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Jesus and the Zealots: A Study of the Political Factor in Primitive Christianity (1967) is a book by Samuel G.F. Brandon.

Abstract

"Professor Brandon explores the relationship between Jesus and the whole Jewish cause against Rome, including the Zealot movement. He provides a fundamental reinterpretation of a great part of the four Gospel narratives as these were shaped by political and social forces two generations later."--Publisher description.

"Brandon argues that Jesus shared the political aspirations of the Zealots who wanted to liberate Palestine from the Romans. Jesus wanted to inaugurate the kingdom of God by force. Brandon reinterprets the Zealots in the process, viewing them not as crazed robbers and brigands (the interpretation of Josephus) but as religious liberators in the spirit of the Maccabeans. Setting aside the overly theologized version of Jesus contained in the canonical gospels (the "Pacific Christ"), Brandon claims that Jesus in Roman eyes was a dangerous political dissident. Pilate executed him as a criminal on the charge of sedition. The gospels do their best to conceal these political realities. The messianic cries of the crowds on Palm Sunday, the crucifixion of Jesus as “king of the Jews,” and his placement between two brigands are facts that Brandon utilizes in defense of his thesis, among others. Brandon places the crucifixion of Jesus in the context of first century social and political instability, utilizing Josephus as his primary source. Brandon wrote during a time of intense political activism in the West, and this in part explains much of the early acclaim for Jesus and the Zealots. Brandon’s thesis drew intense criticism, however, particularly from Martin Hengel and Oscar Cullman. A 1984 volume edited by Bammel and Moule, entitled Jesus and the Politics of His Day, also sought to dismantle Brandon’s argument."-- Ronald Ruark, University of Michigan

Editions and translations

Published in Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1967. First American edition published in New York, NY: Scribner, 1967. Reprinted in Manchester: John Rylands Library, 1971. Translated in Paris, France: Flammarion, 1975.

Table of contents

• 1. 'Suffered under Pontius Pilate': the problem of the Roman execution of Jesus
• 2. The Zealots: their origin and ideals
• 3. Israel's Cause against Rome, A.D. 6-73
• 4. The Jewish Christians and the Zealot Ideal
• 5. The Markan Gospel: an Apologia ad Christianos Romanos
• 6. The Concept of the Pacific Christ: its origin and development
• 7. Jesus and the Zealots

Appendix: Josephus on Jesus

External links

• Google Books (excerpts)