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The Historical Jesus in Context (2006) is a volume edited by Amy-Jill Levine, Dale C. Allison, and John Dominic Crossan.

Abstract

"The Historical Jesus in Context is a landmark collection that places the gospel narratives in their full literary, social, and archaeological context. More than twenty-five internationally recognized experts offer new translations and descriptions of a broad range of texts that shed new light on the Jesus of history, including pagan prayers and private inscriptions, miracle tales and martyrdoms, parables and fables, divorce decrees and imperial propaganda. The translated materials--from Christian, Coptic, and Jewish as well as Greek, Roman, and Egyptian texts--extend beyond single phrases to encompass the full context, thus allowing readers to locate Jesus in a broader cultural setting than is usually made available. This book demonstrates that only by knowing the world in which Jesus lived and taught can we fully understand him, his message, and the spread of the Gospel. Gathering in one place material that was previously available only in disparate sources, this formidable book provides innovative insight into matters no less grand than first-century Jewish and Gentile life, the composition of the Gospels, and Jesus himself."--Publisher description.

Editions and translations

Published in Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006.

Contents

• Introduction / Amy-Jill Levine
• Archaeological contributions to the study of Jesus and the Gospels / Jonathan L. Reed
• Josephus on John the Baptist and other Jewish prophets of deliverance /Craig A. Evans
• Abba and Father: imperial theology in the contexts of Jesus and the Gospels / Mary Rose D'Angelo
• Miraculous conceptions and births in Mediterranean antiquity / Charles H. Talbert
• First and Second Enoch: a cry against oppression and the promise of deliverance / George W.E. Nickelsburg
• Jesus and the Dead Sea scrolls / Peter W. Flint
• The Chreia / David B. Gowler
• The Galilean charismatic and Rabbinic piety: the holy man in the Talmudic literature / Alan J. Avery-Peck
• Miracle stories: the god Asclepius, the Pythagorean philosophers, and the Roman rulers / Wendy Cotter
• The Mithras liturgy / Marvin Meyer
• Apuleius of Madauros / Ian H. Henderson
• The parable in the Hebrew Bible and Rabbinic literature / Gary G. Porton
• The Aesop tradition / Lawrence M. Wills
• Targum, Jesus, and the Gospels / Bruce Chilton
• The Psalms of Solomon / Joseph L. Trafton
• Moral and ritual purity / Jonathan Klawans
• Gospel and Talmud / Herbert W. Basser
• Philo of Alexandria / Gregory E. Sterling
• The law of Roman divorce in the time of Christ / Thomas A.J. McGinn
• Associations in the ancient world / John S. Kloppenborg
• Anointing traditions / Teresa J. Hornsby
• The Passover Haggadah / Calum Carmichael
• Joseph and Aseneth: food as an identity marker / Randall D. Chesnutt
• The Pliny and Trajan correspondence / Bradley M. Peper and Mark DelCogliano
• Imitations of Greek epic in the Gospels / Dennis R. MacDonald
• Narratives of noble death / Robert Doran
• Isaiah 53:1-12 (Septuagint) / Ben Witherington
• Thallus on the Crucifixion / Dale C. Allison

External links