Empowering the People

In this innovative study, Horsley builds on his earlier works concerning the problematic and misleading categories of "magic" and "miracle" to examine in-depth the meaning and importance of the narratives of healing and exorcism in the Gospels. Incorporating his work on oral performance and turning to important works in medical anthropology, a new image emerges of how these narratives help us re-evaluate Jesus's place in first-century Galilee and Judea. In his exorcisms and healings, Jesus-in-interaction was empowering the villagers in their struggles for renewal of personal and communal dignity in resistance to invasive Roman rule.

Auteur

Richard A. Horsley is Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and the Study of Religion at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, emeritus. His numerous publications include these works from Cascade Books: Jesus and the Politics of Roman Palestine, 2nd ed. (2021), Jesus and Magic (2014), Text and Tradition in Performance and Writing (2013), After Apocalyptic and Wisdom (with Patrick A. Tiller, 2012), Wisdom and Spiritual Transcendence at Corinth (2008), and Empowering the People (forthcoming).