Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE MISSION OF JESUS §12.6
period are too easily linked into a single trajectory of escalating unrest and violence.
But with the exception of the turmoil after the death of Herod the Great
and the build-up to the first revolt in 66, all we have are a few isolated and idiosyncratic
incidents, whose impact in Galilee during the 20s and early 30s was
probably minimal. For the rest, and during the ministry of Jesus, there is little indication
of escalating unrest — injustice, oppression, and complaint no doubt,
but the impression of a moving escalator of heightening protest again owes more
to a larger generalisation read into the particularities of Jesus' historical situation
with too little care for the particularities themselves. 412
Finally, it is rather surprising that Crossan draws his illustration and documentation
for the sapiential kingdom entirely from diaspora Jewish (Philo, Wisdom
of Solomon) and Greek literature (Sentences of Sextus). 413 Quite how that
demonstrates an option open to Jesus is not clear, especially as the absence of
king/kingdom language in Jewish wisdom is so noticeable. In contrast the theme
is prominent in psalms, prophets, and apocalypses (§ 12.2b). All of which suggests
that Crossan is again extrapolating too quickly from a much wider hypothesis and
pushing unjustifiably hard for a non-apocalyptic sense for 'kingdom' as the context
of meaning which would inform the hearing of Jesus' Galilean audiences.
(2) Wright is the most forthright in his assertion of the need for the quester
to work with a grand narrative. 414 He criticizes his predecessors for 'pseudoatomistic
work on apparently isolated fragments' and argues instead that 'the real
task' is that of 'major hypothesis and serious verification' , 415 'The scholar must
work with a large hypothesis, and must appeal, ultimately, to the large picture of
how everything fits together as the justification for smaller-scale decisions'. 416 In
other words, verification essentially consists in demonstrating how well individual
details fit within the framework of the larger story. The point here is that the
phrase 'kingdom of God' evokes a story which may well be present even when
the phrase is absent, and individual sayings can be made sense of only in relation
to that story. 417 Wright's Jesus and the Victory of God is a massive exposition of
412. See above, §9.8.
413. Historical Jesus 287-91, simply reproduced in Jesus 56-58. The Sentences of
Sextus is 'a collection of Greek wisdom sayings assembled by a Christian redactor probably
near the end of the 2d century CE' (F. Wisse, ABD 5.1146-47).
414. Wright, New Testament and People of God: 'critical realism' as he understands it
'sees knowledge of particulars as taking place within the larger framework of the story or
worldview which forms the basis of the observer's way of being in relation to the world' (37);
'simplicity of outline, elegance in handling the details within it, the inclusion of all the parts of
the story, and the ability of the story to make sense beyond its immediate subject-matter: these
are what counts' (42); see further 98-109.
415. Wright, Jesus 33; see also 51, 87-89, 133.
416. Jesus 79.
417. Jesus 224-25.
472