Helen Bond meets Gerry Adams and talks about Jesus. Really.

NEW TESTAMENT SCHOLAR HELEN BOND has been hanging out with Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams and talking about Jesus. Really.

Jesus through the Eyes of an Irish Republican

By Helen Bond
Senior Lecturer in New Testament Language,
Literature and Theology
University of Edinburgh
January 2010 (Bible and Interpretation)

Recent historical Jesus study prides itself on the diversity of participants: Jews, Christians, and secularists from a range of (first world) nationalities and backgrounds. But how diverse are we really? Despite apparent variety, we all share the same basic training in biblical languages and historical criticism, the same basic commitment to scholarly enquiry, and, broadly speaking, a similar social status in our respective settings. It was with some curiosity, then, that I travelled to Israel last month to make a TV program on Jesus for UK’s Channel 4 with Gerry Adams, leader of the Irish Sinn Féin party.

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