Jesus: A Profile

Watson, Alan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 082034155X ISBN 13: 9780820341552

Publisher: University of Georgia Press, 2012

Alan Watson argues that a close examination of the Gospels in their historic and religious context reveals St. Mark's text as the most plausible account of how Jesus saw himself and how he was perceived by his contemporaries. In the gospel of Mark, Watson says that we see a Jesus who felt he was beyond the law-a man who was basically apolitical, hostile to dogma, and deliberately incomprehensible to his followers and enemies. Watson concludes that Jesus was essentially a cult leader-a charismatic individual who demanded personal faith from his followers with little regard to consistency or content of his message. Jesus: A Profile joins three other works by Watson-The Trial of Jesus, Jesus and the Law, and Jesus and the Jews-to examine the early dynamism of western religion through refocused attention on biblical texts and other historical sources.

About the Author:

ALAN WATSON, Distinguished Research Professor and Ernest P. Rogers Chair at the University of Georgia School of Law, is regarded as one of the world's foremost authorities on Roman law, comparative law, legal history, and law and religion. He is the author of numerous books, including The State, Law, and Religion: Pagan Rome (Georgia) and Roman Law and Comparative Law (Georgia). He is also the editor of the four-volume translation of the Digest of Justinian.