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Artisan rural working-class Messiah
PAUL SIMON applauds a daring, if sketchy, work that bridges the divide between Marxists and people of faith
CLASS CONFLICT: Herodian massive building schemes at Sepphoris, above, and Tiberias caused widespread economic dislocations and displacements (ethnic cleansing?). Jesus, described as tekton/builder - not a carpenter - might have worked at Sepphoris which was only five kilometers from Nazareth [Oren Rozen/CC]

Jesus: A Life in Class Conflict, 
by James Crossley and Robert J Myles, Zer0 Books, £19.99

JESUS: A Life in Class Conflict provides an important refocusing and reprioritising of earlier Scriptural studies as seen through the lens of historical materialist analysis. 

Although containing little original research, authors James Crossley and Robert J Myles have painstakingly examined many of the mainstream interpretations of the life, teachings and execution of Jesus.

They have found most to be wanting, if not serious distortions predicated upon the writers’ own contemporary class interests, including revered Biblical scholars such as EP Sanders. 

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