Jesus: A Life in Class Conflict

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Tensions flared up considerably when the movement marched on Jerusalem, and Jesus was willingly martyred for the cause. By situating the life of Jesus of Nazareth in the turbulent troubles of first-century Palestine, Crossley and Myles give a thrilling historical-materialist take on the historical Jesus.

When John’s shorthand term for the Jewish authorities in the Passion narrative as “the Jews” is described as a “chilling ‘fascist-like’ tendency”, the reader may be forgiven for assuming that the authors slip too readily into a Marxist perspective. Tensions flared up considerably when the movement marched on Jerusalem and Jesus was willingly martyred for the cause. The book conveys a sharp sense of the times and places, the issues and discussions, the difficulties and possibilities.What is important from the biblical point of view is not which hat he wore, but what the author wishes to convey by mentioning it, nor whether skeletons rose from their tombs at the death of Jesus (Matthew 27. The popular appeal of the movement was due in part to a desire to represent the values of ordinary rural workers.

Seeing such portraits as romanticized and overly idealized, the interest here is on the social and economic forces that produced the Jesus movement. Copious and informed material information by way of well-wrought and well-written biographical narrative. We are a conservative evangelical church with a long history of faithful Bible teaching in the coastal town of Whitehaven in beautiful West Cumbria. There needs to be more study, not of history as a science, but of the genres of historical writing and their way of asserting the truth, or, rather what truth they mean to assert.Nor does the “preferential option for death” accord well with the persistent and emphasised failure of the disciples to accept the message of suffering. That said, the authors do reinforce more traditional interpretations in other regards, including the self-awareness of Jesus that the trajectory of his life would lead to a challenge to the religious and military authorities in Jerusalem.

Both books start with a review of the classic three quests for the historical Jesus, the first emerging from the European Enlightenment and culminating in Albert Schweitzer (1906); the second (between the two World Wars) pioneered by the studies of Bultmann and Dibelius and characterised by the attempt to establish criteria for the historical Jesus; the third led by Géza Vermes’s insistence on the Jewishness of Jesus and bolstered by new archaeological discoveries, such as that of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947. At a time when Marxists and people of faith continue to treat each other’s core texts with contempt or suspicion, Jesus: A Life in Class Conflict is a timely and welcome study.We are part of the pro-democracy media contesting the vast right-wing media propaganda ecosystem brainwashing tens of millions and putting democracy at risk. For some in Galilee, these grandiose projects, constructed in part to solidify the status of the comprador bourgeoisie of their day, resulted in great wealth and an enhanced social standing. Crossley and Myles have recaptured the mind-blowing excitement generated by the original quest to distinguish the Jesus of history behind the myth. To mention just two detailed points: the presentation of the movement as “tough, muscular, hard, and manly” hardly fits Peter’s reaction to Caiaphas’s servant-girl. From the outset, this book seeks to place the “Jesus Movement” within its wider economic and social context.

We are trusting God’s plans for St John’s and excited to discover how he might be looking to use us for His Kingdom in our community. Written for a broad audience, it understands the Jesus movement and rise of Christianity without resorting to the usual Great Man view of history and instead pursues a history from below. The book is sound in its scholarship, reasonable in its conclusions, yet provocative enough that it will hold an array of readers' interests. But is Mark’s story his way of showing that Antipas is a foolish victim of a pretty girl’s charm (Esther 5. Watson then proceeds on the basis of two historical principles: first, the grant of the benefit of the doubt, that evidence should be accepted unless there is reason for disbelief; and, second, the uniqueness of historical events.The movement’s popular appeal was due in part to a desire to represent the values of ordinary rural workers, and its vision meant that the rich would have to give up their wealth, while the poor would be afforded a life of heavenly luxury.