Jesus of Nazareth: An independent historian's account of his life and teaching

577 Pages·2010·1.75 MB·English

by  Maurice Casey

JESUS OF NAZARETH
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JESUS OF NAZARETH
An Independent Historian’s Account of
His Life and Teaching
MAURICE CASEY
Published by T&T Clark International
A Continuum Imprint
The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX
80 Maiden Lane, Suite 704, New York, NY 10038
www.continuumbooks.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication 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 permission in writing from the publishers.
Copyright © Maurice Casey, 2010
Maurice Casey has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, to be
identifi ed as the Author of this work.
British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 13: 978-0-567-10408-3 (Hardback)
978-0-567-64517-3 (Paperback)
Typeset by Pindar NZ, Auckland, New Zealand
Printed and bound in Great Britain by the MPG Books Group
This book is dedicated to
Stephanie Louise Fisher
and
James Crossley,
brilliant colleagues with completely independent minds,
and wonderful friends
(cid:2)
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Contents
Preface xi
Abbreviations xiii
1 The Quest of the Historical Jesus 1
1 Introduction 1
2 The Nazi Period 4
3 Radical Form Criticism 9
4 Not the Second and Third Quests 12
5 Vermes and Sanders 13
6 Crossan and the American Jesus Seminar 18
7 From Bad to Worse 21
8 Recent Lives of Jesus 45
9 Conclusions 59
2 Historically Reliable Sources 61
1 Introduction 61
2 The Gospel According to Marcus 62
3 The So-c alled ‘Q’ Material 78
4 The Gospel According to Matthew 86
5 The Gospel According to Luke 93
6 Conclusions 97
3 Historical Method 101
1 Introduction 101
2 Multiple Attestation 102
3 Dissimilarity, Coherence and Embarrassment 104
4 Historical Plausibility 106
5 Aramaic 108
6 Jewish Source Material 120
viii Jesus of Nazareth
7 Rewriting History, Telling Stories and Social Memory 132
8 Conclusions 141
4 Family, Birth, Upbringing and Cultural Background 143
1 Family 143
2 Birth 145
3 Upbringing 158
4 Galilee and the Surrounding Areas 164
5 Conclusions 169
5 John the Baptist, Call and Ministry 171
1 Introduction 171
2 The Prophetic Tradition 172
3 John the Baptist 173
4 Jesus’ Baptism and Call 176
5 Jesus, John and the Length of the Historic Ministry 178
6 The Call of the Twelve 186
7 Women in the Historic Ministry 192
8 Conclusions 197
6 God 199
1 Introduction 199
2 Jesus’ Spiritual Life 199
3 The Fatherhood of God 204
4 The Kingdom of God 212
5 Teaching Others to Pray 226
6 Conclusions 234
7 Exorcism and Healing 237
1 Introduction 237
2 Secondary Development 240
3 Healing 244
4 Exorcism in the Ministry of Jesus 247
5 Healing Other Illnesses 256
6 The Mighty Works of a Prophet 271
7 Jesus Was Not a Magician 275
8 Conclusions 278
8 Jesus’ Ethical Teaching 281
1 Introduction 281
2 Repentance 282
3 The Torah 284
4 Particular Ethical Instructions 288
5 Divorce and the Family 295
6 The Good Samaritan 301
7 Poverty and Riches 305
Contents ix
8 Two Problems 309
9 Observing Jesus’ Ethical Teaching 310
10 Conclusions 312
9 Jesus’ Confl icts with His Opponents 313
1 Introduction 313
2 Scribes 313
3 Pharisees 315
4 Orthodoxy in Second Temple Judaism 319
5 Jesus’ Confl icts with Scribes and Pharisees 320
6 Herod Antipas 338
7 Chief Priests, Elders and Scribes 344
8 Division 349
9 Conclusions 351
10 Christological Terms 353
1 Introduction 353
2 Prophet 354
3 Teacher 356
4a Son of Man: Introduction 358
4b Son of Man: Genuine Sayings of Jesus 361
4c Son of Man: The Translation Process 369
4d Son of Man: Daniel 7.13 374
4e Son of Man: Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection 377
4f Son of Man: The Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke 381
5 Son of God 388
6 Messiah, or Christ 392
7 Conclusions 399
11 Death in Jerusalem 401
1 Introduction 401
2 Preparing the Way 403
3 Entry into Jerusalem, and the Cleansing of the Temple 408
4 The Next Few Days 415
5 Betrayal 425
6 Jesus’ Final Passover 429
7 Arrest 438
8 Trial and Conviction 440
9 Crucifi xion: A Bandit’s Shameful Death 445
10 A Bandit’s Shameful Burial 448
11 Conclusions 453
12 Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? 455
1 Introduction 455
2 Early Experiences and Belief 456
3 Gospel Appearance Narratives 461