Só agora, com muito atraso, consegui ler um pouco sobre o livro de James G. Crossley, do biblioblog Earliest Christian History, Professor de Origens Cristãs e Judaísmo Antigo na Universidade de Sheffield, Reino Unido.
O livro saiu no ano passado e tenta explicar com o uso da análise sócio-histórica as razões do surgimento do cristianismo.
CROSSLEY, J. G. Why Christianity Happened: A Sociohistorical Account of Christian Origins (26-50 CE). Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006, xv + 232 p. ISBN 978-0664230944.
Diz a editora:
Looking beyond theological narratives and offering a sociological, economic, and historical examination of the spread of earliest Christianity, James Crossley presents a thoroughly secular and causal explanation for why the once law-observant movement within Judaism became the beginnings of a new religion. First analyzing the historiography of the New Testament and stressing the problematic omission of a social scientific account, Crossley applies a socioeconomic lens to the rise of the Jesus movement and the centrality of sinners to his mission. Using macrosociological approaches, he explains how Jesus’ Jewish teachings sparked the shift toward a gentile religion and an international monotheistic trend. Finally, using approaches from conversion studies, he provides a sociohistorical explanation for the rise of the Pauline mission.
A obra de Crossley foi amplamente debatida nos biblioblogs (e para além deles!) no começo deste ano, mas é pouco provável que o leitor brasileiro tenha acompanhado muita coisa deste debate.