How Jesus Liberated the Oppressed

A History of the Jesus Movement

Jonathan Clatworthy

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2026
• Print ISBN:
  9798385293865
  9798385293872
• eBook ISBN:
  9798385293889
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

What did Jesus of Nazareth actually spend his time doing? At a time of widespread starvation he persuaded villagers to make sure everybody got something to eat every day. It worked. Jews called him Messiah and pagans called him divine because so many people were rescued from starvation. Since the movement opposed the way the powerful helped themselves at the expense of the powerless, governments opposed it from the start--and still do. Jonathan Clatworthy traces the story of the Jesus movement from its origin in first-century Galilee, through its growth in the Roman Empire and its continuing influence throughout the Middle Ages, until it was effectively suppressed by modern economic theory. Today, when more and more people are homeless and depend on foodbanks, it is time to look again at what he achieved and how it might be revived.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1. The Background
• 2. How the Movement Began
• 3. How the Movement Brought Healing
• 4. How the Movement Challenged the Ruling Classes
• 5. The Movement’s Early Expansion
• 6. Early Modifications of the Movement
• 7. Divinizing Jesus
• 8. The Continuing Movement in the Middle Ages
• 9. Economic Theory and the Suppression of the Movement
• 10. Some Effects of the Changing Values
• 11. Liberation Today
• Bibliography