A Revolutionary Jesus

by Jesse P. Nickel

Publisher:

Fortress Press

, 2024

Overview

This book is about Jesus’s perspective on violence, the ways this is demonstrated in his ministry, and its implications for Jesus’s followers. It begins by examining the nature and role of violence within Second Temple Jewish eschatology. "Eschatological violence"--violence connected in some way with eschatological expectations--was an important factor in the world of Jesus and his contemporaries. Many believed that God’s long-awaited deliverance was contingent on his people’s taking up the sword against their oppressors, thus demonstrating their zealous allegiance to the covenant. In contrast, Jesus articulated and enacted a vision for God’s reign in which violence was completely disassociated both from the means of the kingdom’s inauguration and from the character of those who belonged to it. This was a kingdom defined by peace, whose people would be identified by peacemaking, exemplified by its Lord, whose victory was accomplished in giving his own life. Jesus’s rejection of violence thus grew from the very core of his understanding of his task, his identity, and the character of the kingdom. To be a disciple is to follow Jesus’s teaching and example. Therefore, it is clear that violence should have no place in Christian praxis.

Key Features

• Shows the nature and role of violence within Second Temple Jewish eschatology.
• Examines Jesus articulated and enacted a vision for Goda’s reign.
• Explores the character of the kingdom.

Product Details

• Title: A Revolutionary Jesus
• Author: Jesse P. Nickel
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Print Publication Date: 2024
• Logos Release Date: 2025
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Peace; Peace › Religious aspects--Christianity; Jesus Christ
• ISBNs: 9781506483351, 1506483356
• Resource ID: LLS:RVLTNRYJSS
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-05-30T14:33:46Z

About Jesse P. Nickel

Jesse P. Nickel (PhD, University of St. Andrews) is on the faculty of Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, Canada, where he teaches in the biblical studies program. He is the author of The Things That Make for Peace: Jesus and Eschatological Violence and coeditor of It's About Life: The Formative Power of Scripture.