1st Edition

Jesus in an Age of Neoliberalism Quests, Scholarship and Ideology

By James G. Crossley Copyright 2012
    264 Pages
    by Routledge

    264 Pages
    by Routledge

    'Jesus in an Age of Neoliberalism' analyses the ideology underpinning contemporary scholarly and popular quests for the historical Jesus. Focusing on cultural and political issues, the book examines postmodernism, multiculturalism and the liberal masking of power. The study ranges across diverse topics: the dubious periodisation of the quest for the historical Jesus; 'biblioblogging'; Jesus the 'Great Man' and western individualism; image-conscious Jesus scholarship; the 'Jewishness' of Jesus and the multicultural Other; evangelical and 'mythical' Jesuses; and the contradictions between personal beliefs and dominant ideological trends in the construction of historical Jesuses. 'Jesus in an Age of Neoliberalism' offers readers a radical revisioning of contemporary biblical studies.

    Preface 1. Introduction: Jesus Quests and Contexts Part I From Mont Pelerin to Eternity? Contextualising an Age of Neoliberalism 2. Neoliberalism and Postmodernity 3. Biblioblogging: Connected Scholarship 4. "Not Made by Great Men"? The Quest for the Individual Christ 5. "Never Trust a Hippy": Finding a Liberal Jesus Where You Might Not Think Part II Jesus in an Age of Neoliberalism 6. A "fundamentally unreliable adoration": "Jewishness" and the Multicultural Jesus 7. The Jesus Who Wasn't There? Conservative Christianity, Atheism and Other Religious Influences Part III Contradictions 8. "Forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing!" Other Problems, Extremes and the Social World of Jesus 9. Red Tory Christ 10. Conclusion

    Biography

    James G. Crossley is Professor of Bible, Culture and Politics in the Department of Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield.