So Dom Crossan (JC) and Philip Clayton (PC) came together for this conversation I’ve been hoping would happen for a year and a half, and it was everything I wanted. We started with this question about why atheist political philosophers like Badiou and Žižek are turning to Paul because they need someone who has a militancy about being human that can resist civilization’s death-dealing power. Dom and Phil had this beautiful back-and-forth about whether we should start with Cosmology or the Bible – Dom says both, simultaneously, which is a contradiction but he owns it. They talked about civilization as fundamentally violent since Mesopotamia, whether we’re a sustainable species, and what it means that we can finally ask that question seriously. The Kingdom of God language came up as “kin-dom” – returning to our evolutionary origins where we lived in groups of about 200 people, before agriculture trapped us in civilization. Phil made this point about how our brains were formed on the grasslands of Africa for hundreds of thousands of generations, and now we’re living in a hyper-civilized world where the devil looks primitive compared to OpenAI’s $500 billion valuation. The hope is in asking the right questions, in returning to a kin-dom structure, and in Jesus sending out his disciples to do healing, not setting up a healing shop in Nazareth.

UPCOMING ONLINE LENT CLASS: Jesus in Galilee w/ John Dominic Crossan

What can we actually know about Jesus of Nazareth? And, what difference does it make?

For over five decades, Dr. John Dominic Crossanhas been one of the world’s foremost scholars of the historical Jesus—rigorously reconstructing the life, teachings, and world of a first-century Jewish peasant who proclaimed God’s Rule in Roman-occupied Galilee. His work has shaped an entire generation of scholarship and transformed how millions understand the figure at the center of Christian faith.

This Lenten class begins where all of Dom’s work begins: with history. What was actually happening in Galilee in the 20s CE? What did Herod Antipas’ transformation of the “Sea of Galilee” into the commercial “Sea of Tiberias” mean for peasant fishing communities? Why did Jesus emerge from John’s baptism movement proclaiming God’s Rule through parables—and what made that medium so perfectly suited to that message? Only by understanding what Jesus’ parables meant then, can we wrestle with what they might demand of us now.

The class is donation-based, including 0, so join, get info, and join up here.

John Dominic Crossan, professor emeritus at DePaul University, is widely regarded as the foremost historical Jesus scholar of our time. He is the author of several bestselling books, including The Historical Jesus, How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian, God and Empire, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, The Greatest Prayer, The Last Week, and The Power of Parable. He lives in Minneola, Florida.

Previous Podcast Episodes with Dom & Tripp A Tale of Two Gods: Why C.S. Lewis’s Famous Argument Falls Apart * From Iron Swords to Nuclear Bombs: Tracing 3,000 Years of Escalatory Violence * Paul, Christ, & the Mystery of Execution & Resurrection * Paul, Josephus, & the Challenge of Nonviolent Resistance * Paul, Rome, & the Violent Normalcy of Civilization * Paul & the Fictional History of Luke-Acts * Paul & Thecla * Ask JC Anything * Diana Butler Bass & John Dominic Crossan: The Resurrection of Jesus * Brian McLaren & John Dominic Crossan: The Message of Jesus & the Judgement of Civilization * Brian Zahnd & John Dominic Crossan: God, Violence, Empire, & Salvation * Why the Biblical Paul is Awesome * Christian Resurrection & Human Evolution * The Cross & the Crisis of Civilization * The Coming Kingdom & the Risen Christ * The Parables of Jesus & the Parable of God * How to think about Jesus like a Historian * the Last Week of Jesus’ Life * Jesus, Paul, & Bible Questions * Saving the Biblical Christmas Stories * the most important discovery for understanding Jesus * The Bible, Violence, & Our Future * Resurrecting Easter * on the First Christmas * From Jesus’ Parables to Parables of God * Render Unto Caesar * on God & Empire*

As a scholar, Philip Clayton (Ingraham Professor, Claremont School of Theology) works at the intersection of science, philosophy, and theology. As an activist (president of EcoCiv.org, President of IPDC), he works to convene, facilitate, and catalyze multi-sectoral initiatives toward ecological civilization. As a disciple of Jesus, he finds himself energized by the Spirit in the Quaker community.

Previous Podcast Convos w/ Philip Clayton* Celebrating the Life, Legacy, and Thought of Jürgen Moltmann * The Christology Ladder * Christ, Christmas, & the Incarnation * How to Think Theologically * On the Meaning of Life * on the Mindfulness of Nature * The Theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg w/ Philip Clayton * Finding God in Everyone and Everywhere w/ Philip Clayton and Andrew Davis * Can a process theologian be an Evangelical & other questions with Philip Clayton * The #GodDebacle w/ Philip Clayton and LeRon Shults * Philip Clayton on the Shape of Postmodern Theology * Party Time with Philip Clayton for “The Predicament of Belief” * Bootlegged Christianity with Philip Clayton, Jack Caputo, Bill Mallonee, Peter Rollins, & Jay Bakker * Philip Clayton on The Resurrection, Trinity, Eschatology & the Predicament of Belief * Coming to Jesus with Daniel Kirk & Philip Clayton

This podcast is a Homebrewed Christianity production. Follow the Homebrewed Christianity, Theology Nerd Throwdown, & The Rise of Bonhoeffer podcasts for more theological goodness for your earbuds. Join over 75,000others on our Substack – Process This! Get instant access to over 50 classes at www.TheologyClass.com

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