In Search of Paul : How Jesus' Apostle Opposed Rome's Empire with God's Kingdom

Rating:
Summary: A conjecture, but very well written
Review: Any book by Crossan has its own guaranteed readership, to which I admit I belong. This book, however, is a little different. It is really three books in one:

The first one is a travelogue through the lands where Christianity and its preceding pagan religions originated. Probably written by co-author Reed, it presents interesting glimpses of archaeological sites in Pompeii and Delos, Corinth and Ephesus, to name a few. It details the construction of pagan temples and Jewish synagogues, of the aqueducts and roads that crisscrossed the land. It is also one of the explanations given regarding the reason for writing "yet another book about Paul." We are told that it helps the reader "be there," that it places Paul in context to his time and environment and hence helps the reader understand him better. Frankly I am not much for travelogues, and I just flipped through the pages whenever I got to them.

The second booklet inside the main book, deals with the sociology of the time. The five story apartments where the poor Jews lived in Rome, the villas where the rich people lived, the combination rich house, rental apartments, and shops which would have allowed Paul the craftsman access to rich patrons. The patronage system through which everything got done in those days, moving downwards "from divinity, through royalty, priesthood, aristocracy, and citizens, to the freed, the servile, and the enslaved." This part of the book discusses in detail how Caesar, Augustus, and the other Roman emperors were awarded divinity, and what it meant to the average Roman subject to know that the emperor who governed him was god. And how the Roman government and army had only two purposes: to keep peace and collect taxes. I have to admit that although I was aware that Caesar was apotheosized after his death, I did not appreciate that Augustus and some others were turned into gods while they were still alive, and that the populace believed it. (Try to think of George Bush as a god instead of just a president.)

The third part of this book, and probably the main reason why most people buy it, deals with Paul and his ideas. Here we find Crossan's newest conjecture: Paul was a direct antagonist to the Roman Empire, and this was why he had been prosecuted, not because he had threatened the Hebrew or the nascent Christian system of his day. He justifies this by his definition of two Greek words: kyrios, and parousia. Crossan maintains that when Paul referred to Jesus Christ as kyrios he was directly attacking the Roman emperor, because kyrios meant lord, and only the Roman emperor was lord. So the kyrios Jesus Christ, meant the emperor Jesus Christ, a direct confrontation to the Romans. (One can point out, however, that throughout the Gospel of John the word kyrios has been translated variously as lord, master, sir.) Today, in modern Greek kyrios means sir or boss.

Crossan also defines the word parousia to mean the visit of the emperor to the provinces and cities, and only that. So when Paul talked about Jesus' pending parousia, he was referring to Jesus as an emperor. This nomenclature, kyrios and parousia, thus directly antagonized the Roman authorities and caused them to persecute Paul. It was the Romans, therefore, and not the Jews who were against Paul, and this is the subject of this book. (Crossan does not say why when Paul was arrested in Jerusalem for fomenting trouble, he was escorted out of the city by a force of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred auxiliaries to protect him from the Jews he had antagonized. I suppose, however, that he could always respond that the army was there to make sure Paul's anti-imperial followers would not attempt to free him.)

To summarize, this is an enjoyable book, but I don't buy Crossan's argument that the Roman Empire felt threatened by Paul and persecuted him. I have a feeling that the book was written just in order to write and sell another book, and perhaps to expense the cost of the authors' trips through the area.

(The writer is the author of Christianity Without Fairy Tales: When Science and Religion Merge.)


Rating:
Summary: Great Read
Review: I have heard Crossan lecture, seen him on TV and read two of his books Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, and his memoir, A Long Way from Tipperary. I logged onto Amazon.com in the hopes of getting a copy of his newest book In Search of Paul co-authored with the archaeologist Jonathan Reed and read the review from Publishers Weekly. That review said it was only for scholars so I decided to avoid it, but then I saw Crossan do an absolutely fascinating PowerPoint presentation on "Religion & Empire, Faith & Violence" with a "Case Study on Roman Imperial Theology," at a seminar in Jackson, MS. There were early copies of In Search of Paul for sale at the book-display, and bought it immediately. Most of the others buying the book were not scholars, but lay people, just like me. I am now about half-way through In Search of Paul and find absurd the Publishers Weekly reviewer's judgment that "this book is written for a sophisticated audience, and therefore will be inaccessible to many readers, but it will be a valuable addition to the scholar's library." The book gives a clear and concise picture of Paul in a historical context with added richness displayed in over 30 color pictures and over 130 black & white ones. This book is emphatically not just for scholars, but reaches the general educated audience on a most fascinating and accessible level. And, although I am only at the half-way point, I am finding it a most enjoyable read-and-look book. I think of it as The Da Vinci Code with pictures, but better researched and better written.

Rating:
Summary: My Year's Best Book
Review: I judge the success of a book by the degree it challenges me, and opens up new perspectives, and this is what Cossan has achieved. I had not realised just how immersed Paul was in his Roman time and culture, how subversive he was to it, and how closely allied he was to Jesus' vision of Jewish justice. I feel that I am 'there' in Roman cultural life, and I feel the immediacy of the man, Paul, on the road, in prison and in the awful death. What the book also does is make me ask many more questions such as why was Paul's vision so quickly muted in the post-Pauline and anti-Pauline developments, how much influence has the classical Roman mind had on Augustine and later Roman Catholic moral attitudes. I want to know more. And, significantly, Crossan and Reed clearly indicate Paul's real positive attitude to women and sex, distinguishing it from the slander often attributed to him. Taken seriously this book is a time bomb for Christian denominations, individual Christians, and for me. But who will heed it? Who did heed the historical Paul? Even Luke in 'Acts' sanitised him. I shall read this book again as there is much to enjoy, much to learn.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I started reading Crossan's books because I am interested in the history of Christianity and the history & sociology of the ancient Mediterranean. In earlier works he was careful to stress the distinction between history and apologetics, and though the result was fairly transparently faith-driven with a surface-coating of historical method, that surface-coating was substantial enough to be quite fascinating.

With this book, he's pretty much abandoned the stance of working as a legitimate historian, and what we have is no better than mediocre as a historical work. As evidence for this, take the concluding paragraph of the Preface. Crossan has an imaginary Pilate ask his wife, "Why do these people oppose us? We have brought them law and order. We have brought them peace and prosperity ... We have brought them free trade and international commerce. Why do they hate us?"

Crossan of course knows that the historical Pilate would never pose such questions. "Free trade" indeed!

What we have instead is a long piece of apologetics with some ad hoc historical arguments of varying plausibility for a particular view of Paul, and a lot of heavy handed assertions concerning the relevance of Crossan & Reed's Paul today, based on an assumed, unargued parallel between America and ancient Rome.

Along the way there is a superfluity of first-person stuff which is intended to place the reader in particular locations, and succeeds no better at this than your average piece of uninspired travel writing.

Plus far too much of Crossan preaching. No thanks; I have my own ethics, I don't need yours!


Rating:
Summary: Crossan at his Worst
Review: I was going to write a lenghty review about this book but I think that SLizards review adequately sums up my disappointment.

The archaeology part of the book is interesting--especially in detailing a picture of the "imperial cult". But the exegis on Paul is predjudiced, light-weight and boring.

I would add a couple of points--readers wanting a more scholarly--yet approachable--discourse on Paul with an archaeological bent should check out John McRay's "Paul". McRay is a professor emeritus of New Testament and archaelolgy at Wheaton College. Or chech out Witherington's commentary on "the Acts of the Apostles" with an excellent section on chronological issues and the reliability of Luke's Acts as a historical source.

I was very disapointed that Crossan does not engage any current scholorship on any of the Paul historical questions such as the Northern vs Southern Galatian hypothesis. Instead he makes a simple statement that he assumes the Northern hypothesis because he just doesn't beleive after Paul and Barnabas split up that Paul would go back to the southern churches. That's it.

Likewise with respect to Luke's use as a historical source. He simple asserts its unreliability and then begs off any discussion of historical chronology because of Luke's "unreliability".

The biggest disappointment though, for me, was his treatment of Galatians. Crossan asserts that Romans is much more refined in the treatment of the issue of Jew/prosletyte/Gentile entrance requirements than Galations and is probably because Paul was mad when he wrote Galations and "overreacted". The best writer in my opinion, in this area is Mark Nanos whose "The Mystery of Romans" and "The Irony of Galations" are breathtaking. I would have at least liked Crossan to engage some of these advancements rather than explain away (wrongly and laughably) Paul's two letters by a "Paul was really mad" hypothesis.

The true colors of Crossan show through best, however, when he explains that the reason why Luke stops Acts where he does is that Paul died along with hundreds of others in the retribution by Nero for the famous "fires of Rome" over which Nero punished the Christians. Since Paul was one of hundreds of Christians who disappeared, along with Peter, then, according to Crossan, that "explains" why we don't really know what happened to him. Everyone was too busy looking for their own friends and relatives to worry about Paul's fate. This is almost as good as Crossan's "Jesus was buried in a shallow grave and eaten by dogs" theory that he promotes in his historical Jesus views.

In sum, I agree whole heartedly with the other reviewer that Crossan shows he is a third rate historian. I would add he is the "Michael Moore" of New Testament historical studies--complete with his own agenda.

I Will just have to wait for someone like N.T. Wright to take up these issues to start a round of scholarly discourse with the several very good authors/scholars in this area.

Rating:
Summary: The 'psychodrama of desire' in Jesus and Paul.
Review: IN SEARCH OF PAUL, EXCAVATING JESUS (mirror books) both authored by Crossan and Reed have penetrated the archaeological context of Jesus' and Paul's neighborhood; revising the ethical content of sayings and acts in texts; revealing the subjective openness of Jesus' and Paul's persistent preoccupation with the claim that the Centre of Power (Kingdom of Rome and Jupiter) as identical with the Center of Truth.

What are these books doing today to your hard wire psychological emotional dialectic? Psychologically you emotionally hunger after a good ending to a good story. That is a good ending to a story that gives meaning to what comes beforehand, and change you from the way you are. Crossan and Reed interpretation of new historical evidence (Stones combined with texts) are rewriting a new psychological story and ending of the historical Jesus and Paul. Crossan and Reed are turning the 'literal' theatrical drama of texts on its head by giving voice to the stones. The context of the stones will change the 'psychodrama of desire'(story/ending)content of the texts. Hence, the revolution within these books is they either snap you out of your previous 'literal' psychological fairy tale story/ending about Jesus and Paul or you suppress the evidence and conclude to live in the Kingdom of 'eschatology of the impersonal'.

What do these books do to your conscience? They force you to reevaluate the perennial clash between the Centre of Powers (Kingdom of America, Kingdom of Corporations, Kingdom of Fundamentalism,Kigdom of Infallible Books and Personalities of Religions and so on)that assume that every word they utter are identical with the Centre of Truth.

I surmise the plea of Crossan and Reed is ultimaely to reawaken the reader toward the realization that you have to SEARCH and EXCAVATE your opposition to various empires today with God's Kingdom of nonviolence and justice. Crossan and Reed have invoked the recurrent clash between social exclusion/inclusion. The power of the books is to appeal to you that you have the same 'stones' of multi-kingdoms of violence and injustice all about you today. Their question is: Are you willing to clash with them like Jesus and Paul with an opposing conscience?

These books are not merrely a passive academic exercise. They itch with activism! They contain the dangerous seeds of justice that initiate a nonviolent revolution. These historical Stones and Texts contain 'you' in the continuum of the Jesus/Paul tradition. That is the faith-seed sequence of convenant, nonviolence, love (sharing), justice and peace to be repeated within each generational duty to clash.

Vaclav Havel in his article THE POWER OF THE POWERLESS in the book LIVING THE TRUTH sums up the Crossan and Reed tour de force of the Kingdom of God: "It is a community that is 'a priori' open to anyone, and no one in it is 'a priori' assigned an inferior position." Jesus and Paul invites you to love (share) beyond the limits of your family upbringing.

Crossan and Reed intentionally torment your closed conscience with a fresh, revised (psychodrama of desire) story and ending of self-growth-in-unity within their plausible Jesus and Paul.

I advocate these books because they put forward the DNA (Divine/Natural/Attributes) of your bona fide habitat - Kingdom of God - not as cocoon from reality but as quarrel with it.

Rating:
Summary: Crossan and Paul
Review: This book attempts to understand Paul in his urban milieu using some of the same techniques and approaches that have served Crossan in his analyses of Jesus and the earliest church. The argument is a bit weaker than in Crossan's earlier analyses, possibly because Crossan has a clearer understanding of the organization and social tensions in peasant communities than he and his coauthor, Jonathan Reed, have of late Hellenistic urban communities.