Jesus in Context : Power, People, & Perfomance

What difference did empire makefor Jesus and his disciples? Whatdifference did empire make for thebroader social currents of which heand they were a part? What socialroles did Jesus perform, what "littletradition" did he embody against the"great tradition" of Roman culture?What difference does it make for ourunderstanding of Jesus if we attendto new kinds of evidence regardingpopular movements, the dynamicsof oral tradition, and reading history"from below"? Richard A. Horsleyaddresses all these questions andsketches a dramatic new picture ofJessus in light of recent approaches.

Richard A. Horsley is Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and the Study of Religion at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He is the author of The Message and the Kingdom (2002 with Neil Asher Siberman), Jesus and the Spiral of Violence (1992), and Jesus and the Empire (2002).