On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with my friend author and theologian John Dominic Crossan, perhaps the most widely read scripture scholar in the world. This is the first of two episodes with Dom.

John Dominic Crossan is an Irish-born biblical scholar with post-doctoral diplomas in exegesis from Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute and in archeology from Jerusalem’s École Biblique. He has been a Catholic priest, a Co-Chair of the Jesus Seminar, and a President of the Society of Biblical Literature, and is professor emeritus of religious studies at DePaul university in Chicago.

His many books include:

*God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome;

*How to read the Bible and Still Be a Christian;

*Resurrecting Easter;

*Excavating Jesus; The Birth of Christianity;

*Who Killed Jesus?

* The Historical Jesus

*The Essential Jesus

Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography

A Memoir: A Long Way from Tipperary.

In our conversation, he tells his fascinating journey to “the historical Jesus,” and how this became a global movement.

“I can't not think of Jesus while living in this country and what's happening today,” he says.

“What is hopeful now for the first time is that we are asking the right question: the historical Jesus is not just for Christians. The story isn’t just Jesus against Rome; it’s about God's creation against our civilization which is based entirely on violence.”

At 92, after a lifetime of writing about the historical Jesus, he wonders about the fate of humanity. “Are we a sustainable species?” he asks. “That's the question. Or has God given us the freedom to destroy ourselves and our world?”

Part Two will discuss his next book with Michael Okinczyc-Cruz, Jesus and Justice: Organizing for God’s Reign on Earth Then and Now.

For more interactive Zoom teachings and podcast episodes: beatitudescentrum.org

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🌻, John