The Bible and Beyond Podcast Episode
Jesus’s Peaceful Resistance to Rome Based on Genesis 1
An Interview with Dr. John Dominic Crossan
Dr. John Dominic Crossan
John Dominic Crossan draws on his own Irish life experiences to create an image of Jesus living in an empire dominating the Jewish world of Jesus. The Roman Empire might have been perceived as “the world of civilization,” accomplishing great power and wealth. But this success came at the expense of its conquered nations. Jesus’s nonviolent opposition to Rome originated in his perception of the Sabbath creation of Genesis 1, in other words, the divine means of distributive justice.
John Dominic Crossan is an Irish-American biblical scholar with two-year post-doctoral diplomas in exegesis from Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute and in archeology from Jerusalem’s École Biblique. He has been a mendicant friar and a catholic priest, a Co-Chair of the Jesus Seminar, and a President of the Society of Biblical Literature. His focus is on the historical Jesus who incarnates nonviolent resistance to the Romanization of his Jewish homeland and future hope of a transformed world and transfigured earth. Crossan’s method is to place biblical texts within their own purpose, time and place, and to hear them accurately for then before accepting or rejecting them for now.
We draw on some of the ideas from his new Render Unto Caesar: The Struggle over Christ and Culture in the New Testament (2022) to gain a broader perspective on the significance of the Jewishness of Jesus.
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This podcast is a part of our series, “The Jewishness of Jesus.” For the series index, click here.
Congratulations, but the problem is whether and where the Mayflower would be allowed to dock today–and how that forecloses our future.
Thank you, Dr. Crossan, for your reply.
I am sure you would not take a comment about Ireland lightly. My family traces its roots back to the Mayflower. With your many years of experience and keen insights, I am wondering what leads you to make such a prophesy and what you see as a possible remedy?
Have a blessed Monday,
RG
Sorry, I did not intend that to be unclear–by “we” i meant “we Americans”
Thank you for this interview.
I appreciate Dr.Crossan’s insight to think of the first section of Genesis as a prologue.
Dr. Crossan, when you say (4:35) that, “2,000 years now, that’s a long span for an empire and I don’t think we are going to make it, for example,” who are you referring to as the “we?” and why?
Thank you for this clarification,
Roy Gessford
Oh my gosh what a thoughtful interview with so many insights! I have a whole new sense of what the Sabbath is all about – as reflecting the nature of a just God with creation’s destiny manifest as distributive justice. It reminds me of the way the story of Israel begins with God’s both promise and directive to Abraham that God will make of him a great nation SO THAT Abraham and the generations that follow will be a blessing, so that ALL the families of the earth will be blessed. How relevant that lens to Israel’s story is today.
John Dominic Crossan has been dear to our Bible study group for several years, since we first watched — and rewatched — and rewatched again his videos The Challenge of Jesus and The Challenge of Paul. This new assessment of Genesis I and its place in the Hebrew Scripture and in human life, along with the evidence of what we collectively have done to the planet, is the jewel on the crown. Thank you so much for inviting him to talk with us!