1. Jesus: Social Reformer How do we study the life of Jesus Christ?
RELS 3300: Early Christianity
Monday, February 6, 2017

2. John D. Crossan’s Ideas About Jesus
Jesus as a social activist and reformer based on a series of actions.
Accuracy and purpose of “miracles”?
Healing the leper
Expelling demons
Raising the dead
Let me tell you a little something about miracles…

3. “The Politic Body”
The human body as a microcosm for the macrocosm of political society.
Healing is not a private, individual interaction, but a public social and political gestures that affirm, negate, or challenge current cultural norms.

4. “To Touch a Leper” Mark 1:40-44
Leprosy now vs. leprosy then- a matter of translation
Social boundaries symbolized by bodily boundaries
Lepers were a social threat because of symbolic contamination rather than medical contagion, infection, etc.
Symbolic death in an honor and shame society

5. Illness vs. Disease
(artistic depiction)
Disease: something physically wrong with the body; “malfunction of biological or psychological processes”
Illness: social experience and perception of the disease; “personal, social, and cultural reactions to the disease”
Curing disease vs. healing an illness, according to Crossan
Jesus did not magically heal the leper, but refused to comply with the social stigmatization of him
Forced social acceptance of the leper or rejection of Jesus himself

6. Why Is This Significant?
Original situation: puts Jesus in direct conflict with status quo+ priestly authority
Transmissional level: adapted to make Jesus legally observant of purity standards- tells leper to submit himself for purification by way of offering at the Temple
Redactional level: go to the Temple, not to comply with standards, but to serve as a confrontational witness for Jesus’s message

7. More social activism as reported by Crossan Jesus in the media
Looking Forward…
More social activism as reported by Crossan
Jesus in the media