Conflict, Holiness, and Politics in the Teachings of Jesus

336 Pages·1998·17.24 MB·English

by  Marcus Borg

CONFLICT
HOLINESS,*™
POLITICS -N THE
TEACHINGS
<"]ESUS
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CONFLICT,
HOLINESS,
AND
POLITICS
IN THE
TEACHINGS
- JESUS
MARCUS J. BORG
A
continuum
Copyright © 1984, 1998 by Marcus J. Borg
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system,
without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
Continuum International Publishing Group
The Tower Building 80 Maiden Lane, Suite 704
11 York Road New York
London SE1 7NX NY 10038
Cover art: Giraudon/Art Resource, New York. El Greco. Christ chasing the
moneylenders from the temple, 1610-1614. Oil on canvas, 106 x 104cm.
St. Gines, Madrid, Spain.
Library of Congress Cataloging'in-Publication Data
Borg, Marcus].
Conflict, holiness, and politics in the teachings of Jesus /
Marcus]. Borg
p. cm
Originally published: New York, N.Y.: E. Mellen, 1984, in series:
Studies in the Bible and early Christianity.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN (10): 1-56338-227-X
ISBN (13):-978-l'5633-8227-7
1. Jesus Christ - Political and social views. 2. Jesus Christ -
Views on Jewih ritual purity. I. Title.
BS2417.P6B67 1998
232.9'54-dc21 98-22816
Contents
Foreword to the New Edition by N. T. Wright ix
Abbreviations
xxv
Introduction to the New Edition 1
Reflecting on CHP's Central Claims 2
The Undermining of Apocalyptic Eschatology, 3 • Jesus' Inclusive
Meal Practice, 5 • Jesus and the Pharisees, 6 • Jesus and Purity, 8
Where I Have Changed My Mind 10
This Edition of CUP 16
L Introduction 19
The Exclusion of Politics 22
Noneschatological Exclusion of Politics, 22 • Imminent Eschatology
and the Exclusion of Politics, 26 • Existentialism and the Exclusion of
Politics, 30 • A Way Forward, 34
Method and This Study 36
2. The Multiform Character of Jewish Resistance to Rome. . . . 43
The Social Matrix 44
Analysis of the Jewish Resistance 52
Herod's Reign (37-4 B.C.E.), 53 • Events Following Herod's Death, 55
• 6 C.E. and the Census, 58 • Pilate, 59 • Caligula, 61 • Cumanus,
61 • Priests and Resistance, 62
Summary 64
3. The Dynamics of Jewish Resistance to Rome:
The Quest for Holiness 66
The Postexilic Development 66
Effects of the Maccabean Era 68
The Quest for Holiness in the First Century 71
Holiness and Resistance 77
Resistance to Proscription of Torah and Temple, 77 • Resistance to
Practices Violating the Holiness of the Land, 78 • Attempts to Acquire
Requisite Freedom, 79
Holiness and Internal Division 83
Prospectus 85
V
vi CONTENTS
4. Jesus and the Quest for Holiness: Opposition 88
Prolegomena 90
Challenges to Culturally Sanctioned Norms: Strategic or Programmatic,
90 • Challenges to a Paradigm: Replacement or Redefinition? 92
Table Fellowship and Holiness 93
The Meal and Holiness as a Goal for Society, 94 • Revolutionary
Action, Protest, and Response, 97 • The Contravention of the Quest
for Holiness, 109
Summary 133
5. Jesus and the Quest for Holiness:
The Alternative Paradigm 135
Substitution: Compassion Replaces Holiness 135
Compassion as the Content of the Imitatio Dei 136
The "Compassion Code," 139
Modification: Holiness as Trans/orrning Power 147
The Consequences of Compassion 149
Epilogue: Jesus and the Pharisees 151
6. Jesus and the Quest for Holiness: The Sabbath 156
Jesus and the Sabbath 159
The Non-Marcan Sabbath Controversies 160
The Marcan Sabbath Controversies 162
7. Jesus and the Quest for Holiness: The Temple 174
The Temple, Holiness, and Resistance 175
Jesus and the Temple 181
The Disruption in the Temple, 181 • The Threat of Destruction, 189
8. Jesus and the Future 213
The Threat-Warrant Tradition Peculiar to Matthew 215
The Warrant Tradition in Mark, Q, L, and Mp 215
The Synoptic Threat Tradition 217
"Taken Away/Given to Others," 218 • Destruction at the Hands of
Rome, 221 • The Final Judgment, 221
Results 229
Postscript: Jesus and the Coming "Son of Man" 231
CONTENTS vii
9. Conclusion: Prophetic Conflict and Mystical Eschatology . . 239
Jesus as Spirit Person and Prophet 240
Jesus as Sage: The Importance of the Heart 247
The Kingdom of God 256
Appendix: The Threat/Warrant Tradition of the Synoptic
Gospels 273
Bibliography 281
Index of Biblical References 295
Index of Subjects 299
Index of Modern Authors 305
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Foreword to
the New Edition
Marcus Borg and I might have met fifteen years earlier than we actu-
ally did, though we would not at that time have shared an interest in
the historical Jesus. He was at Mansfield College, Oxford, writing his
doctoral dissertation (the first version of the present book) from 1969
to 1972, under the guidance of Dr. George Caird, then principal of
Mansfield College and subsequently Dean Ireland Professor of Exegesis
at Queen's. At that time I was reading Greats (philosophy and ancient
history) two streets away at Exeter College, and then beginning to study
theology. We probably passed each other in the street, or in BlackwelPs
bookshop, a dozen times.
But I did not, then, know much about the historical study of Jesus.
When I began my own doctoral work under George Caird in 1973,1 was
single -mindedly examining Paul; and George himself, who organized his
time and his mind better than most, did not deviate from that topic
in our conversations. The only time he mentioned Marcus to me was
to hold him up as a shining example of someone who enters upon a
doctoral program knowing what he wants to write about, and gets on
and does it. Alas, the example fell on deaf ears. It took me three years
to work out what I wanted to say about Paul, and another four to say it.
It was only after that, when I was teaching at McGill University in
Montreal (where Caird had held the same chair thirty years earlier),
that I began in earnest to study Jesus in his historical context. Be-
tween 1982 and 1984 I puzzled and probed and lectured and scribbled
about Jesus, with Caird's little book Jesus and the Jewish Nation1 as the
spark that had set new ideas smoldering. At the Annual Meeting of the
Society of Biblical Literature in November 1984 I attended a seminar
exploring some ideas about Jesus' teaching in relation to the political
conflicts within the Judaism of his day. Toward the end, someone men-
tioned, casually, that there was a new book on these topics by someone
called Marcus Borg. I hunted for the book, bought it, took it home to
Montreal, devoured it, and not long afterward made contact with its
1. London: Athlone Press, 1965.
ix