definitive presentation of the historical Jesus yet attained. ...more

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Paperback, 544 pages

Published February 26th 1993 by HarperOne (first published 1991)

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Apr 13, 2013 John Cloer rated it it was amazing

As one who was raised as a fundamentalist christian, I can say this book was instrumental in changing the course of my life. Just as I was finding my way out of the church I heard the author, John Dominic Crossan, speaking on Fresh Air (NPR). As soon as I heard him I knew I had to read this book. This book is dense, but I was a religious studies major so I could swing with it. I imagine many laypersons would struggle a bit. The author has said that a layperson's version of this book would be, Je ...more

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Aug 09, 2009 Pete daPixie rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-jesus

As usual I've read the later publication 'Excavating Jesus-Beneath the Stones', before dropping backwards into 1991 to tackle this one.
J.D.C. has a well researched and thoroughly historical picture of a Mediterranian Jewish Peasant in first century Palastine. Prof Crossan casts his net back into anthropological models of agrarian societies and their class divisions. For the first two hundred pages here, there is no mention of Jesus of Nazareth. However, I think this first half of the book is the ...more

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Apr 30, 2010 Wade rated it really liked it

Shelves: religion, biography

This dense and meaty book seeks to provide a historical context to events in Galilee and Judea during the first century C.E. The objective is to better understand not only who Jesus was, but the background and impact of the revolutionary message he brought to his fellow Mediterranean Jewish peasants (and ultimately to us). To find the Historical Jesus, Crossan argues that we must utilize scientific methodology (archeology, historical record, etc) while holding an appreciation for the theological This dense and meaty book seeks to provide a historical context to events in Galilee and Judea during the first century C.E. The objective is to better understand not only who Jesus was, but the background and impact of the revolutionary message he brought to his fellow Mediterranean Jewish peasants (and ultimately to us). To find the Historical Jesus, Crossan argues that we must utilize scientific methodology (archeology, historical record, etc) while holding an appreciation for the theological significance of His life. The author references a great variety of ancient religious texts (both canonized and not) as well as vast academic resources to paint a complete religious and historical perspective of the time. His thorough and meticulous (even tedious) attention to detail gave me confidence in the credibility of his claims. (I did find it a bit perplexing though that Jesus didn't make an appearance until 225 pages in).

Crossan establishes criteria to measure the merits of historicity found in each of his sources. This criteria includes (1) a “chronological stratification” (when a text was written) and (2) “independent attestation” (how many separate sources confirm each event). For example a record written in 60 C.E. with events attested to by many different writers might be more likely to reflect actual details than a single source written during the 2nd century.

As might be anticipated when delving into ancient historical details, some of his conclusions contradict conventional wisdom regarding biblical events. In these cases Crossan often states; “That did not happen, but it was true nonetheless” p 394. He asserts that New Testament writers generally intended their messages to be interpreted metaphorically rather than literally. He warns not to put too much weight in a historical or literal reading of scripture or we may miss the point of the lessons being conveyed. For example Jesus teaches profound concepts by using simple parables, his frequent references to “a certain man” (KJV) refer to a hypothetical person. The genius in this technique is that it allows the reader to individualize the message to him or herself. I loved Crossan's comments about this in the wonderful story of the two travelers who encounter the resurrected Jesus on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24). After an in-depth explanation, Crossan states: “Emmaus never happened. Emmaus always happens”. If Emmaus “always happens” that means one of those travelers is always me. Reading the story this way opens up the lesson in a much more meaningful and personally profound way.

History and theology use different mechanisms for finding truth, when both are utilized in balanced ways, the message becomes more compelling to me. Reading this thoughtful book I found a greater understanding and appreciation of the Historical Jesus as well as His inspired teachings. ...more

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Mar 06, 2011 Helaine rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Some points, among others, I took away from the book:

"Resort to prophesy is a universal response of beaten men." p. 104

Jesus' invocation of the Kingdom of God was not as an apocalyptic event. "Insofar as that perfect verb [eggiken], common to the Sayings Gospel Q and Mark, reflects the message of Jesus, it states that the Kingdom is at hand or near in the sense not of promise but of presence and that its power is made visible in the commonality of shared miracle and shared meal." p. 345

Jesus mis ...more

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Oct 15, 2009 Erik Graff rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: everyone

Recommended to Erik by: Michael Miley

Shelves: religion

Crossan is one of the more rewarding popular interpreters of the Christian scriptures. Unlike most serious biblical scholarship, his books, while eminently serious, are lively and well-written. Most appreciated, other than his liberal political take on the figure of Jesus, is his bringing insights into the field from other disciplines: sociology, anthropology, economics, literary theory etc.

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Jan 25, 2011 Lydia rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

Finished and loved it. I love his consistent emphasis on the call for justice for all. It is amazing to me that such a scholarly text can still end up so evangelical. Many people object to Crossan, but I think his honest, straightforward willingness to admit his agenda and his assumptions is a fresh approach to scholarly criticism of biblical texts.

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Mar 22, 2008 Lawrence rated it really liked it

Crossan is hotly debated within the hardline Christian academic community..

He should be read, though...a dynamic take on a subject that sometimes is left in too much
dogma...

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Feb 08, 2019 Scott Gates rated it it was ok

I read this book as a counterpoise to NT Wright’s magnificent Jesus and the Victory of God.

In very general terms, Crossan’s Jesus is deJudaized, Hellenistic, nonapocalyptic/noneschatological, a Cynic, and concerned with the establishment of the kingdom in the here and now; Wright’s Jesus is deeply Jewish, apocalyptic/eschatological, and concerned with the establishment of the kingdom in the here and now. Wright’s vision and his overwhelming scholarship are far more compelling than Crossan’s. Se ...more

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Apr 23, 2017 Gabe rated it really liked it

I found this book worthy of a long list of adjectives, foremost being: challenging, provocative, thorough, respectable, and rich. I recognize that my experience and understanding of this book are likely a result of a combination of personal circumstances, wishes, etc. I haven't read other reviews of this book yet, but I'll be surprised if most others don't find it dry, pretentious, heretical, or have a number of other negative responses. For me, although it was one of the most difficult reads I' I found this book worthy of a long list of adjectives, foremost being: challenging, provocative, thorough, respectable, and rich. I recognize that my experience and understanding of this book are likely a result of a combination of personal circumstances, wishes, etc. I haven't read other reviews of this book yet, but I'll be surprised if most others don't find it dry, pretentious, heretical, or have a number of other negative responses. For me, although it was one of the most difficult reads I've ever undertaken, it also informed me more and prompted in me more thought than possibly any other.

I was surprised by the fact that I read half the book before I read any direct information on--or even mention of--Jesus. The entire first half is a discussion--a detailed catalog, really--of Jewish and Roman thought, characterization of the two cultures, and their interplay. I was confused by this but as I began reading the second half I understood how valuable this would prove to be. That context is essential to the assertions and questions that Crossan offers.

Neither history nor theology are my profession and so I read this with a layman's understanding. That said, I've read a fair amount of history and I can't imagine a more rigorous, professional approach than Crossan's here. The book is dry and tedious in parts for this rigor, but it's all the more credible for it. As you might expect the material begs arguments over interpretation, but Crossan painstakingly itemizes the support for his conclusions and consistently points out competing views. He deals with tenets of Christianity so profound that to comprehend the book was to examine my understanding of faith and Christianity comprehensively and at the most fundamental level. The questions and speculation in the epilogue continue to resurface as I read each day's headlines, and color the way I think about my responses to world events.

On a simpler level, honestly, I almost gave up on the book a couple of different times as at times I just couldn't make sense of where I was in its flow or figure out what I was getting from it. It was a real slog at times. Another author may have made this material more accessible, but on the other hand the material and Crossan's conclusions invite such a nuanced and delicate consideration that I think simplifying the book would have meant sacrificing too much. I was worn out when I finished and glad to be moving on, but also happy that I had stuck with it.

Maybe other readers would have a more pleasant experience if they read something else at the same time (which I don't). And those with something more than a lay understanding of biblical historicity would certainly find this an easier read than I did. Even so, if you're interested in an intellectual, scientific (I think even the word 'secular' applies here, despite that Crossan professes Christianity) look at the archaeological and written record, and you're up for a real challenge--to your mind and perhaps even your faith--surely this book will help inform your understanding of Jesus, the community he lived in and spoke with, and the message he attempted to spread. ...more

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Dec 01, 2014 Don Moman rated it it was amazing

Shelves: history, philosophy

This book is essential reading for anyone who has an interest in Jesus, whether you are already invested, curious, or hostile, there's something in here that will deepen your understanding of Jesus as a historical figure.

The first 200 pages doesn't discuss Jesus at all. Rather, Crossan uses comparative archaeology and anthropology to show what life was like for first century Jewish peasants under Roman rule with a focus on the avenues of resistance to the power of Rome and the Jewish aristocracy This book is essential reading for anyone who has an interest in Jesus, whether you are already invested, curious, or hostile, there's something in here that will deepen your understanding of Jesus as a historical figure.

The first 200 pages doesn't discuss Jesus at all. Rather, Crossan uses comparative archaeology and anthropology to show what life was like for first century Jewish peasants under Roman rule with a focus on the avenues of resistance to the power of Rome and the Jewish aristocracy that were available to them. In the second half of the book, Crossan examines the written records of Jesus' life in order to analyze what he believes the historical Jesus did and said. His methodology is to use only the earliest and multiply attested "complexes" (by which he means a narrative event, a specific teaching, or parable). The book concludes with Crossan demonstrating how Jesus fit into the cultural portrait of first century life that he produced in the first section.

The book is extremely well-researched and carefully argued, but it does have some weaknesses. The biggest is that Crossan does not flag his arguments and assumptions that are based on a minority opinion. Of course, early in the book, he says that in order to keep the book from growing out of control, he won't be engaging with people who disagree with him. However, there are a few places where more engagement would have made for a stronger book. For example, he dates parts of the Gospel of Thomas to c. 50 AD, about 100 years earlier than the majority consensus (of course, the consensus dating is primarily due to the assumption that the Gospel of Thomas is a gnostic work and that gnosticism appeared in the Jesus tradition relatively late). He also bases his argument for the construction of the passion narrative on his own contested theory of a "Cross Gospel". This isn't a problem per se, but the book would have benefited had he acknowledged that it was a controversial theory.

Finally, a caveat: this book is a dense, academic work. It should present no problems to people who are used to reading academic writing or to people who are willing to work a bit when they're reading, but approaching this book as a popularization of historical Jesus scholarship will lead to disappointment. ...more

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Oct 03, 2020 Joseph Schrock rated it really liked it

It is an unquestionable fact that Jesus was both an extremely important figure in human history, and one who has proven to be extraordinarily controversial. Attempted biographies of Jesus’ life sometimes paint dramatically diverse and even contradictory pictures of the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

The book being reviewed here is one scholar’s efforts to offer a faithful account of the historical Jesus. How well does this scholar succeed? It is open to much controversy whether or not ...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Jared rated it really liked it

If I had a bookshelf for "books that helped shape my religious views," this would be on there.

Crossan offers an alternative view of Jesus of Nazareth--not as a religious figure or the de facto son of God--but as a historical and political figure. Crossan discusses the politics of the 1st Century Roman Empire, and what it meant to be a Jew living in Judaea at that time.

Throughout the course of the book, Crossan hypothesizes that Jesus was initially a follower of John the Baptist, that he was neve ...more

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Oct 26, 2007 Johnny rated it really liked it

Shelves: spirituality

when i read this i loved it. you gotta go out and read about the historical jesus.

but be aware that most historians writing about the historical jesus are actually christians too, in the sense that they carry the baggage and biases of judeo-christian culture and history. looking back, this is especially apparent with this author. but any source that exposes you to the gospel of thomas, Q, and other gospels that didnt make the bible, is worth a read if you havent been exposed to these gospels alr ...more

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Dec 31, 2012 Jacob rated it liked it

The book is solid and presents good information (albeit not organized as well as it could be), interesting questions, and some decent arguments. However, Crossan doesn't deal with counter arguments and often doesn't support positions he takes.

This is not a good introduction to historical Jesus scholarship; it presumes a good amount of background information (e.g. it doesn't explain Markan priority or Q) and goes against the large scholarly consensus on some important points (e.g. Jesus's apocaly ...more

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Dec 13, 2008 David rated it it was amazing

Tough stuff, but worth it. Once you get a hang of Crossan, you come to love him. He sets the stage for Jesus in every possible way -- examining every aspect (market conditions, anthropology, social conflicts, science, etc...) of what it meant to exist in the dawning of the common era. Of the ten or so books that I read for my grad class on Jesus, this was the best.

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Jan 13, 2011 Anne Nelson rated it really liked it

Fascinating account that combines thorough historical research with archeology and solid Biblical scholarship. A lot of tenets of orthodox Christianity fall by the historical wayside, but one is left with a compelling story of a great teacher struggling against social intolerance and a brutal occupation. (I read it the week I was in Jerusalem.)

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Oct 07, 2016 Carl Williams rated it liked it

Shelves: spirituality-and-religion, history

Slow going, but well worth it. The first half of the book is an in-depth details review of the literature (through the early 90s when it was written) followed, in its second half, with the application to the texts and understanding of Jesus' message and motivation with the context of the first century CE peasant understanding. Not for the faint of heart.

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Dec 22, 2007 Linksbard rated it liked it

frankly, the hoops academia sets itself up to jump through in the name of "objectivity" are just silly. artifice at its blindest. the entire first 200 pages amount to defense of his "methodology." ugh, and unfortunately detracts from erstwise interesting stuff.

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Sep 13, 2017 Greg rated it it was amazing

Shelves: religion

I will begin by stating that I’m an unabashed fan of Crossan’s work. He is opinionated and controversial, but those opinions are based in exceptional logical proof and scholarship. His ability to analyze text and his historical understanding of the New Testament period are outstanding. I read everything that he writes, and have seen him lecture live. I may not always agree with what he writes (who can say that about anyone), but I am fully conscious of the fact that I could not win any debate ov ...more

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Sep 18, 2018 Jerrodm rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history, religion, development, political-history, sociology, war, middle-east, biography-autobiography, economics, philosophy

Wow...I went from reading Paul Johnson's Jesus: A Biography from a Believer (which I did NOT love, review here), to reading this book. I disliked Johnson's book because of its obvious decision not to apply any kind of critical analytic effort to the life of Jesus - instead, Johnson was content to recount a selection of stories from the four Gospels and to apply his own conjectures to "what kind of a person Jesus was". Not terribly convincing, and really poor scholarship as far as I'm concerned.

A Wow...I went from reading Paul Johnson's Jesus: A Biography from a Believer (which I did NOT love, review here), to reading this book. I disliked Johnson's book because of its obvious decision not to apply any kind of critical analytic effort to the life of Jesus - instead, Johnson was content to recount a selection of stories from the four Gospels and to apply his own conjectures to "what kind of a person Jesus was". Not terribly convincing, and really poor scholarship as far as I'm concerned.

And then I read this book, hoping to get a more dispassionate, fact-based and analytic view on Jesus's life. And boy did I get that. This book is like reading a series of seminar papers on the world of Palestine at the time of Jesus. As impressive as the research behind it is (and it is quite impressive), the prose in this book is so dry you could use it in place of those little silica packets they put in goods to ship them across the Pacific. This book could singlehandedly* solve the problem of rising ocean levels. This book makes the Gobi look like the Amazon. This book is super dry.

It's also pretty interesting. The author, John Crossan, basically starts by pointing out that there are a billion different "biographies" of Jesus, which paint at least a billion different pictures of what he was like. That shows the huge gaps between what we actually know about Jesus as a person, and probably relates to why people around the world have found him relatable from so many different contexts; Jesus is a sort of empty vessel into which all kinds of different people have found it convenient to pour their own selves, so that he ends up looking like them.

Given that state of affairs, Crossan tries to step back from the actual historical person of Jesus and look at some of the broad currents that characterized the world (early Roman period Palestine) in which Jesus lived, and to use those broad themes - political, economic, cultural, social - as lenses through which to look at the actual reports of what Jesus did and said, and what others did and said about him. The result is pretty convincing, but it does mean that the first third or so of the book (200 pages maybe) isn't about Jesus at all, at least not directly. Instead, it's about the culture of shame and pride that predominates broadly in Mediterranean cultures, with reference to anthropological studies of Berber tribes and Corsican farmers. It's about the economics of peasant agriculture and imperial taxation, with references from across the globe. And it's about peasant uprisings and rural banditry in Roman-held territories from 100 years before Christ to hundreds of years after his death. I feel like I wanted a book about Jesus and instead got a survey book of Mediterranean life for the past 2,000 years!

The second half of the book is more directly focused on Jesus, but even there it's pretty weedy. Crossan uses a (I assume standardized within the field of serious Jesus study) system of identifying "complexes" of stories surrounding Jesus - take, as an example, the "feeding the multitude" story. He only accepts stories for which there are multiple attributions, and by that he doesn't mean that it shows up in more than one Gospel, since those, especially the synoptic gospels, are transparently based on each other. Instead, he arrays a series of sources, including non-canonical gospels that he makes the case as having been the principal sources for those books that eventually made it into the Bible. (I'm no expert in biblical historiography, but he is, so I'm not going to argue the point.)

He then identifies the selections about Jesus's life and teachings that are multiply sourced, and uses a method of "find the differences" to get at a) where the individual authors' biases and focuses were likely to be, and then extrapolating from those points to identify what the original story must have had in common, given that it then diverged in two or more directions. It probably goes without saying, but he discards the fantastic elements of the stories, but seeks to use them to understand what it was the authors were trying to use Jesus to teach. For believers I'd imagine that would be a tough pill to swallow; I found it perfectly reasonable.

The picture he derives of Jesus from this method is an interesting one: he sees Jesus as something of a social radical, whose main message was about breaking down social barriers and living communally. He portrays Jesus as a bit of a charlatan, in the sense that his "gift", and the thing that garnered him social support, was his healing ability. Crossan doesn't attribute this healing to anything mystical, any more than most of us believe that the faith healers on television actually have divine power to cure untreatable illness. Instead, he thinks Jesus used astute psychological judgments and the power of persuasion to "heal" people of various things, and received bread in exchange. So: a huckster perhaps, but a useful one, given the well-documented efficacy of placebos.

This book was a real slog to get through, especially the first half. I will say though that the second half, being more directly focused on Jesus, was a little easier. But I definitely felt like I'd just finished a semester-long course on Jesus in a religious studies program, rather than having just read a book. Interesting for sure and I'm glad I read it, but not exactly what I was looking for. If you want to go deep on an academic view of the life of Jesus; this is that book. If you want a 400 page NYT-bestseller type of book on the life of Jesus, this is not that book. Choose accordingly. ...more

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Feb 13, 2020 Kana Smith rated it it was ok

I suppose my low-rated review here has most of all to do with the title; this is NOT “the life of a Mediterranean peasant,” not even close. If I had been LOOKING for a heavily-academic analysis of the socioeconomic and religiopolitical textual allusions and sevenfold theories of threefold analytical methodologies of blah blah... well, this would be the book. I was in fact, however, looking for “historical Jesus, the life of a peasant”—so I was not so happy with this book. It does float some inte ...more

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Feb 02, 2018 Paula Montgomery rated it it was amazing

The author, John Dominic Crossan, looks at Christ from many disciplines. He provides an avenue for really looking deeply at Jesus from many points of view. It gives one a perspective on what was going on at the time and helps in our understanding of something simple and complex at the same time.

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Jan 08, 2019 Brendan Bell rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Well done book

The book is very well researched and written. It is however not entirely convincing in making it seem that Jesus was a Jewish Cynic rather then an apocalyptic preacher or religious teacher

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Jun 09, 2020 Paul West rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Had to stop reading this one. Was nothing like the title suggests. Got all the way through part one with almost no mention of Jesus and had to keep a dictionary close by to even try to follow the high flying academia speak!

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Mar 29, 2019 Daniel rated it liked it

Shelves: religion

Some interesting ideas but I kept getting lost in his terminology and descriptions of his methods. Conclusions were very interesting, especially concerning class distinctions.

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Jul 26, 2019 Kristin Stevens rated it it was amazing

An incredible book if you have the patience for an academic treatise on Jesus. Life changing actually.

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Feb 20, 2020 Eggtown rated it it was amazing

Fascinating reconstruction of Jesus' ministry – a monumental effort of John Dominic Crossan to totally immerse it in the political, social, and religious context of its time. The first half of the book (over 220 pages) can be a struggle before Jesus makes an entrance, however, the richly historical context pays off in the second half, when Crossan peels away layer after layer to unearth the historical figure Jesus as a Jewish peasant Cynic.

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Apr 27, 2014 Shane Wagoner rated it really liked it

Rarely does one get to witness a master at work the way one does when reading this gem. Admittedly, I had immense difficulties getting through the first through sections which, despite a few interesting segments (such as exposition on Cynic Philosophy and Apocolypticism), were primarily set-up. However, after extensively analyzing the culture and history into which Jesus was thrust, Crossan dives into part three. In the third section, Crossan uses textual criticism to determine what sayings most ...more

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Sep 10, 2012 Matt rated it really liked it

Pretty awesome. For example, "the poor" had two possible translations in New Testament Greek. One meant the working poor, and the other meant the destitute/beggars. The one used in the early Greek versions of the Gospels is the destitute. How cool is that nugget of knowledge that I just dropped? Pretty cool. This book is full of stuff like that, even if a few of his interpretations are a little dubious. In one instance, he dismisses "and he was angry" at the tail of one of Jesus's parables becau ...more

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Jul 14, 2013 Mike Porter rated it liked it

This is a challenge to read which is why I gave it 3 stars. It appears to be written for a bible scholar rather than lay readers. The author's vocabulary sent me to the dictionary frequently but still could not find definitions for some words. They must be scholar lingo.

Still, it is a very comprehensive treatment of the context of the times in which Jesus lived, and for that I really liked reading it. I gained a real appreciation for those times. Further, the book exposes the reader to what doc ...more

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About John Dominic Crossan

John Dominic Crossan

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John Dominic Crossan is generally regarded as the leading historical Jesus scholar in the world. He is the author of several bestselling books, including The Historical Jesus, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, The Birth of Christianity, and Who Killed Jesus? He lives in Clermont, Florida.

John Dominic Crossan was born in Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland in 1934. He was educated in Ireland and the ...more

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Quotes from The Historical Jesus

“The past is recorded almost exclusively in the voices of elites and males, in the viewpoints of the wealthy and the powerful, in the visions of the literate and the educated.” — 4 likes

“The ecstatic vision and social program sought to rebuild a society upward from its grass roots but on principles of religious and economic egalitarianism, with free healing brought directly to the peasant homes and free sharing of whatever they had in return. The deliberate conjunction of magic and meal, miracle and table, free compassion and open commensality, was a challenge launched not just at Judaism’s strictest purity regulations, or even at the Mediterranean’s patriarchal combination of honor and shame, patronage and clientage, but at civilization’s eternal inclination to draw lines, invoke boundaries, establish hierarchies, and maintain discriminations.” — 3 likes

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