Christian Atheism

The Historical Jesus by John Crossan (find it here) is a remarkably good read and much more academic than many other atheist books on the history of Jesus of Nazareth. The Historical Jesus is an attempt to reconstruct the life of Jesus using all the evidence and all the available tools.

Crossan uses three types of study to reconstruct who Jesus probably was, what he did and what he said. He uses a social anthropological approach, a historical approach and textual research. He uses these approaches to visualize a world and the time in which Jesus lived and narrows the story down to the person himself. The final chapter contains “stratum sources”, being events and sayings which have multiple direct references.

The book starts with a reconstruction of first century Mediterranean life to give the reader a backdrop in which the events around Jesus can be contextually placed. Crossan also details the society and traditions of the Roman Empire, specifically that of slavery. He covers the Cynical movement, a philosophical group advocating withdrawal from the world.

The second part of the book deals with the first century Judea and the Jewish-Roman relationship. The Jewish religious traditions of the time and the emergence of first century prophets are described. The book also refers to the Roman-Jewish war to picture the tense and rebellious nature of the region.

The final part of the book describes the life of Jesus himself by studying relationships and descriptions of the people around him (e.g. John the Baptist). Crossan also draws parallels with the canonical New Testament he even details the accounts of Jesus’ Resurrection.

Crossan concludes that Jesus had:

an ecstatic vision and social program sought to rebuild a society upwards from its grass roots but on principles of religious and economic egalitarianism

Jesus opposed contemporary morality and tried to break down the barriers of power structures in society. As opposed to the Christian account, none of his followers witnessed his death and his burial place is unknown. Crossan explains that many miracle stories surrounding Jesus are reproduced accounts pre-dating Jesus’ life and resurrection.

As expected, The Historical Jesus diverges significantly from the viewpoints of later Church history. It is a valuable book for Christian atheists, as it gives a more detailed description of Jesus as a prophet and a philosopher, rather than the Son of God. The book also manages to discard most of the supernatural aspects of Christianity, leaving behind the moral philosophical and humanist side of Jesus. We can also form a picture of why Jesus’ sayings and morals were so successful compared to other philosophies of the time. If the Bible lays the groundwork for Christian belief, this book can do something similar for Christian atheism.

(find the book here)