Sinners: Jesus and His Earliest Followers

by Greg Carey

How did early Christians remember Jesus--and how did they develop their own "Christian" identities and communities? In this accessible and revelatory book, Greg Carey explores how transgression contributed to early Christian identity in the Gospels, Acts, Letters of Paul, and Revelation. Carey examines Jesus as a friend of sinners, challenger of purity laws, transgressor of conventional masculine values of his time, and convicted seditionist. He looks at early Christian communities as out of step with "respectable" practices of their time. Finally, he provides examples of contemporary Christians whose faith requires them to "do the right thing," even when it means violating current definitions of "respectability."

Genres: Religion, Biblical Studies, History, Theology, Nonfiction, Spirituality

235 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2009

Reviews

[Brent Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short book occupies that comfortable space between theology and historical-critical scholarship on the early Christian movement. Favorite chapters include:
- Jesus Friend of Sinners - arguing that Jesus kept the Mosaic law but violated traditions by reaching out to the marginalized. Author Greg Carey is faithful to current scholarship in maintaining Jesus's religious orthodoxy but culturally progressive practice.
- We Were Deadbeat, me and Paul - approaching Jesus' and Paul's missions in light of masculine expectations of the day, showing how Jesus fulfilled manly expectations in certain ways and violated those norms in other ways - then showing what that said about his mission and ministry.
- The Sinless Jesus? - challenging the requirement that Jesus be without sin - at least in a convention way - that Jesus was engaged and partook of oppressive and sinful systems by the mere fact of his being human.

Each of these points is a relatively new development in Jesus scholarship and of personal significance to my faith. Other chapters are friendly captures of more familiar material. Overall a good book worth having on my shelf!

[Cappy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Accessibility is this book's strength. It's exploration of the dynamic tension between respectability and deviance is something worth considering.

[Baylor University Press]

In lively prose, this book blends today’s cultural idioms with serious biblical scholarship. The result is a provocative read that will surely challenge the many easy assumptions we consumers of American pop culture make about Jesus, Paul, and the early followers of the Christ-movement. Greg Carey is a public theologian of the most serious sort.
—Sze-kar Wan, Professor of New Testament, Southern Methodist University, Perkins School of Theology

A welcome and innovative contribution to New Testament Studies! Greg Carey sets forth an excellent and innovative example of how to read the character of Jesus from a literary, historical, and theological perspective, with an emphasis on ethics of interpretation for the postmodern world. This bold study is not afraid to take on the topic of Jesus and examine Jesus’ responses to those considered “sinners” in the New Testament.
—Francisco Lozada, Jr., Associate Professor of New Testament and Latina/o Church Studies, Brite Divinity School

With wit and passion, Greg Carey draws a vivid portrait of Jesus as a friend of sinners and explicates what that memory meant in early Christian identity. A nuanced reading of the New Testament literature in its social context, Carey’s argument challenges contemporary Christians to reconsider the relationship of the church with sin, shame, respectability and risk.
—Cynthia Briggs Kittredge, Professor of New Testament, The Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest

How did early Christians remember Jesus—and how did they develop their own “Christian” identities and communities? In this accessible and revelatory book, Greg Carey explores how transgression contributed to early Christian identity in the Gospels, Acts, Letters of Paul, and Revelation. Examining Jesus as a friend of sinners, challenger of purity laws, transgressor of conventional masculine values of his time, and convicted seditionist, Carey shows how early Christian communities as out of step with “respectable” practices of their time—and, in conclusion, offers a challenge to contemporary Christians whose faith requires them to do the same.

[Len Knighton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sinners is a provocative look at Jesus and how the early Church remembered him. Carey examines various aspects of Jesus' ministry and his interactions with the poor, the sick and disabled, the "impure", the marginalized. He also looks closely at the conduct of the first Christians in the context of the society in which they lived.
I felt a bit of a lag near the end of the book, but Carey hit a home run with his final chapter. It is a book that will be very much a part of my sermon preparation material.