Word: jewish
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...then there were radical free-lancers like Jesus. Up until 20 years ago, it was left to Jewish analysts to present Jesus' various messages--of inner purity over legal adherence; of baptism; of messianism; of the expectation of God's kingdom on earth--as growing out of various 1st century Jewish beliefs. But lately, says Chilton, more Christian scholars have scuttled the idea that Jesus' Judaism was mere "ethnic happenstance." He argues, "If you were to take the elements of Jesus' position in isolation, each would [recall] the practice of a certain type of Judaism. He is distinctive...
...situations now and then are not analogous. Israel's current Jewish government, unlike the Roman Empire, is not alien to Jerusalem. The Palestinians are not as defenseless as the ancient Jews. And Israeli opposition leader (now Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon's unwelcome stroll last September around the two Islamic shrines that now occupy the Temple platform--a provocation that may have sparked the Holy Land's current strife when Muslims responded by throwing rocks down on Jews at prayer below--has no precise 1st century cognate. Still, the intertwined dynamic of military occupation and religious clash is shockingly familiar...
...thousand years ago, the man in the middle of this potentially deadly tug-of-war was the high priest. The position, ritually paramount at the Temple, had been politically hobbled by Herod. Nonetheless, as head of the Sanhedrin, a Jewish religious and civic body, and a key participant at city council meetings, the officeholder still had great power and responsibility...
...actions of Caiaphas, high priest from A.D. 18 to A.D. 36, are traditionally attributed to rage over Jesus' challenges to his class's power and his personal standing. But historians have begun to argue for a more nuanced appreciation. Caiaphas knew better than anyone that the doomed Jewish revolts inevitably started at the Temple, frequently during Passover, as keyed-up pilgrims celebrated Israel's liberation from an earlier oppressor. He knew Pilate as a ruler, says Richard Horsley of the University of Massachusetts, Boston, who "shot first and asked questions later." Personal pride notwithstanding, the high priest had reason...
...Booke will not simply leave it at that. His joy over the eschatological future does not render him blind to the scandalous present. "We love the Jewish people," he says, then glances at the Muslim gatekeepers and adds, "These are all God's people. When everybody else is afraid, we come to support this land. To support the souvenir sellers. We pray for this land. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem...