John Dominic Crossan's Jesus - A Revolutionary Biography subject of PUMC Book Study

Jan. 19—PLATTSBURGH — "Jesus — A Revolutionary Biography by John Dominic Crossan" is the subject of a Plattsburgh United Methodist Church sponsored Book Study with co-teachers the Rev. Phil Richards and the Rev. Sally White.

Delivered via Zoom, the Book Study will begin on Monday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. or Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 12:15 p.m. Classes are 75 minutes per time slot, and the study will run through March 25.

"I personally, I've always loved John Dominic Crossan and his writing and his books," Richards said.

"They are real challenging books, but at the same time he really focuses on the Jesus of history and what we can know about the historical Jesus. He really tries to reconstruct the historical Jesus, and he has been doing this for years. He's part of the Jesus Seminar, which tries to get back to who was Jesus and who is Jesus as a 1st century person."

Crossan, professor emeritus at DePaul University, is widely regarded as the foremost historical Jesus scholar of our time. He is the author of several bestselling books, including The Historical Jesus, How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian, God and Empire, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, The Greatest Prayer, The Last Week, and The Power of Parable. He lives in Minneola, Florida, according to hapercollins.com

"John Dominic Crossan, widely regarded as the leading authority on the words and life of Jesus, cuts through the minutiae and arcane research of much biblical scholarship to present the best possible historical depiction of Jesus—the man and his message. In elegant prose marked by startling revelations, Crossan presents Jesus as a social revolutionary who preached and practiced a message of radical egalitarianism. The Jesus portrayed by Crossan is a savvy and courageous Jewish Mediterranean peasant who challenged the sacrosanct social rules regarding class, gender, and status. What emerges from this stunning biography is a vision of Jesus as a Jewish Socratic philosopher and political agitator who gave voice to those who had never been heard and love to the most cast-out members of society. He proclaimed—in thought and action -that all may participate in the rule of God."

"It's a Zoom study," Richards said.

"We find that our book studies work best on Zoom so that in the winter months people don't have to come out into the cold. We have a good turnout. What is wonderful is Crossan is going to come on Zoom one evening. The author will be with us during the study on one evening to talk about his book and to talk about Jesus with us.

"His focus is on what actually happened in Galilee and Jerusalem during the 1st century. So, he wants to keep looking back. He tries to use four pieces. One is the Scripture themselves along with the ones that were left out of the Bible so to speak, the Gospel of Thomas and others. He also uses cross-cultural anthropology and then literary textual process. It's re-looking at the Gospels, the four New Testament Gospels, from that perspective, and he tries to reframe and reformulate who Jesus was and is, to reconstruct the historical Jesus as accurately as possible using those pieces."

To register, email Diane Duffy-Patyjewicz (registrar) Luv2garden5@gmail.com or call her at 518-562-8982.

Please let her know which group you will be participating in. (Monday night or Wednesday afternoon). Books can be purchased from your favorite bookseller, but please allow for delayed shipping as well as potential delayed postal delivery.

Email: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com

Twitter@RobinCaudell