A Jewish Mystic

A new article, “‘I Shall be Reckoned with the Gods’: On Redescribing Jesus as a First-Century Jewish Mystic” - just published in the Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus.  

Jesus, the Essenes, and Christians Origins - DSD Review

Cecilia Wassén reviews Jesus, the Essenes, and Christian Origins in Dead Sea Discoveries: “a strong case that Jesus . . . had ‘a relationship’ with Essene ideology and halakhah. The book as a whole provides many insightful analyses of Jesus’s engagement with different groups as well as appropriate analyses of Qumran texts . . . the study makes for a stimulating dialogue partner for historical Jesus scholars.”

Jesus, the Essenes, and Christian Origins - Revue Biblique

Émile Puech reviews Jesus, the Essenes, and Christian Origins in the Revue Biblique: this book gives "a good idea of the contribution of the Dead Sea Scrolls to the study of the Jesus of history and the Gospels." Puech also agrees that a number of Essenes - although not Qumran Essenes - joined the Jesus movement, given the absence of any references to the Essenes in the New Testament or in rabbinic literature, yet their notable influence on the former.

Jesus and the Temple - Horizons review

Yongbom Lee reviews my book, Jesus and the Temple in Horizons (Cambridge UP):

“Overall, this is an insightful and original study about the historical context of Jesus’ death . . . comprehensive and convincing . . . an excellent scholarly work on the historical Jesus and an insightful resource for both undergraduate and graduate courses on the topic.” 

Religion(s) in Crisis - UCLA Lecture

A Zoom lecture for UCLA's Center for the Study of Religion. Here is a brief description. 

Book Review: Reading Mark in Context

My review of Reading Mark in Context has just been published in RBL. Here is an excerpt: 

"The Gospel of Mark simply cannot be read or understood without understanding Second Temple Jewish literature. Yet one gets the sense that while Mark situates Jesus within Judaism, it is a situation filled with tension, as the author seeks to forge a new sense of group identity through the central symbol of “Jesus’” conflicts with(in) Judaism, portraying Jesus in such a way as to construct a kind of “proto-Christian” difference from Judaism which would subsequently be mapped as Christianity’s “difference” from Judaism, and re-inscribed in generation after generation of Christian dissociation from Judaism."

The "Essenes" in ALNTS

Honored to be contributing the "Essenes" entry for the new Dead Sea Scrolls volume in the Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies (ALNTS) series published by Zondervan.