Preface 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