Jesus, the "Marginal Jew" [is what God vindicated in the Resurrection]

 

Easter as God Vindicating Jesus

I'm writing this during the 2026 Easter season! Let's go beyond a basic "Jesus is risen!" way of understanding Easter. The following is one of my favourite ways to describe Easter: Easter means, the earliest Jesus-followers realized and came to trust that God vindicated Jesus who was nailed on the cross! In what way? By not allowing him to remain dead after the crucifixion but instead raising him to life.

If that is so, the next question then is: What was it precisely that God vindicated? A more complete answer would be: God vindicated Jesus's person, his actions, his message. Here let me emphasize something often overlooked: What God vindicated--according to Christian faith--was a historical person with a ministry and teaching that were located in a definite historical and cultural milieu.

Christianity has that deep link with historical and cultural realities. That's actually the reason why understanding Jesus within his historical and cultural context is CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT!

What follows below is the fruit of my continual efforts to deepen my knowledge about 'that which God vindicated'. Every year during the Lenten-Easter season, I try to learn more about Jesus (since Jesus-studies is, after all, my specialized field). This year (2026), I once again delved into and reviewed a lot of what New Testament scholar John Meier (d. 2022) researched about Jesus. I respect Meier deeply because his analysis of the historical Jesus is one of the most exhaustive and thorough in recent memory although I may not agree with some particular conclusions he draws.

[RESOURCES] In the notes below, I use as a framework Meier's summary of his Jesus scholarship as presented in a 2008 YouTube video. There he asked and tried to respond to the question: “Jesus, the Jew: OK, But What Sort of Jew?” Link HERE  When I make reference to Meier's major opus on the historical Jesus called, A Marginal Jew ( 5 volumes), I will indicate that as MJ, volume number, page.

[Premise] JKK's Approach and Christology| First of all, allow me a comment on how I treat the question of Jesus within historical-critical studies in relation to Christian faith. 
At the beginning of every semester, I always challenge my students (especially those raised as Christians) to take Jesus very seriously as a historical figure, even to the point of forgetting (for a while at least) his divinity. In this I'm inspired by the following insight of South African biblical scholar Albert Nolan who said, "Jesus is an underrated man [human]. When we deprive him of his humanity, we deprive him of his greatness." 

But, yes, I myself identify as a Christian. Because I am also a Christian (and not just a secular scholar of biblical literature), I wrestle with the relation between Jesus as a historical figure and the Christian confession of Jesus's divinity. For you, my students who are Christians, you may rightly wonder: If we are going to treat Jesus just as we would any historical figure, where does that leave the Christian belief that Jesus is also divine?

Taking Incarnation Seriously |  Here's what I can share about that. For many years now, I've considered myself--what I call--a "radical incarnationalist." Recall that "incarnation" is the Christian teaching that God became human in the person of Jesus of Nazareth and embraced everything human in order to save humanity. I take that notion in a radical way. What that means, for me, is: Jesus, as a historical human, should be considered as having no advantages over other humans by virtue of his divinity. It is as if God "erased" his divine memory from his humanity (à la Men in Black "neuralyzer" [memory-eraser] way.) The Christian principle of the incarnation enables Christians to treat Jesus like other humans in history: limited by his historical and cultural milieu.

Let's us also recall that Jesus' divinity is, strictly speaking, a Christian interpretation about who Jesus might have been. It is something that cannot be proven conclusively though. It is a teaching that Christians hold in trust as a good way of explaining who Jesus may have been. 

Back to my position, I understand and apply incarnation in a radical way. As mentioned, I treat Jesus as a human in every way with no advantages over other humans because of--what Christians believe to be--his divine nature coexisting with his humanity in the same person. My interpretation of the incarnation as a Christian is that God made Jesus go through a genuine human experience by subjecting him in everything to the limitations and glories of being human: human knowledge, culture, mentality, bodily functions ... everything! This stance enables me to study Jesus as a historical figure within all the limitations of humanity and of Jesus' particular contexts. 

Of course, radical incarnationalism does not preclude the human  capability of deep insight into spiritual things which--I believe--was present in a heightened level in Jesus, who was--as a human--a spiritual master who let his deep spirituality flow out to change the world. More on that HERE. 

--Jesus, the Marginal Jewish Teacher-Healer--

With that we can go to a serious dive into Jesus as a historical figure, this time mainly through the scholarship of John Meier who called Jesus, "a marginal Jew."

[1] Jesus within the Judaism of His Time and Place

Meier offers a central thesis: Jesus must be understood entirely within the diversity of Second Temple Judaism, never as someone standing outside it.

·       It's not helpful to consider Jesus as a generic religious figure or even "the founder of a new religion" (Christianity) during his lifetime.

·       Rather, he was a first-century Palestinian Jew (one who lived all his life in the land of Israel itself as opposed to a diasporic Jew like Paul).

·       Jesus was crucially formed and shaped by:

o   The Jewish Law (Torah)

o   Jewish eschatological expectations: the common expectation at the time that God was going to intervene directly in the history of Israel to solve its most pressing problems

o   Jewish sectarian diversity: the various influential groups within the Judaism of Jesus' time (late Second Temple Judaism)

o   the impact of Roman imperial rule

👉 Therefore, the correct question is not so much “Was Jesus Jewish?” because that is a plain historical fact, but rather: “What kind of Jew was Jesus within his own historical period and culture?”

Reading the Gospels as a Grown-Up: What I Hope My Students Take Away from this New Testament Course

 

Reflections at the End of the Semester (April 2026)

At the end of every New Testament course I teach, I find myself asking a simple but important question:What do I most want my students to take away from this course? There are many possible answers, but if I had to name one central goal, it would be this:

To learn how to read the New Testament critically, using what I often call the “Three Worlds” approach.

The Three Worlds of the Text

Throughout the course, we worked with a framework that I hope you will carry far beyond this classroom:

1. World #1: The world within the text – reading the New Testament as literature

2. World #2: The world behind the text – exploring the historical circumstances that produced it

3. World #3: The world in front of the text – examining how the text is interpreted and received

This method is not only useful for biblical studies—it can be applied to many areas of life. It teaches us to read a "text" carefully, endeavour to see what has and is going on "behind" that text, and remain aware of how interpretation works. REMEMBER! A "text" in the broadest sense can apply to anything and anyone that has meaning and that can be interpreted! It can refer to a text (in the strict sense) like a book or a "text" (in the broad sense) such as a friend of yours!

Where Our Images of Jesus Come From

Many students enter this course already with a deeply formed image of Jesus and Christianity. For those from Christian backgrounds, that image often comes from the particular Christian church where they were raised, for example, the typical Roman Catholic image of Jesus (for many of us). For others (who were not raised in a church tradition), it comes more indirectly—from Western culture,where Christianity has played a major historical role.

But here is the key insight:

Most of the images we carry of Jesus come from the “world in front of the text.”

These images of Jesus that we have are shaped by:

• Church traditions

• Two thousand years of interpretation

• Cultural influences

In other words, what we “know” about Jesus is already a 2000+year old interpretation of the Christian community (church) and a once-upon-a-time deeply Christian Western society.

Learning to Read More Critically

One of the major goals of this course has been to teach you to engage more deeply with the following two worlds:

• The world within the text (literary analysis-World #1)

• The world behind the text (historical study-World #2)

These are dimensions that are often overlooked in everyday religious settings. In the university classroom, however, we intentionally grapple seriously with those frequently overlooked dimensions. We:

• Study the New Testament as literature

• Investigate the historical processes that produced it

• Develop a critical lens rather than passively receiving interpretations

The Shock of Historical Study

For many students—especially those from Christian backgrounds—this leads to a moment of shock.

Why? Because a common assumption that students bring is that the Gospels and Acts are like video recordings of what happened. That is simply NOT TRUE! By the end of the course, however, it becomes clear:

The gospels (and also Acts) are not video recordings. They are already theological interpretations (written in the 70s to the 90s of the first century CE) of the figure of Yeshua of Nazareth who lived in the 20s. 

Consider this:

• Mark was written roughly 40 years after Jesus

• Matthew and Luke about 50+ years later

• John about 60+ years later

Each Gospel reflects decades of interpretation within early Christian communities. This means:

• The texts are not straightforward historical reports

• They are shaped by theological aims

• They include embellishment, creativity, and interpretation

The Gospels as Creative Theology

The authors of the New Testament were not modern historians or journalists. They were:

• Theologians

• Preachers

• Missionaries

Their goal was not really to report what happened, but to proclaim meaning, to proclaim the good news about Jesus, the Christ (aka, the "Kerygma").

At times, this meant:

• Expanding, reshaping, or embellishing things about Jesus 

• Even including "made-up" stories about Jesus to convey theological truths. If Jesus created parables using the realities/chracters of his world (such as sheep, wayward sons, mustard seeds, lost coins, etc.) to convey important messages about the reign of God, his earliest followers imitated him by creating "parable-like" stories and teachings about Jesus!

• Using Jesus as a focal point to communicate their message

Let me repeat for emphasis: Just as Jesus told parables (not literally true but conveying deep truth), early Christians effectively told “parables about Jesus” (embellished or even "made-up" stories).

The Way Up is Down! Raising the Level of Education by Grounding It in Spirituality

 

(These were the opening remarks that I delivered on the occasion of a workshop jointly organized by Wonkwang University in South Korea and the Society of Buddhist-Christian Studies-SBCS)

Good morning to everyone there in Korea. Good evening to those joining us here in North America. I am Prof. Julius-Kei Kato, president of the Society of Buddhist-Christian Studies (or SBCS) based here in North America.

 It is my great honour to give these opening remarks and welcome everyone to this workshop organized by Wonkwang University with the collaboration of our society for Buddhist-Christian Studies

Today's topic is crucially important and very urgent, especially for us who are involved in various ways in the teaching, research, and learning of religion. It is about the Future of Religious Education, focusing particularly on the pivotal roles of values and spirituality in higher education. We are very blessed to have esteemed panelists who will help us through their reflections and insights on the religious spirit and founding philosophies that have guided higher religious education in the places where we work. 

Personally speaking, throughout my life, I have been privileged to have lived and worked in places and institutions where the founders and their founding spirit and philosophy are given much importance. That continues to be true about my present university of affiliation, King's University College here in London, Canada, where the Catholic intellectual tradition broadly speaking is the clear founding spirit and vision of our university. This is brought to bear on the institution's present-day vision and day-to-day operations. Hence, I am very familiar with this theme and consider it of utmost importance.

When I reflect on the theme of religious spirit and founding philosophy, several concrete images come to mind. The first one is that of a construction site. It is said that when a building is about to be constructed, if you want to know how tall the building will be, look very well at how deep they are digging, in order to lay the foundation of the building. The deeper the foundation is, the taller the building will be. I'd like to highlight two key words from this image: depth and height. These two ideas are deeply linked to our theme today. 

There is another insightful image I'd like to offer at this point. It originally comes from a scholar of world religions I much respect, the late Huston Smith.

I'm sure all of you have seen majestic mountains. I used to live in Japan years ago, a very mountainous
country when I was in my 20s and 30s. I loved going mountain hiking on various occasions. I know that Korea as well has many beautiful mountains. In Canada where I live at present, we have the famous "Canadian Rockies," a mountain chain found mainly in our Western provinces of Alberta and British Columbia and which extends down south into the United States.