Jesus, People, Pharisees
Exploring the Conflict in Galilee
- Biblical Studies & Commentaries
- Publisher: Fortress Press (Augsburg Fortress)
- Published: 2026
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Publisher's Description
Jesus, People, Pharisees corrects the prevailing, false Christian stereotypes of the Pharisees. It does so by examining the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees in Galilee through the lens of the complex social connections the Pharisees in Galilee had with the political powers in Jerusalem, including the Pharisees there, and how those powers expressed their allegiance to the emperor Tiberius in Rome. As a result, Jesus' contentious relations with the Pharisees are best understood as a conflict over political power, not religious scruples. The Pharisees in Galilee were agents of the temple authorities, who were ultimately concerned about the Roman authorities and therefore attempted to prevent the crowds around Jesus from forming into rebellions, riots, or revolution. Jesus, on the other hand, was forming a network of kingdom followers who were drawn increasingly from the crowds, and the powers in Rome sent the Pharisees, who were popular with the crowds, to calm a potential problem.
Endorsements (3)
“It’s about time the crowds around Jesus received their due! McKnight, prudently paying as much attention to power dynamics as to theological ideas, helps us better to understand “Jesus the troublemaker,” the head of a popular movement who said what people wanted to be said and who did what they wanted to be done. Jesus, People, Pharisees is a much-needed contribution that enlarges our sense of Jesus’s immediate historical environment.”
“It is well known that Christians over the centuries have misrepresented the Pharisees and made them convenient foils for the teaching of Jesus. There remains the constructive task of reinterpreting the Gospels in a more historically responsible manner. In this interesting study, McKnight tries to do just that by reimagining Jesus’s conflict with Pharisees through a social and political lens. With his characteristic wit and exegetical creativity, McKnight’s study is sure to spark conversation among scholars on all sides of the debate.”
“Scot McKnight returns to historical-Jesus studies with a tour de force on Jesus, the Pharisees, and the world of first-century Galilee and Judea. McKnight takes us beyond the stereotypes of the Pharisees as the epitome of religious hypocrites and instead shows us a group of devout Jews committed to God, God’s Torah, and the future of Israel. McKnight’s study is learned and judicious and gives us a close-up shot of Jesus among his contemporaries, followers, supporters, and antagonists.”
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