Notes: Chs. 10 of Ehrman’s Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium
Thesis: Jesus’ Other Teachings Are Apocalyptic
1. Keeping the Jewish law by loving God and neighbor as necessary preparation to enter the kingdom
2. “Seek first the Kingdom”: Jesus’ teachings on the supreme value of the kingdom
- Everything else pales in comparison
- All else should be sacrificed to enter it (possessions, standing, job)
- Thus, the present world has no real attractions
- Thus, daily matters in the present world should be a matter of indifference.
3. Jesus’ anti-family teachings are apocalyptic
- Hating father, mother, brothers, and sisters (Lk 14:26)
- Jesus has come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. (Mtt 10:34-39)
- Etc.
4. Jesus’ other ethical teachings are best seen as corollaries of living life in light of entering the kingdom about to come: radicalization of the law:
- Don’t divorce
- Forgiveness
- Don’t judge others
- Love one’s enemies
- Care for the underprivileged and the oppressed
