Jesus in an Age of Terror: Scholarly Projects for a New American Century

New Testament and Christian origins scholarship have historically been influenced by their political and social context. ''Jesus in an Age of Terror'' applies the work of critical and media theorists to contemporary Christian origins and New Testament scholarship. Part one examines the influence of the mass media on the writing of contemporary biblical scholars, whose political views - as demonstrated in their ''biblio-blogging'' - are shown to have striking similarity to the media s depiction of the ''war on terror'' and conflict in the Middle East. Part two argues that the Anglo-American cultural mis-representation of Islam as the ''great enemy'' has led New Testament and Christian origins scholarship to collude with intellectual defences of the war in Iraq. Part three examines the influence of the media''s approach to Palestine and Israel on biblical studies, exploring the shift towards widespread support for Israel in contemporary scholarship.

James G. Crossley is Professor of Bible, Culture and Politics in the Department of Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield.