Table Of ContentPreface i
Jesus in an Age of Terror
ii Jesus in an Age of Terror
BibleWorld
Series Editor: Philip R. Davies and James G. Crossley, University of Sheffield
BibleWorld shares the fruits of modern (and postmodern) biblical scholarship not only among
practitioners and students, but also with anyone interested in what academic study of the Bible means
in the twenty-first century. It explores our ever-increasing knowledge and understanding of the social
world that produced the biblical texts, but also analyses aspects of the bible’s role in the history of our
civilization and the many perspectives – not just religious and theological, but also cultural, political
and aesthetic – which drive modern biblical scholarship.
Published:
Sodomy Women Healing/Healing Women: The
A History of a Christian Biblical Myth Genderization of Healing in Early Christianity
Michael Carden Elaine M. Wainwright
Yours Faithfully: Virtual Letters from the Bible Jonah’s World: Social Science and the Reading of
Edited by Philip R. Davies Prophetic Story
Israel’s History and the History of Israel Lowell K. Handy
Mario Liverani Symposia: Dialogues Concerning the History of
Biblical Interpretation
The Apostle Paul and His Letters
Roland Boer
Edwin D. Freed
Sectarianism in Early Judaism
The Origins of the ‘Second’ Temple: Persian
Imperial Policy and the Rebuilding of Jerusalem Edited by David J. Chalcraft
Diana Edelman The Ontology of Space in Biblical Hebrew
Narrative
An Introduction to the Bible (Revised edition)
Luke Gärtner-Brereton
John Rogerson
Mark and its Subalterns : A Hermeneutical
The Morality of Paul’s Converts
Paradigm for a Postcolonial Context
Edwin D. Freed
David Joy
The Mythic Mind: Essays on Cosmology and
Linguistic Dating of Biblical Texts: An
Religion in Ugaritic and Old Testament Literature
Introduction to Approaches and Problems
Nick Wyatt
Ian Young and Robert Rezetko
History, Literature and Theology in the Book of
Redrawing the Boundaries
Chronicles
The Date of Early Christian Literature
Ehud Ben Zvi
J.V.M. Sturdy, edited by Jonathan Knight
Forthcoming:
Sex Working and the Bible On the Origins of Judaism
Avaren Ipsen Philip R. Davies
The Archaeology of Myth: Papers on Old Testament Judaism, Jewish Identities and the Gospel Tradition
Tradition Edited by James G. Crossley
N. Wyatt Jesus Beyond Nationalism: Constructing the
Vive Memor Mortis Historical Jesus in a Period of Cultural
Thomas Bolin Complexity
The Bible Says So!: From Simple Answers to Edited by Ward Blanton, James G. Crossley and
Insightful Understanding Halvor Moxnes
Edwin D. Freed O Mother, Where Art Thou?
The Joy of Kierkegaard : Essays on Kierkegaard as An Irigarayan Reading of the Book of Chronicles
a Biblical Reader Julie Kelso
Hugh Pyper A Compendium of Musical Instruments and
From Babylon to Eternity: The Exile Remembered Instrumental Terminology in the Bible
and Constructed in Text and Tradition Yelena Kolyada
Bob Becking, Alex Cannegieter, Wilfred van der A Social History of the Phoenician City-States in
Poll and Anne-Mareike Wetter the Achaemenid Empire
Charismatic Killers :Reading the Hebrew Bible’s Vadim Jigoulov
Violent Rhetoric in Film
Eric Christianson
Preface iii
JESUS IN AN AGE OF TERROR
Scholarly Projects for a New American Century
James G. Crossley
iv Jesus in an Age of Terror
Published by Equinox Publishing Ltd.
UK: Unit 6, The Village, 101 Amies St., London SW11 2JW
USA: DBBC, 28 Main Street, Oakville, CT 06779
www.equinoxpub.com
First published 2008
© James G. Crossley 2008
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any
information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the
publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13 978 1 84553 429 5 (hardback)
978 1 84553 430 1 (paperback)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Crossley, James G.
Jesus in an age of terror : scholarly projects for a new American
century / James G. Crossley.
p. cm. — (Bibleworld)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-84553-429-5 (hbk) — ISBN 978-1-84553-430-1 (pbk.) 1.
Christianity—Origin. 2. Bible. N.T.—Criticism, interpretation, etc.
I. Title.
BR129.C755 2008
270.072—dc22
2008013493
Typeset by S.J.I. Services, New Delhi
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Lightning Source UK Ltd, Milton Keynes, and
LightningSource Inc., La Vergne, TN
Preface v
For Caroline and…
vi Jesus in an Age of Terror
It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and to expose
lies. This, at least, may seem enough of a truism to pass over without
comment. Not so, however. For the modern intellectual, it is not at all
obvious.
N. Chomsky, “The Responsibility of Intellectuals”
Preface vii
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements x
Preface xiii
PART I
CHRISTIAN ORIGINS AND NEW TESTAMENT STUDIES IN
IDEOLOGICALLY AND HISTORICALLY CONTAMINATED CONTEXTS 1
Chapter 1
Introduction: Reading the History of New Testament and
Christian Origins Scholarship 3
Manufacturing Consent: Christian Origins Scholarship
in Context 3
Confessional Context of Christian Origins Scholarship 9
The Dominance and Influence of Pre-war German
New Testament Scholarship 14
The Cold War 17
Conclusion 19
Chapter 2
The Politics of the Bibliobloggers 20
Iraq, the Middle East, and the “War on Terror” 25
The Myth of Unique Suffering 31
Some of my Best Friends Are… 36
Israel/Palestine 41
Politics and Constructing Biblical Studies 48
Conclusions 51
viii Jesus in an Age of Terror
Appendix: Selected Unedited Excerpts from the Now Defunct
Dr Cathey’s Blog for Purposes of Reference 53
Joseph Cathey, “War on Terror, President Bush, and
World War II” (August 31, 2005) 53
Joseph Cathey, “Guns Not Evil!” (August 30, 2005) 54
Joseph Cathey, “A Civil Service Message for
Preparedness!” (November 4, 2005) 54
Joseph Cathey, “Children and Firearms!”
(November 4, 2005) 54
PART II
NEO-ORIENTALISM: ORIENTALISM, HIDEOUSLY EMBOLDENED 57
Chapter 3
The Context: A Clash of Civilizations? 59
Introduction: Clashing Civilizations, a New Threat, and
Christian Origins 59
The Dominant, Influential and Problematic Ideology of
Clashing Civilizations 67
“War on Terror” and Ignoring the Details I: “The Geraldo
Rivera of the NYT” and the Complexities of Arab,
Muslim and Islamic Violence 77
“War on Terror” and Ignoring the Details II: The
Ideologically Convenient Atheism of Sam Harris 82
Related Scholarship and the Language of Cultural
Difference 90
“If We Step on an Ant While Walking, We Have Not
Purposely Killed It”: Some Gruesome Results of
Stereotyping and Dehumanizing 94
Concluding Remarks 99
Chapter 4
Anglo-American Power and Liberal Scholarship: Scholarly
Reconstructions of the Social World of Christian Origins 101
New Testament Scholarship and the Rhetoric of Grand
Difference 101
Anthropology in the Study of the New Testament and
Christian Origins 110
Are You with Us or against Us? 128
CPornetfaencets iixx
Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Ideological
Significance of Dismissing Dissent without Argument 135
Conclusions 141
PART III
“JEWISHNESS,” JESUS AND CHRISTIAN ORIGINS SINCE 1967 143
Chapter 5
The Context: Judaism and Christianity; Israel and the West 145
“Jesus the Jew” since 1967 145
The Importance of Israel and Support for Israeli State
Policy in Post-1967 Western Politics 147
The Rise of Christian Zionism and their Agenda in
Anglo-American Political Circles 152
Mud Sticks: Higher Education and Discrediting,
Misleading concerning and/or Lying about
Nadia Abu el-Haj 161
Conclusions 172
Chapter 6
Jewish…but Not That Jewish 173
Israel, Biblical Studies and Cultural Context 173
Jesus the Jew…to an Extent 177
Christology and the Study of Christian Origins:
Rescuing Judaism for Jesus 186
An Asymmetrical Special Relationship 189
Conclusions 193
Chapter 7
Conclusion 195
Rip It Up and Start Again: The Intellectual and Moral
Failings of Academics 195
Notes 200
Bibliography 238
Index of References 257
Index of Names 259
