The Past, Present, and Future of an Insurgent Jesus

Abstract This article looks at the history of the idea of an insurgent, seditious Jesus in light of Fernando Bermejo-Rubio’s They Suffered under Pontius Pilate: Jewish Anti-Roman Resistance and the Crosses at Golgotha (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2023). The focus is on reading the history of scholarship in its cultural and historical contexts, looking at why the insurgent Jesus and its critics came to the fore when they did. The article ends with final reflections on the language and ideas relating to insurgency and resistance in recent years and what impact they may have on historical Jesus studies.