Has anybody read Crossan's Historical Jesus: Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant?

[struggle4progress]

I gave somebody a copy years ago as a gift because it looked interesting, and the person recently told me I should read it and lent me back their copy

[AnnieBW]

1. The only person I know who believes Crossan

is a guy on another board that I'm on. He's a total wingnut a**hole who constantly puts down other people's religions, including Christianity.

That's not saying that it's a bad book. It's just that someone is using it to claim that Jesus never said things like "help the poor", so we don't have to follow it.

[struggle4progress]

2. I haven't gotten very far in it yet, but I doubt that summary of the book is accurate, based

on what I've read so far

[deutsey]

4. I haven't read it, but I've heard Crossan in interviews

He seems very liberal in his theological interpretations. If I remember correctly, he's even received death threats because of his unorthodox views.

I just looked him up: He co-founded the Jesus Seminar, which is extremely unorthodox. I can't imagine any rightwinger being a fan of his.

[struggle4progress]

6. The rabid rightwingers no doubt dislike him. I think the Jesus Seminar

reflected an effort by a cross-section of scholars from various theological backgrounds (including some conservative ones) to attempt to produce a consensus methodology on separating earlier traditions from later additions by textual criticism

[Critters2]

8. No, the Jesus Seminar didn't include conservative scholars. nt

[struggle4progress]

9. Well, by definition, the project eliminates certain groups: it's an attempt

to reach consensus on the historical reliability of texts, so people who think the texts are purely mythical weren't included, and similarly for Biblical literalists. The position that the texts are human records of some historical events, however, still allows for a rather wide range of theological positions; I went part way through a list of seminar members, and I feel fairly safe in saying that some of them probably hold fairly standard views of Christian theology

[Critters2]

10. I know what it is. I used to be a member. And no, it doesn't

include a very wide cross-section of Christian thought. I suppose the question is "What are standard views of Christian theology?" There are no Evangelicals in the Jesus Seminar, no Girardians, and only a few liberationists. Also, few women or minorities.

[NotTheist]

3. Yes

Yes, I read it and own it.

It is garbage based on stupid ideas.

[struggle4progress]

5. I haven't even gotten through the third chapter yet, so I'm still wading through

his discussions of the patronage structure of Roman society, after his discussion of Roman war politics

What, precisely, did you think was garbage? So far it seems to me a careful contextual investigation, based on a solid knowledge of Roman classics

[54anickel]

7. I've got to wonder if your wingnut friend has John Domonic confused with someone else. That, or his

reading comprehension sucks. Both quite probable since you state "he's a total wingnut a**hole".

[mikelewis]

11. I have not finished this book but I did read "The Last Week" which was very good...

I remember that I did not agree with everything he and his co-author wrote in the Last Week but it did help put a few things into context. He explained the usage of Markan frames and demonstrated that the withering of the fig tree was one such frame. He also tried to recreate the daily itinerary of Jesus in Jerusalem during the last week though he believes that the crucifixion was on Friday and there are others who think it was on Thursday, an idea I agree with. All in all, the Last Week was a good read and I would probably be interested in reading more of his work. I do have the copy of the book you are referring to btw... ironically it's on my cluttered desk. The book starts with the Gospel of Jesus and launches into a layman's view of the historical First Century. I didn't get too much farther than a few pages into though. I usually just listen to books on tape while in the car and I tried to read this one while waiting for my son to finish wrestling practice. Unfortunately for the book's sake, my son quit wrestling I haven't found the time to get back to it.

On edit,

I would also like to suggest another very good read... James Tabor's The Jesus Dynasty, the book is really very good. One big problem was his tangent in his exploration of Jesus' biological father. He repeats an ancient Rabbinic rumor that Jesus was the son of a man name Panter. He then goes on to talk about finding a first century tomb of a Panter in Germany and postulates that this grave site might hold the true biological father of Jesus. Aside from that sort of foolishness, the book is really quite good. Tabor's a frequent guest on the History Int. show The Naked Archeologist.