Death of Jesus in Early Christianity, The

The Death of Jesus in Early Christianity. By John T. Carroll and Joel B. Green. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1995, xviii + 318 pp., $24.95.

This volume offers to nonspecialists the fruit of many years of involvement in the SBL's Passion Narrative and Tradition in Early Christianity Group. Its thirteen chapters are divided into parts treating (1) the NT gospels, (2) other early Christian literature, and (3) historical and theological issues.

The first part opens with a chapter in which the authors emphasize that many scholars no longer maintain a "narrow focus" on analyzing individual pieces of tradition for their historical value. Carroll and Green also mention important studies of each gospel's passion narrative and note how discussions of recent decades have integrated a deeper appreciation for the role of the passion narratives within the larger presentation of each evangelist. The remaining chapters of part 1 discuss how each of the evangelists portrays Jesus' death. They consider the structure of the gospels as wholes and elucidate how elements before the passion narratives relate to the days leading up to the crucifixion. These discussions are not only refreshing and effective but also provide good introductions to the distinctive points of each evangelist's narrative.

Two minor criticisms do not take away from the quality of part 1. More discussions of the structure of each individual passion narrative and a comparison of parallel passages (as Raymond Brown offers in The Death of the Messiah, 1994) would have added to the analyses offered here. It is also odd that the authors do not explore, as Paul Danove did with Mark (The End of Mark's Story, 1993), how depictions of the passion also complement postresurrection narratives and vice versa.

Part 2 highlights the various depictions of the crucifixion in Paul, Hebrews, 1 Peter, Revelation and certain extracanonical gospels. A narrative analysis pieces together the "story" reflected in Paul's occasional letters and highlights the importance of the theologica crucis to the apostle. There is an excellent chapter on extracanonical passion narratives by R. E. Van Voorst who supports a growing but contested consensus that these second- and third-century writings reflect ideas of their own period and do not contain independent first-century traditions. Against scholars like Crossan and Koester, he doubts that the Gospel of Peter reflects source material earlier than the canonical gospels. One only wishes Van Voorst had also discussed epistolary writings like 1 Clement and the letters of Ignatius. Unexplained in part 2 is the absence of a discussion of the Johannine epistles (i.e. 1 John 1:7; 3:16; 4:10).

The third and most engaging part of this book addresses the reason for the crucifixion, asks the question of who bears responsibility for the death of Jesus, discusses Jesus' death in light of the OT and impresses the meanings of discipleship and of the atonement. In chap. 9 Carroll and Green challenge the jaundiced view that Jesus was not executed as one who threatened imperial rule since in their view a number of NT texts do portray him as a subversive revolutionary. They argue that Jesus' actions in the temple, claims about his messianic identity and disregard for dietary norms and Sabbath regulations would be perceived as blasphemous by many Jews and politically subversive by leaders from Rome. To answer the question of who was responsible for the death of Jesus (chap. 10), the authors survey anti-Jewish polemics of secondthrough fifth-century Christians and then look at Paul and the NT gospels. They propose that "certain power brokers, both Jewish and Roman," regarded Jesus as a threat and decided to put him to death, and conclude that sweeping indictments by Christians who blame all Jews (ancient and modern) for Jesus' death represent faulty and immoral interpretations of history (pp. 202-204; italics mine).

The explanation given in chap. 9 for the "why" behind Jesus' accusation, arrest and death by crucifixion has merit because it rests upon a careful reading of the gospels within the social, political and religious context of early first-century Palestine. Given the lack of uniformity with which Rome dealt with its provincials (Fergus Millar, The Roman Empire and its Neighbors, 1981, esp. pp. 52-80; Peter Garnsey and Richard Saller, The Roman Empire Economy, Society and Culture, 1987) and the overwhelming indications that Jesus was crucified as a criminal (i.e. Mark 14:58; 15:2 ff.), it is difficult for others to substantiate by way of historical analogy a radically different explanation for the death of Jesus. On the other hand, the assessment of the role of the Roman elite among those who wanted to kill Jesus does not follow from the historical reconstruction provided in "Why Crucifixion?" (chap. 9) but rather seems to stem from the survey of anti-Judaism in early Christianity (chap. 10). The discussion of the identity and motivation of these non-Jewish "power brokers" is vague and unpersuasive.