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Jesus and the Subversive Family

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2009

Ieuan Ellis
Ieuan Ellis
Affiliation:
Department of Theology, The University of Hull, Cottingham Road, HullHU67RX
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Extract

Ernest Renan, in his Vie de Jésus, over a century ago, put out a startling theory that family relationships meant little to Christ. In his pursuit of an absolute form of righteousness and truth, the family with its petty loyalties was a hindrance to Jesus. He rebelled against parental authority, even as a child. As a man, he was harsh to his relatives; nor did they love him. But that left him free to follow his ideal, and create a new unity with his disciples. ‘Jesus, like all men exclusively possessed by one idea, came to think lightly of the ties of blood. The bond of thought is the only one recognized by natures such as his’.

Type
Research Article
Information
Scottish Journal of Theology , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , May 1985 , pp. 173 - 188
Copyright
Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 1985

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References

1 Renan, E., The Life of Jesus, London 1897, pp. 27–28.Google Scholar

2 Strauss, D. F., The Life of Jesus Critically Examined, London 1973, pp. 191–198, 394–396.Google Scholar

3 Mount, F., The Subversive Family, London 1982, p. 3 and pp. 15–28 generally.Google Scholar

4 cf. Farrar, F. W., The Life of Christ, London 1897, pp. 201–202.Google Scholar

5 I am grateful to my colleague, Dr L. L. Grabbe, for drawing my attention to these passages, cf. also Psalm 69.8.

6 cf. Deuteronomy 13.6–11, which emphasises the gravity of idolatry or apostasy by allowing that one can actually kill a close relative (brother, son, daughter, or wife) who tries to entice one to worship other gods.

7 New Testament Studies, vol. XVIII, 1972, pp. 233–235, vol. XXII, 1976, pp. 309–319. Novum Testamenlum, vol. XV, 1973, pp. 81–113, vol. XVI, 1974, pp. 241–258.

8 Macmillan's Magazine, November 1863, p. 195.

9 Maurice, F. D., The Kingdom of Christ, London 1838, vol. III, p. 288Google Scholar, and The Epistles of St. John, London 1867, p. 258.Google Scholar

10 cf. Maurice, F. D., The Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, London 1888, p. 36.Google Scholar

11 The Nag Hammadi Library in English, Leiden 1977, pp. 120, 123, 128–129.Google Scholar

12 James, M. R., The Apocryphal Mew Testament, Oxford 1924, p. 60.Google Scholar