>
> On Wed, 22 Oct 2003, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
>
> > This seems to be wishful thinking that does not take into account the
> > "Barabas factor." In the biblical mythology, Barabas was a thug whom
> > the throng preferred over the Jesus character when it came to saving
one
> > of them from a death sentence.
>
> Woj, you're citing a religious myth as evidence against poll data? Turn
> in your sociologist membership card. Polls are our religion :o)
>
> Beyond that, it seems that the notion that Jesus was hung between
thieves
> was a myth about a myth according to current scholarly opinion. Peter
J.
> Boyer, in his article, "The Jesus Wars", in the September 15, 2003 New
> Yorker, writes:
>
> URL: http://www.wcnet.org/~bgcc/gibson.htm
>
> Among the many errors that Gibson might have avoided had he followed
> the ecumenist guidelines is his portrayal of the two men who were
> crucified alongside Jesus as criminals. Although the men, described
in
> Matthew and Mark, are identified as "thieves" in the King James
> Version of the Bible, as "robbers" in the International and American
> Standard versions, and as "plunderers" in the original Greek, the
> Bishops Conference prefers that they be identified as "insurgents."
>
> It seems Barabas is now thought of not as a thug, but as a freedom
> fighter.
>
> Michael
========================
"Now Barabbas was a bandit" John 18.40
'Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders who had come for him, "Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit"?' Luke 22:53
For a great, if controversial, use of Eric Hobsbawm's analysis of banditry adapted to the time of Jesus, see:
Bandits, Prophets, and Messiahs: Popular Movements in the Time of Jesus by Richard A. Horsley, John S. Hanson
We won't even go into the political economy of egalitarianism suggested by some members of the Jesus Seminar......
Ian