The Political Aims of Jesus

by Douglas E. Oakman Pacific Lutheran Universi

Overview

Amid competing portrayals of the "cynic Jesus," the "peasant Jesus," and the "apocalyptic Jesus," the "political Jesus" remains a marginal figure. Douglas E. Oakman argues that advances in our social-scientific understanding of the political economy of Roman Galilee, as well as advances in the so-called "Third Quest" for the historical Jesus, warrant a revivaland a critical revisionof H. S. Reimarus's understanding of Jesus as an instigator of revolutionary change.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781451424317
Publisher:	Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date:	08/01/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Douglas E. Oakman is professor of religion at Pacific Lutheran University and the author of Jesus and the Economic Questions of His Day (1986) and, with K. C. Hanson, Palestine in the Time of Jesus, 2nd ed. (Fortress Press, 2007).

Table of Contents

Illustrations ix

Preface xi

1 Revisiting Reimarus 3

Strands of the Previous Discussion 5

The Present Moment in Historical Jesus Scholarship 16

Method in the Quest for Jesus' Political Aims 18

2 Conceptualizing Roman Imperial Patronage Politics 23

First-Century Politics and the Social Sciences 24

The Shape of Agrarian Power 26

The Politics of Peasantry 35

3 Power and Imperium 45

The Political Setting of Roman Palestine 46

Political Characteristics of Galilee under Herod Antipas 49

Jesus of Nazareth, Peasant Artisan in Galilee 67

Jesus as Peasant Theologian and Broker of the Kingdom of God 70

4 The Tables and the Table 79

Patronage Politics and Jesus' Subversive Praxis 82

Mammon and the Tables 84

Passover and the Table 94

Eating with Tax Collectors and "Sinners" 97

Taxes, Debts, and the Prayer of Jesus 99

Crucifixion as a Lestes 102

5 Worldly Power and Cosmic Powers 113

From Agrarian Galilee to Urban Artisans and Freedmen 114

Jesus' Aims and the First Level of Interpretation 119

Jesus' Aims and the Second Level of Interpretation 123

The Depoliticizing of Jesus 125

Jesus Christ, the Broker of Divine Power 127

6 Revising Reimarus 131

Concluding Postscientific Postscript: The "Fifth Force" and Jesus' Politics Today 135

Appendix 1 The Parables Database 139

Appendix 2 Did Jesus Lead a Movement? 143

Appendix 3 The Peasant Artisan Jesus and Israelite Traditions 149

Glossary 155

Bibliography 157

Author Index 177

Ancient Literature Index 181

Subject Index 187