Holy Heretics: Losing Religion and Finding Jesus · The Sophia Society

The Historical Jesus w/John Dominic Crossan

·1 hr 2 min·4 clips

Crossan argues Jesus likely did not go to Jerusalem intending martyrdom.

Gary Allen frames the conversation around the historical Jesus and asks whether Jesus may have gone to Jerusalem knowing martyrdom was a real possibility. The guest does not brush that aside. He treats it as a serious historical line of thought and suggests that a movement leader could imagine giving up his life to give the movement force. The discussion then shifts to ascension. The guest describes ascension as language for someone being taken up to God, whether the imagination comes through Jewish memory or Roman imperial speech. An empty tomb and visions could lead people to say Jesus had been exalted. That would still be a claim about Jesus alone. Resurrection is different. It is a first-century technical term. The guest places it in Pharisaic Judaism rather than in the Roman world and pushes back against modern vague uses of the word. Resurrection is not just a synonym for hope or seasonal renewal. It refers to a future public event. The issue behind it is justice in a world that looks deeply unjust. If God is just, then history cannot end in unresolved damage. The Pharisaic answer is a universal rising from the dead, with everyone who ever lived standing in a great public judgment. That makes resurrection a claim about the whole human family, not a private privilege for one favored figure. The conversation then turns toward Paul and first Corinthians as part of the frame for understanding how early Christians spoke about Jesus and the end of time. Gary keeps the exchange moving with long, open questions, and the guest answers by building the historical and theological background step by step.

As heard by us

Resurrection is treated as a first-century claim about universal justice, not just an individual victory.

The conversation pulls resurrection out of familiar shorthand and back into its first-century setting. It separates ascension from resurrection, then turns to Paul and a Pharisaic idea of end-time justice: not a private victory for one figure, but a public rising and judgment…

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Why you'd press play

You want a historically framed take on resurrection and ascension that keeps them distinct.

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