Jesus in an Age of Neoliberalism

"More than a breath of fresh air, this book is a bracing wind. Crossley throws open windows that few of us in biblical studies even knew existed. Having read Crossley, most of us will never be able to see the quest for the historical Jesus in quite the same way again. And that is a very good thing." - Stephen D. Moore, Drew Theological School "Modern biblical scholarship is made possible by assuming that the ancient biblical text is fundamentally shaped by the historical-social world out of which it emerged. In 'Jesus in the Age of Neo-Liberalism', James Crossley demonstrates that current scholarship is shaped by the world of American dominated neo-liberalism and consumer-based postmodernism. He is particularly successful in identifying what topics and mode of writing this discourse allows and, perhaps more importantly, what it excludes." - Shawn J. Kelley, Daemen College, New York "Reader beware! James Crossley is returning biblical scholarship to its roots in socially engaged and historically sophisticated cultural criticism. Here in the tradition of D. F. Strauss and Albert Schweitzer, Crossley's investigation of Jesus always sees double: ancient data haunted by a halo of contemporary ideological desire. Faithful to radical traditions of biblical research and critical theory alike, Crossley on this occasion does not spare the interpretive tendencies of that seemingly most benign and tolerant ideology of openness for our own time, neoliberalism. What is this neoliberal ideology which drives contemporary biblical scholarship to participate in some of the most rapacious and aggressive forms of contemporary global power? Look inside yourself, biblical scholar, it is almost certainly that which is driving your own work! Prepare to be provoked into new modes of thinking about the cultural life of the Bible today, as Crossley is one of the most important contemporary bearers of the radical legacy of biblical scholarship." - Ward Blanton, University of Glasgow "A lively, accessible, and well-informed foray into areas where, some would say, angels might fear to tread." - Church Times "Crossley offers tools that help scholars to become more socially and politically self-reflective and calls for a use of these tools in order to move beyond the tiresome "we all have presuppositions". Such a challenge to biblical scholarship is highly stimulating and warmly welcomed." - The Bible and Critical Theory