Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2007
Publication Title
Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus
First Page
81
Last Page
100
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1476869006074937
Abstract
This article examines the social status of the historical Jesus in relation to recent studies that place Jesus into the social category of an illegitimate child. After surveying the evidence with respect to the situation of such individuals in first century Mediterranean and Jewish society, we shall proceed to examine whether Jesus' implied social status (as evidenced by accounts of his adult social interactions) coheres with what one would expect in the case of someone who bore the stigma of that status. Our study suggests that the scandal caused by Jesus' association with the marginalized clearly implies that he did not himself fall into that category.
Rights
Permission to archive was granted by Brill Publishing .
Recommended Citation
James F. McGrath. "Was Jesus illegitimate? The evidence of his social interactions" Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus 5.1 (2007): 81-100.
Included in
Biblical Studies Commons, History of Religions of Eastern Origins Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons