What do the social sciences have to contribute to the study of Jesus and the Gospels? This is the fundamental question that these essays all address - from analyses of ancient economics to altered states of consciousness, politics, ritual, kinship, and labeling.
Contributors: Bruce J. Malina, Wolfgang Stegemann, Richard L. Rohrbaugh, Ekkehard W. Stegemann, Gerd Theissen, T. Raymond Hobbs, Dennis C. Duling, K.C. Hanson, Philip F. Esler, S. Scott Bartchy, John J. Pilch, Christian Strecker, Richard DeMaris, Stuart L. Love, Jerome H. Neyrey, Douglas E. Oakman, Gary Stansell, Santiago Oporto Guijarro
| Dedication | ||
| Abbreviations | ||
| Introductory Perspectives | 1 | |
| 1 | Social-Scientific Methods in Historical Jesus Research | 3 |
| 2 | Ethnocentrism and Historical Questions about Jesus | 27 |
| 3 | The Contextual Ethics of Jesus | 45 |
| Social-Psychological Perspectives | 63 | |
| 4 | Jesus as Fatherless Child | 65 |
| 5 | Jesus Heals the Hemorrhaging Woman | 85 |
| 6 | Altered States of Consciousness in the Synoptics | 103 |
| 7 | Jesus and the Demoniacs | 117 |
| Social-Boundary Concerns | 135 | |
| 8 | The Baptism of Jesus: A Ritual-Critical Approach | 137 |
| 9 | The Politics of Exorcism | 159 |
| 10 | The Historical Jesus and Honor Reversal at the Table | 175 |
| 11 | Jesus and the Reduction of Intergroup Conflict | 185 |
| 12 | The Plague of Uncleanness? The Ancient Illness Construct "Issue of Blood" in Luke 8:43-48 | 207 |
| Politics and Political Religion | 223 | |
| 13 | The Political Dimension of Jesus' Activities | 225 |
| 14 | The Political Jesus: Discipleship and Disengagement | 251 |
| 15 | Jesus and the Social Bandits | 283 |
| 16 | The Jesus Movement and Network Analysis | 301 |
| Politics and Political Economy | 333 | |
| 17 | Money in the Moral Universe of the New Testament | 335 |
| 18 | Gifts, Tributes, and Offerings | 349 |
| An Overview of the Task | 365 | |
| 19 | The Gospels in Comparison with the Pauline Letters: What We Can Learn from Social-Scientific Models | 367 |
| Index of Ancient Sources | 379 | |
| Index of Subjects | 389 | |
| Index of Authors | 397 |
Overview
What do the social sciences have to contribute to the study of Jesus and the Gospels? This is the fundamental question that these essays all address - from analyses of ancient economics to altered states of consciousness, politics, ritual, kinship, and labeling.
Contributors: Bruce J. Malina, Wolfgang Stegemann, Richard L. Rohrbaugh, Ekkehard W. Stegemann, Gerd Theissen, T. Raymond ...