The life and death of the radical historical Jesus
By: David Burns
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 288
ISBN-13: 9780199929504
Subjects: Rationalistic interpretations; Historicity; Biography
Description: In this cultural and intellectual history, David Burns contends that the influence of biblical criticism in America was more widespread than has been thought. Burns proves this point by uncovering the hidden history of the radical historical Jesus, a construct created and sustained by freethinkers, feminists, socialists, and anarchists during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. The result of this exploration is a new narrative revealing that Cyrenus Ward, Caroline Bartlett, George Herron, Bouck White, and other radical religionists had an impact on the history of religion in America rivaling that of recognized religious intellectuals such as Shailer Mathews, Charles Briggs, Francis Peabody, and Walter Rauschenbusch. The methods utilized by radical religionists were different from those employed by elite liberal divines, however, and part of a larger struggle over the relationship between religion and civilization. There were numerous reasons for this conflict, but Burns argues that the primary cause was that key radical religionists used Ernest Renan's The Life of Jesus to create an imaginative brand of biblical criticism that struck a balance between the demands of reason and the doctrines of religion. And this measured approach allowed Robert Ingersoll, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eugene Debs, and other secular-minded thinkers who sought to purge Christianity of its supernatural dimensions to still find something wonderful in the religious imagination and make common cause with an ancient peasant from Galilee. This provocative blend of reason and religion produced a vibrant countercultural movement that spanned communities, classes, and creeds and makes The Life and Death of the Radical Historical Jesus a book that deserves a wide readership in an era when public intellectuals and politicians on both the left and right draw rigid lines between the secular and the sacred. -- Book Jacket.
Notes: "Introduction: The Human Being from Galilee 1: The Birth of the Radical Historical Jesus 2: The Militant and Lowly Historical Jesus 3: The Radical Historical Jesus in Action 4: The Clash of Christs 5: The Fireman of Terre Haute Epilogue: The Afterlife of the Radical Historical Jesus."

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: the human being from Galilee; title: The birth of the radical historical Jesus; title: The militant and lowly historical Jesus; title: The radical historical Jesus in action; title: The clash of Christs; title: The fireman of Terre Haute; title: Epilogue: the afterlife of the radical historical Jesus.