Vanderbilt University Register: Biblical scholar presents Jesus Christ as peasant resister to imperial aggression

Crossan

Provocative biblical scholar John Dominic Crossan will present ideas challenging traditional understandings of miracles, Jesus' birth and the resurrection in a lecture titled "Virgin Birth or Bastard Child?" Monday, March 18, at 7 p.m. in Benton Chapel.

Crossan brings a unique perspective to religious debate. He maintains that Christianity began and should remain a "movement of revolt against economic oppression and a struggle for the God of justice."

"The last chapters of the Gospels and the first chapters of Acts taken literally, factually and historically trivialize Christianity and brutalize Judaism," according to Crossan, "Christianity often asserts that its faith is based on fact not interpretation, history not myth, actual event not supreme fiction. I find that assertion internally corrosive and externally offensive. And because I am myself a Christian, I have a responsibility to do something about it."

Crossan, professor emeritus of religious studies at DePaul University, is a former Servite monk and Roman Catholic priest with more than a dozen books on the historical Jesus to his credit including three national bestsellers: The Historical Jesus; Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography and Who Killed Jesus?

Sponsored by the Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender and Sexuality, the event is free and open to the public. Free parking is available on levels 4-5 of the Wesley Place Garage, 21st Avenue and Scarritt Place. A reception and book signing will follow in Tillett Lounge at the Divinity School.

For more information, contact the Carpenter Program at 343-3974.