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This work offers a postcolonial critique of Western Jesus scholarship, focused specifically on discussions about Jesus and ‘the poor’ in British and North American scholarship. While remaining heavily engaged with Western biblical studies, this work challenges fundamental assumptions and projects of Western biblical studies, such as the ‘Quest for the Historical Jesus’, ultimately calling for postcolonial and liberationist readings to be acknowledged in the field as equally valid. This work begins by using standard Western historical-critical methods to examine the extent to which Jesus and the gospel texts may have been shaped by social and economic factors. Focusing on Luke 4:16-30 and the ‘good news to the poor’ that Jesus announces at the Nazareth synagogue, it is argued that Western scholarship has tended to downplay the social and economic dimension of numerous gospel texts and sayings of Jesus. Further, it is argued that a large amount of scholarly work on Luke 4:16-30 downplays social and economic readings in favour of anti-Judaic and missionary focused readings, which ultimately serve to support Western religious imperialism and oppression of marginalised groups. The subjectivity of such readings is highlighted, and it is argued that such readings result from the positionality of the scholars in the US and the UK who, whilst purporting to illuminate history and the nature of the divine, end up producing writings that legitimise Western supremacy and ultimately perpetuate oppression. Themes central to recent postcolonial biblical criticism, such as Jesus’ relationship to Empire, and methods of resistance to structural violence are also explored. It is concluded that, paradoxically, Jesus offered a fierce critique of the rich through ‘positive nonviolence’, utilising the threat of divine punishment in the afterlife to challenge the structural violence of economic inequality; a reading that has hitherto not been allowed to surface due to the firm grasp that Western capitalism has had upon biblical scholarship.

Reading the Fourth Gospel, one is struck by the amount of talk about Jesus. Many of the reports in John describing such talk reflect the social process of gossip in concert with other processes and dynamics involved in constituting social personages in the ancient Mediterranean world. Although there have been a few general treatments of gossip in the New Testament, none have focused on the subject of the gossip in John’s gospel, Jesus, the generative cause of the emergence of gossip traditions. The aim of this research project is to explore how gossip is involved in constituting Jesus as a shamanic figure in the Fourth Gospel. Building on the research of Pieter F. Craffert, and thus beginning with understanding Jesus as a shamanic figure, a viable framework for identifying and explaining features and functions of gossip is constructed after considering sociolinguistic studies and a number of ethnographies of extant traditional cultures of the Mediterranean. The framework is then brought to bear on texts in the Fourth Gospel reporting or describing gossip, in order to see how gossip contributes to constituting Jesus as a shamanic figure. As a result, this research offers a significant contribution to New Testament studies as it 1) represents an exploration and appropriation of gossip that has scarcely been exploited in the field, 2) provides a viable theoretical framework for positioning gossip vis-à-vis other pivotal first-century Mediterranean social values and processes, 3) models a new way to see and understand John’s gospel, and 4) is suggestive of an alternative to the reigning paradigm of conventional historical Jesus research in that it involves linking literary features about oral phenomena in John to a historically plausible figure thoroughly embedded in his social, cultural, and historical world. / New Testament / D.Th. (New Testament)

Reading the Fourth Gospel, one is struck by the amount of talk about Jesus. Many of the reports in John describing such talk reflect the social process of gossip in concert with other processes and dynamics involved in constituting social personages in the ancient Mediterranean world. Although there have been a few general treatments of gossip in the New Testament, none have focused on the subject of the gossip in John’s gospel, Jesus, the generative cause of the emergence of gossip traditions. The aim of this research project is to explore how gossip is involved in constituting Jesus as a shamanic figure in the Fourth Gospel. Building on the research of Pieter F. Craffert, and thus beginning with understanding Jesus as a shamanic figure, a viable framework for identifying and explaining features and functions of gossip is constructed after considering sociolinguistic studies and a number of ethnographies of extant traditional cultures of the Mediterranean. The framework is then brought to bear on texts in the Fourth Gospel reporting or describing gossip, in order to see how gossip contributes to constituting Jesus as a shamanic figure. As a result, this research offers a significant contribution to New Testament studies as it 1) represents an exploration and appropriation of gossip that has scarcely been exploited in the field, 2) provides a viable theoretical framework for positioning gossip vis-à-vis other pivotal first-century Mediterranean social values and processes, 3) models a new way to see and understand John’s gospel, and 4) is suggestive of an alternative to the reigning paradigm of conventional historical Jesus research in that it involves linking literary features about oral phenomena in John to a historically plausible figure thoroughly embedded in his social, cultural, and historical world. / New Testament / D.Th. (New Testament)

The Jesus of history and the Christ of faith are two different figures. Two centuries of search for the historical Jesus has led to greater awareness and better use of New Testament criticism, had salutary effects on proper historical biblical research and the desire to look beyond the paucity of material about Jesus in the canonical gospels. Despite proven difficulties the historical Jesus is an endless enterprise eliciting an equally endless fascination. The solution to the Jesus mystery appears better linked to Paul who has never been subjected to the same degree of historical research as Jesus. The figure, character, preaching, and teaching of Jesus was fashioned by the gospel authors not just to fit in. with the primitive church but to provide a natural linkage with Pauline Christianity. Christian faith is only loosely intertwined with Jesus of Nazareth and has everything to do with the Christ de"-ised by Paul. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Systematic Theology)

The Jesus of history and the Christ of faith are two different figures. Two centuries of search for the historical Jesus has led to greater awareness and better use of New Testament criticism, had salutary effects on proper historical biblical research and the desire to look beyond the paucity of material about Jesus in the canonical gospels. Despite proven difficulties the historical Jesus is an endless enterprise eliciting an equally endless fascination. The solution to the Jesus mystery appears better linked to Paul who has never been subjected to the same degree of historical research as Jesus. The figure, character, preaching, and teaching of Jesus was fashioned by the gospel authors not just to fit in. with the primitive church but to provide a natural linkage with Pauline Christianity. Christian faith is only loosely intertwined with Jesus of Nazareth and has everything to do with the Christ de"-ised by Paul. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Systematic Theology)

This study deals with the character of Jesus in the Gospel of John and follows the social-scientific approach and aims to correct the traditional views regarding the personality of Jesus. The aim is not a personality analysis but to situate Jesus as a typical person who was a part of and functioned in the first Mediterranean world. The pivotal values of the ancient world such as honor/shame; collectivistic/dyadic personality; family and group orientation; kinship; the patronage system with the patron/broker/client relationship and the purity system are applied to reach the aim of my thesis. It is found that Jesus was a collectivistic/dyadic personality. He functioned in this family orientated as well as in a group orientated community and socially structured patronage system as a broker, totally the contrary to contemporary personality drawings of Jesus found in modern literature. / In hierdie studie, wat 'n skripsie van beperkte omvang is, word nie gepoog om 'n persoonlikheidsanalise van Jesus te doen nie. Die studie wil die probleem van die toepassings en interpretasies van Jesus in populere literatuur aanspreek. Jesus word deur moderne mense en teoloe in prentjies en idees van 'n moderne mens met moderne kategoriee, denke en perspektiewe, waardes en oordele beskryf, geteken en geinterpreteer, en dit is nie 'n werklike getroue en realistiese weergawe van Jesus as historiese mens nie. Jesus word in populere literatuur as 'n individualis geteken; sy persoon en emosies word alleenlik in moderne denke en kategoriee geinterpreteer en dit word slegs op grond van moderne individuele ervaring gedoen. Hierdie interpretasies is nie tipies van die kollektiwistiese, groep-georienteerde eerste-eeuse mediterreense persoon nie. Afsydigheid en terughoudendheid (4:9, 10; 13:36-38) is kenmerkend van persone in hierdie samelewing waar warmte in verhoudings ontbreek het (2:16; 9:16)'. Emosies soos 'liefde' wat Jesus toon, is nie 'n emosionele konnotasie wat in die moderne samelewing dui op die gevoelslewe van die mens nie. In hierdie antieke samelewing het 'liefde' gedui op lojaliteit, solidariteit en groepgebondenheid en as Jesus die blinde man sy sig teruggee (9:7), herstel hy nie hier die geneesde man se plek as individu in terme van die moderne samelewing nie, maar hy herstel die sieke in sy regmatige, groep-georienteerde sosiale plek in die antieke samelewing waarin hy - weens sy siekte - as 'buitestaander' geetiketteer is en dus geen deel in die groep gehad het nie. In hierdie antieke eerste-eeuse mediterreense samelewing het ander spilpuntwaardes as in ons moderne samelewing gegeld. In hierdie kollektiwistiese en groepgebonde kultuur het persone gedeel in 'n gemeenskap met die spilpuntwaardes, norme en ingestelde sosiale reels van hierdie spesifieke kultuur en aspekte wat vormend op hulle ingewerk het. Jesus se persoon en optrede moet nagevors word in hierdie sosiale sisteem waar mag deur simbole daargestel is, en waar mense, dinge en gebeure elkeen 'n simboliese werklikheid verteenwoordig het. / New Testament / M. A. (Biblical Studies)

This study deals with the character of Jesus in the Gospel of John and follows the social-scientific approach and aims to correct the traditional views regarding the personality of Jesus. The aim is not a personality analysis but to situate Jesus as a typical person who was a part of and functioned in the first Mediterranean world. The pivotal values of the ancient world such as honor/shame; collectivistic/dyadic personality; family and group orientation; kinship; the patronage system with the patron/broker/client relationship and the purity system are applied to reach the aim of my thesis. It is found that Jesus was a collectivistic/dyadic personality. He functioned in this family orientated as well as in a group orientated community and socially structured patronage system as a broker, totally the contrary to contemporary personality drawings of Jesus found in modern literature. / In hierdie studie, wat 'n skripsie van beperkte omvang is, word nie gepoog om 'n persoonlikheidsanalise van Jesus te doen nie. Die studie wil die probleem van die toepassings en interpretasies van Jesus in populere literatuur aanspreek. Jesus word deur moderne mense en teoloe in prentjies en idees van 'n moderne mens met moderne kategoriee, denke en perspektiewe, waardes en oordele beskryf, geteken en geinterpreteer, en dit is nie 'n werklike getroue en realistiese weergawe van Jesus as historiese mens nie. Jesus word in populere literatuur as 'n individualis geteken; sy persoon en emosies word alleenlik in moderne denke en kategoriee geinterpreteer en dit word slegs op grond van moderne individuele ervaring gedoen. Hierdie interpretasies is nie tipies van die kollektiwistiese, groep-georienteerde eerste-eeuse mediterreense persoon nie. Afsydigheid en terughoudendheid (4:9, 10; 13:36-38) is kenmerkend van persone in hierdie samelewing waar warmte in verhoudings ontbreek het (2:16; 9:16)'. Emosies soos 'liefde' wat Jesus toon, is nie 'n emosionele konnotasie wat in die moderne samelewing dui op die gevoelslewe van die mens nie. In hierdie antieke samelewing het 'liefde' gedui op lojaliteit, solidariteit en groepgebondenheid en as Jesus die blinde man sy sig teruggee (9:7), herstel hy nie hier die geneesde man se plek as individu in terme van die moderne samelewing nie, maar hy herstel die sieke in sy regmatige, groep-georienteerde sosiale plek in die antieke samelewing waarin hy - weens sy siekte - as 'buitestaander' geetiketteer is en dus geen deel in die groep gehad het nie. In hierdie antieke eerste-eeuse mediterreense samelewing het ander spilpuntwaardes as in ons moderne samelewing gegeld. In hierdie kollektiwistiese en groepgebonde kultuur het persone gedeel in 'n gemeenskap met die spilpuntwaardes, norme en ingestelde sosiale reels van hierdie spesifieke kultuur en aspekte wat vormend op hulle ingewerk het. Jesus se persoon en optrede moet nagevors word in hierdie sosiale sisteem waar mag deur simbole daargestel is, en waar mense, dinge en gebeure elkeen 'n simboliese werklikheid verteenwoordig het. / New Testament / M. A. (Biblical Studies)