4. Jesus as Liberator

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we discuss Jesus as liberator, in particular focusing on (i) the conventional view of Jesus liberating people from sin, and the historicity behind this (ii) Jesus as liberator from evil, and the eschatological significance of both the Gospel accounts of exorcisms, and the presentation of Jesus in Paul’s letter to the Galatians (iii) the view of Jesus as a political liberator, and the question of whether Jesus was principally a revolutionary figure (iv) interpreting Jesus’ message on worldly concerns.

Course

In this course Dr James Carleton Paget (University of Cambridge) examines the identities associated with the person of Jesus. In the first module, we introduce the person of Jesus by providing some historical background, and assessing the nature of the documents containing accounts of Jesus. After that we look at Jesus’ authority, with special reference to precedent and the relationship between Jesus’ identity and his authority. In the third module, we examine the wisdom of Jesus by investigating the substance of his teaching. Then we discuss the idea of Jesus as a liberator - both a political liberator and liberator from evil, before moving on to examine Jesus as the Son of God. Finally, we take a look at Jesus’ uniqueness, in terms of his teaching, the hypostatic union, divine revelation and salvation.

Lecturer

James Carleton Paget is a lecturer in New Testament Studies at the University of Cambridge. His research interests are research interests in Jewish-Christian relations in antiquity, ancient Jewish Christianity, inter-testamental Judaism and the history of ancient biblical interpretation. His publications include Jews, Christians and Jewish Christians in Antiquity (2010) and The Epistle of Barnabas: Outlook and Background (1994)