Table of Contents
Illustrations ix
Preface xi
1 Revisiting Reimarus 3
Strands of the Previous Discussion 5
The Present Moment in Historical Jesus Scholarship 16
Method in the Quest for Jesus' Political Aims 18
2 Conceptualizing Roman Imperial Patronage Politics 23
First-Century Politics and the Social Sciences 24
The Shape of Agrarian Power 26
The Politics of Peasantry 35
3 Power and Imperium 45
The Political Setting of Roman Palestine 46
Political Characteristics of Galilee under Herod Antipas 49
Jesus of Nazareth, Peasant Artisan in Galilee 67
Jesus as Peasant Theologian and Broker of the Kingdom of God 70
4 The Tables and the Table 79
Patronage Politics and Jesus' Subversive Praxis 82
Mammon and the Tables 84
Passover and the Table 94
Eating with Tax Collectors and "Sinners" 97
Taxes, Debts, and the Prayer of Jesus 99
Crucifixion as a Lestes 102
5 Worldly Power and Cosmic Powers 113
From Agrarian Galilee to Urban Artisans and Freedmen 114
Jesus' Aims and the First Level of Interpretation 119
Jesus' Aims and the Second Level of Interpretation 123
The Depoliticizing of Jesus 125
Jesus Christ, the Broker of Divine Power 127
6 Revising Reimarus 131
Concluding Postscientific Postscript: The "Fifth Force" and Jesus' Politics Today 135
Appendix 1 The Parables Database 139
Appendix 2 Did Jesus Lead a Movement? 143
Appendix 3 The Peasant Artisan Jesus and Israelite Traditions 149
Glossary 155
Bibliography 157
Author Index 177
Ancient Literature Index 181
Subject Index 187
