Tensions flared up considerably when the movement marched on Jerusalem, and Jesus was willingly martyred for the cause. 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. I can think of no better introduction to the historical Jesus for the general reader, no clearer statement on the legacy of the Jesus movement in the sweep of subsequent history, or a more worthy challenge to contemporary scholarship on Jesus and the rise of Christianity. The book is sound in its scholarship, reasonable in its conclusions, yet provocative enough that it will hold an array of readers' interests. Most sciences aim to establish general laws, but the science of history accepts that historical events are unique.

Crossley and Myles locate Jesus’s class position as that of a tektōn, an ancient Greek noun meaning craftsman or carpenter. 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. From the outset, this book seeks to place the “Jesus Movement” within its wider economic and social context. Of the three last words of Jesus on the cross offered by Mark/Matthew, Luke and John which is historical or does that not matter? Crossley and Myles offer a vivid portrait of the man and his movement and uncover the material conditions that converged to make it happen.The book conveys a sharp sense of the times and places, the issues and discussions, the difficulties and possibilities.

Tensions flared up considerably when the movement marched on Jerusalem and Jesus was willingly martyred for the cause.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. Being born and raised in this artisan rural working stratum, Jesus and his immediate family would have felt the full force of the economic dislocations and displacements caused by the massive Herodian building schemes at Sepphoris and Tiberias. Copious and informed material information by way of well-wrought and well-written biographical narrative.

It is often the message rather than the details of the story which is important and, therefore, inspired.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. Nor does the “preferential option for death” accord well with the persistent and emphasised failure of the disciples to accept the message of suffering. But is Mark’s story his way of showing that Antipas is a foolish victim of a pretty girl’s charm (Esther 5. 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. What impresses the most, though, is in how by demystifying an epic class struggle of the past lessons of strategic relevance to struggles for liberation in the present can be drawn.

In so doing, the authors speedily debunk the “Great Man” myth and demonstrate the large number of similar grouplets in a Palestine that was being convulsed by serious dislocations. 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. If you enjoy reading People’s World and the stories we bring you, support our work by donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today.Some readers may be irritated by the retro-fitting of 19th and 20th century language to a first century setting (the Twelve Disciples are referred to as the Jesus Movement’s “Politburo,” and the desired millenarian outcome as a “Dictatorship of the Peasantry,” for instance).