What difference did empire make for Jesus and his disciples? What difference did empire make for the broader social currents of which he and they were a part? What social roles did Jesus perform, what "little tradition" did he embody against the "great tradition" of Roman culture? What difference does it make for our understanding of Jesus if we attend to new kinds of evidence regarding popular movements, the dynamics
of oral tradition, and reading history"from below"?
Richard A. Horsley addresses all these questions and sketches a dramatic new picture of Jesus in light of recent approaches....