Judah’s kinsman redeemer: Israelite solidarity in the Parable of the Good Samaritan

Early Christian readers of the Parable of the Good Samaritan favored allegorical interpretations. The Parable's mysterious central figure, the Samaritan, was a type of Christ the heavenly Savior. Whereas Judaism and the Law of Moses, represented by the priest and the Levite, had failed to save sinners from their condition, God's divine son, the founder … Continue reading Judah’s kinsman redeemer: Israelite solidarity in the Parable of the Good Samaritan →

The Elijah option: Contributions of Jehuite propaganda to early Christianity

"Go, inquire of Baal-zebub" A prophet clad in hair and leather appears in Israel to usher in divine judgment and, perhaps, divine salvation. He announces the end of Beelzebub's reign and the restoration of the kingdom of God. For this work he is persecuted by Israel's rulers, and while hidden in the wilderness for forty … Continue reading The Elijah option: Contributions of Jehuite propaganda to early Christianity →

Let them both grow together: Resignation as apocalyptic strategy at Qumran and Capernaum

From first to last, and not merely in epilogue, Christianity is eschatology, is hope, forward looking and forward moving, and therefore also revolutionizing and transforming in the present. The eschatological is not one element of Christianity, but it is the medium of the Christian faith as such, the key in which everything in it is … Continue reading Let them both grow together: Resignation as apocalyptic strategy at Qumran and Capernaum →

Shipwrecked in the deepest darkness: The Lukan rescue of Paul’s imperiled legacy

The objective of the previous two posts was to determine the historical forces that compelled an anonymous Christian (i.e. Mark) to construct the first narrative account of Jesus as the Son of God. Two factors proved central to this reconstruction of Mark's rhetorical aims: 1) Israel's failed rebellion against Rome spanning AD 66-74, and 2) … Continue reading Shipwrecked in the deepest darkness: The Lukan rescue of Paul’s imperiled legacy →

The Gospel of Flavius Vespasianus: Mark’s counter-imperial purposes

Last time I argued that the Markan account of the Gerasene Demoniac betrays knowledge of the Jewish uprising in the region of the Decapolis during the early years of Israel's war with Rome. The resemblance between Legion's ruin in the sea with Josephus' reporting of the Roman massacre of rebels on the banks of the … Continue reading The Gospel of Flavius Vespasianus: Mark’s counter-imperial purposes →

Christ’s triumph at Gadara: Markan reflection on Israel’s rebellion

Josephus' account of the war in the north In AD 67 the Roman general Vespasian arrived on the shores of Ptolemais with his son Titus. They had been sent by the emperor to quell a Jewish rebellion in and around Judea. Upon landing, Vespasian and his legions proceeded inland to regain control of Galilee and … Continue reading Christ’s triumph at Gadara: Markan reflection on Israel’s rebellion →

A marginal evangelist: Mark and the mythological origins of the Gospels

By the beginning of the 2nd century two anonymous Gospels had established themselves throughout the Empire as early authoritative biographies of Jesus: The Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Mark. The task set before the 3rd and 4th generation leaders of the church was thus to determine the origin of these texts—the source of … Continue reading A marginal evangelist: Mark and the mythological origins of the Gospels →

Sons of God at war: Apollonian Christ and Pythian Caesar in Revelation 12

One function of divine sonship in the ancient world was to legitimize the rule of kings, sons of God, by associating them with deities and heroes of old. Such rulers were not merely the most powerful, the most wise, and the most crafty by nature's lot but were invested with such traits by their heavenly … Continue reading Sons of God at war: Apollonian Christ and Pythian Caesar in Revelation 12 →

Last of the disciples: John’s death and the Johannine relocation

The redactional treatment of the Apostles—and of John of Zebedee in particular—within the New Testament corpus offers clues as to the dating of the earliest Christian documents and as to the development of earliest Christian belief. In the first Gospel, the Gospel of Mark, Jesus predicts that the sons of Zebedee, the brothers James and … Continue reading Last of the disciples: John’s death and the Johannine relocation →

Silvanus to the church of the Thessalonians: Salvaging Paul’s eschatological legacy

Paul infamously includes himself among those who would still be alive when the Lord returned from Heaven to judge the idolatrous nations and rescue his churches spread across the empire: "We who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep… Then we who are … Continue reading Silvanus to the church of the Thessalonians: Salvaging Paul’s eschatological legacy →