Jesus: A Life in Class Conflict

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Bringing a wealth of knowledge on the social, economic, and cultural conflicts of the time, Crossley and Myles uncover the emergence of a fervent and deadly serious religious organizer. Tensions flared up considerably when the movement marched on Jerusalem, and Jesus was willingly martyred for the cause. Most sciences aim to establish general laws, but the science of history accepts that historical events are unique.

If you enjoy reading People’s World and the stories we bring you, support our work by donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today. There needs to be more study, not of history as a science, but of the genres of historical writing and their way of asserting the truth, or, rather what truth they mean to assert. For many young men of the time, there were only two realistic responses: banditry or hitching themselves to a prophetic itinerant movement. It is often the message rather than the details of the story which is important and, therefore, inspired. To my knowledge, this book will be the first major contemporary biography on Jesus from a historical materialist perspective and written by respected experts in the field.

The popular appeal of the movement was due in part to a desire to represent the values of ordinary rural workers. Being born and raised in this artisan rural working stratum, Jesus and his immediate family would have felt the full force of the economic dislocations and displacements caused by the massive Herodian building schemes at Sepphoris and Tiberias. In so doing, the authors speedily debunk the “Great Man” myth and demonstrate the large number of similar grouplets in a Palestine that was being convulsed by serious dislocations. From the outset, this book seeks to place the “Jesus Movement” within its wider economic and social context. This thrilling historical materialist take on the historical Jesus situates the life of Jesus of Nazareth in the turbulent troubles of first-century Palestine.

We are trusting God’s plans for St John’s and excited to discover how he might be looking to use us for His Kingdom in our community. Some readers may be irritated by the retro-fitting of 19th and 20th century language to a first century setting (the Twelve Disciples are referred to as the Jesus Movement’s “Politburo,” and the desired millenarian outcome as a “Dictatorship of the Peasantry,” for instance). I can think of no better introduction to the historical Jesus for the general reader, no clearer statement on the legacy of the Jesus movement in the sweep of subsequent history, or a more worthy challenge to contemporary scholarship on Jesus and the rise of Christianity.Crossley and Myles locate Jesus’s class position as that of a tektōn, an ancient Greek noun meaning craftsman or carpenter.