The Shadow Of The Galilean Summary

Theissen, Gerd. The Shadow of the Galilean: The Quest of the Historical Jesus in Narrative Form. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2007. Print Gerd Theissen is a Professor of New testament at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He has written a good amount of books, The Bible and Contemporary Culture, The Fortress Introduction to the New testament and The Religion of the Earliest Churches. The book, The Shadow of the Galilean is known for its historical fiction about Jesus and Andreas.

In the beginning of The Shadow of the Galilean Andreas, He was a merchant who sold fruit and grain(4) was imprisoned by the Romans because he attended a demonstration against Pilate, but he said he got caught up in the demonstration. Being imprisoned he was forced …show more content…
As they were traveling through the Dead Sea, their were no trees or bushes anywhere(pg 36). They found a man but did not know who he was. When they approached him he tried to run away from them, Baruch didn 't take his food or drinks, but they convinced him to come with them because he was banded from the Essenes and did not want to leave him in the wilderness. Baruch was one of them now and they all left the wilderness to go to Jericho. Andreas reports some of his findings back to Metilius, He told Metilius that they represent no danger to the state(43). The Essenes interpreted their marriages laws very strictly and reject all polygamy. They believe that a man and a wife should not have more then one spouse. They didn 't accept the marriage of Herod Antipas to his sister-in-law(43). Andreas did not write about the hatred they had towards the Romans. When they returned Baruch came into the house and told them that The prophet John was executed by Herod Antipas. Andreas was completely overwhelmed by hearing this. In the crowed where John was executed Andreas made his way to the center, he could hear the young man saying, “Herodias, his new wife, is behind it. She was intent on marrying him, although that goes against all our flaws. For first she had to get divorced from Antipas’s half brother. This …show more content…
He goes straight to Nazareth and meets a couple named Tholomaeus and Susanna whose son had left to follow Jesus. During their talk, they gave him a view of Jesus as one who tore apart their family and took their son. After this the Zealots kidnap Andreas and his slaves and learned about Roman resistance communities. They meet and have a conversation with Matthias because his daughter was sick. They found out about Jesus’ healing and even though it was the Sabbath, Jesus was willing to do it any way. Andreas continues his journey to Tiberias and finds out more about Jesus. Jesus is providing hope for many of the people. Andreas was searching for traces of Jesus through his travels through Galilee but “he found traces of his everywhere:Anecdotes and stories, traditions, and rumors”(124). Andreas saw Jesus as a risk but he didn 't want to report that to Metilius. He wrote a report to him about Jesus being a Philosopher but then he started over and described him as a poet. When Andreas tells Metilus about Jesus as a Philosopher he says that he travels around the country without a fixed abode; Jesus lives without a family, with neither profession nor possessions. He required his disciples to get by without money, without shoes, without a bag for their journeys , and with one coat(125).” He shows that Jesus isn 't a risk by telling Metilius that Jesus teahes that loving God and human beings. He