Jesus the Martyr

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how in the time of the Jewish Temple, priests and other political officials were politically and religiously corrupt. In particular, it looks at how Jesus' action against the Temple was an attempt to set himself up as a political and religious martyr and provoke a revolt. Through a literature review, it attempts to understand his reasoning for the attack and debates whether he could have been considered a a political rebel and a danger to Roman supremacy in Judea at that time.

From the Paper:

"Other references to Jesus as a political rebel are seen in his discipleship, which included Zealots. The Zealots were a politico-religious faction that advocated the use of violence against the enemies of Judaism. The reference to Simon the Zealot is unmistakable. However, there are also other possible Zealots in the twelve Peter, James, John and Judas. Peter who originally known as "Bar-jona" which is Aramaic for "empty ones", people that were later condemned to death in the Talmud Gittin for sedition in 56AD ; both James and John are known as "benei ra'ash" (sons of thunder) ; and Iscariot is a possible corruption of the Latin "sicarius" (knife) ; all of which are common references to Zealots. If Jesus were in fact pacifist it seems unlikely that he should chose such followers."

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