Front cover image for Render to Caesar : Jesus, the early Church, and the Roman superpower

Render to Caesar : Jesus, the early Church, and the Roman superpower

At the end of the 20th century, "postcolonialism" described the effort to understand the experience of those who had lived under colonial rule. This kind of thinking has inevitably brought about a reexamination of the rise of Christianity, which took place under Roman colonial rule. How didRome look from the viewpoint of an ordinary Galilean in the first century of the Christian era? What should this mean for our own understanding of and relationship to Jesus of Nazareth? In the past, Jesus was often "depoliticized," treated as a religious teacher imparting timeless truths for allpeople. Now, however, many scholars see Jesus as a political leader whose goal was independence from Roman rule so that the people could renew their traditional way of life under the rule of God ..
eBook, English, 2005
Oxford University Press, New York, 2005
1 online resource (208 pages)
9780195183344, 9780198040446, 0195183347, 019804044X
191827231
Abbreviations; Prologue; 1. Israel and Empire: From the Egyptians to the Greeks; 2. Israel and Empire: From the Maccabees to the War against Rome; 3. Jesus and Empire: The Teacher and the Man of Deed; Appendix: Jesus, Violence, and Nonviolence; 4. Jesus and Empire: The Crucified; Appendix A: The Gospel Passion Narratives as Historical Sources; Appendix B: Two Jewish Witnesses to the Death of Jesus; Appendix C: Did the Sanhedrin in the Time of Jesus Have Authority to Execute the Death Penalty?; 5. Jesus' Followers and the Roman Empire: Paul 6. Jesus' Followers and the Roman Empire: Luke-Acts, 1 Peter, and Revelation7. Empires Ancient and Modern; 8. Unscientific Postscript; Notes; Index of Holy Scripture; Index of Authors and Sources; Ancient Authors and Sources; A; C; D; E; H; I; J; L; M; O; P; S; T; V; Modern Authors; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; V; W; Y