Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§9.9 The Historical Context
Jesus' hometown is identified as a village in lower Galilee (Nazareth). 272
And Nazareth itself was probably a small and not very well-to-do village. 273 As a
member of the family of a tekton (Mark 6.3) 274 in a period of relative quiet we
can envisage an upbringing which was not poverty-stricken but familiar with
poverty. 275 The implication of Mark 6.3 is that Jesus was part of a large family
(with four brothers and some sisters). 276
Can we be more specific on Jesus' education? In particular, would he
have been able to read and write? There is a strong presumption of widespread
illiteracy among the lower social groups in the Roman Empire. 277 But as we
272. Mark 1.9; Matt. 21.11; John 1.45-46; Acts 10.38; he was known as 'Jesus the
Nazarene' (Nazarenos), that is, 'Jesus of/from Nazareth' (Mark 1.24/Luke 4.34; Mark 10.47;
14.67; 16.6; Luke 24.19). That Nazöraios was understood as a variant of Nazarenos is clear (Matt.
26.71; Luke 18.37; John 18.5, 7; 19.19; Acts 2.22; 3.6; 4.10; 6.14; 22.8; 24.5; 26.9), despite the
problems of deriving the form from Nazaret(h) (see, e.g., BAGD/BDAG, Nazöraios; H. Kuhli,
'Nazarenos, Nazöraios', EDNT 2.454-56). The suggestion that Nazöraios should be seen as an alternative
form for naziraios (Nazirite) runs counter to the clear memory that Jesus' mission was
not ascetic in character (Mark 2.19 pars.; Matt. 11.18-19/Luke 7.33-34) (pace K. Berger, 'Jesus
alsNasoräer/Nasiräer', NovT3& [1996] 323-35). Stegemann suggests that the Baptist's followers
were called somewhat derisively, 'the Preservers' (nasraya), giving the Greek nazarenoi or
nazöraioi, indicating, therefore, that Jesus came from the circle of the Baptist (Library 219).
273. Reed reckons a population of less than 400 (Archaeology 131-32), even though, unlike
Capernaum, later and modem building largely obscures the site. The absence of paved
streets, public structures and inscriptions, and fine pottery, together with the discovery of few
coins, suggests a poor or at best modest environment. Similarly Crossan and Reed, Excavating
Jesus 31-36.
274. A term defined by Bauer as a 'carpenter, wood-worker, builder' (BAGD, tektön),
'one who constructs, builder, carpenter' (BDAG); see particularly D. E. Oakman, Jesus and the
Economic Questions of His Day (Lewiston: Edwin Meilen, 1986) 176-82; also Meier, Marginal
Jew 1.280-81 ('woodworker'); Gnilka, Jesus of Nazareth 69.
275. See further Meier, Marginal Jew 1.278-85, who also observes that Jesus is never
described as 'poor' (3.620); D. A. Fiensy, 'Jesus' Socioeconomic Background', in
Charlesworth and Johns, eds., Hillel and Jesus 225-55. Contrast Buchanan, who thinks Jesus
came from a wealthy family (Jesus 240); see also chapter 11 n. 62 below.
276. On Jesus' immediate family and the likelihood that Jesus' brothers and sisters were
his true siblings see Meier, Marginal Jew 1.316-32; also 'On Retrojecting Later Questions from
Later Texts: A Reply to Richard Bauckham', CBQ 59 (1997) 511-27. Further background information
in S. Guijarro, 'The Family in First-Century Galilee', in H. Moxnes, ed., Constructing
Early Christian Families (London: Routledge, 1997) 42-65.
277. E.g., both Horsley (in Horsley and Draper, Whoever 125-27) and Kloppenborg
Verbin (Excavating Q 166-68) note recent estimates of less than 10% literacy in the Roman
Empire under the principate, falling to perhaps as low as 3% literacy in Roman Palestine (citing
particularly W. V. Harris, Ancient Literacy [Cambridge: Harvard University, 1989], and
M. Bar-Ilan, 'Illiteracy in the Land of Israel in the First Centuries CE', in S. Fishbane and
S. Schoenfeld, Essays in the Social Scientific Study of Judaism and Jewish Society [Hoboken:
Ktav, 1992] 46-61). See also J. Dewey, 'Textuality in an Oral Culture: A Survey of the Pauline
313