The Shadow of the Galilean

Gerd Theissen is the author of The Shadow of the Galilean. He is also a character in the book, writing letters to the fictional Dr. Kratzinger in each chapter. Kratzinger offers unseen criticism and feedback to Theissen’s manuscript, to which Theissen replies. The inclusion of these letters contributes to the theme of Historiography and the Ethics of Narrative. Theissen is engaging in historiography as he writes about Jesus and employs intertextuality to back up his claims. 

The real Gerd Theissen is a German Protestant theologian. He teaches New Testament Theology at the University of Heidelberg. Theissen has written dozens of titles discussing Christian theology and is credited with being an early pioneer in applying the school of sociology to the study of the New Testament and the rise of early Christianity in the context of early first-century Palestine.

Pontius Pilate was a real Roman governor of Judaea in the first century CE. The historian Josephus mentions that his rule was a time of heightened tension between Romans and Jewish people. The gospel of Luke and the philosopher Philo of Alexandria both verify Josephus’s claims and depict incidents where Pilate offended his Jewish subjects. Theissen makes reference to several of these incidents in this book. Pilate has a hard time navigating the Political and Religious Upheaval in Judaea, so he convinces Andreas to inform for him. When Jesus, Barabbas, and two other Zealots are attested, Pilate is inspired by Andreas’s plea for amnesty for all of them and gives the people a choice: They may free either Barabbas or Jesus. Theissen places the blame for Jesus’s death on Pontius Pilate.

Metilius is a Roman official. He is more interested in understanding Jewish people than Pilate, and he and Andreas have philosophical debates about religion and philosophy. Through these debates, Theissen is able to tease apart the religious discussions that may have been happening at the time. Andreas wishes that “all Romans were like Metilius” and recognizes that, like himself, Metilius seems to be “in no man’s land” (152). Following Jesus’s crucifixion, Andreas sees Metilius at a synagogue service. Metilius explains that he is attracted by some of the ideas of Judaism. He knows he cannot convert and remain a Roman soldier, but he vows to “visit [the] synagogues now and then and just take… what makes sense to [him]” like “belief in the one God” (166). He and Andreas have a conversation about God and creation that implies that Metilius is on a path to becoming a Christian.

Jesus is an elusive figure in The Shadow of the Galilean. Andreas never meets him in person but spends much of the book hearing about him. Jesus and his followers are thought to pose a direct threat to Rome and to Antipas because of the current Political and Religious Upheaval in the region. Jesus’s radical nonviolent rebellion is contrasted with the Zealots’ militant approach. Jesus is a follower of John the Baptist, who has openly criticized Antipas’s marriage to Herodias. Andreas meets many people who are attracted to Jesus’s message, especially his preaching about peace and liberation for the poor. Others criticize Jesus for having ideas that arouse “unrealistic hopes that everything would change if the rich were deprived of their riches and the powerful stripped of their power” (75). Andreas is attracted by Jesus’s message of change and tries to persuade Pilate that he is a harmless poet and philosopher. Jesus is eventually arrested and crucified.

John the Baptist is connected to Jesus. He is a wise man who lives and works in the wilderness. He is a prophet who teaches that baptism is a way to purify the body of sin. Herod Antipas imprisons John the Baptist and eventually has him executed. Several characters are conflicted about John the Baptist; Chuza concedes that some of his ideas are attractive, despite their religious differences, but he also acknowledges that he opposed Antipas and therefore had to be executed. Andreas learns that Jesus was one of John the Baptist’s disciples. John the Baptist is an important figure in Christianity and is widely believed to have baptized Jesus.

The Zealots play a big role in the Political and Religious Upheaval of the time. They are a fourth sect of Judaism, along with the Pharisees, Essenes, and Sadducees. They have previously led an uprising against the Romans; Romans like Pilate and Metilius refer to them as “terrorists.” Although the term “terrorist” is anachronistic, it conveys the attitude of the Romans toward rebellion. Andreas hears that one of Jesus’s followers, Simon, used to be a Zealot. 

Barabbas, a Zealot, assures Andreas that “Jesus is crazy”; he has “never met anyone who has such mad ideas” (87). His ideas are fundamentally different from the Zealots’. Andreas has previously met Barabbas during his time in the wilderness learning from Bannus, the ascetic. Andreas looks up to Bannus as a wise teacher but knows that his ideas are radical. Andreas met Barabbas during his time with Bannus. While Andreas experienced his time in the desert as an opportunity to reflect, Barabbas experienced it as a political awakening. Andreas is attracted to Barabbas’s confidence, but he worries that the Zealots’ desire to bring about a new world by force is dangerous and unrealistic. Barabbas is arrested but spared from execution when Jesus dies. The New Testament gospels all mention Barabbas and his release, but he is otherwise not mentioned in the Bible. The name Barabbas may come from Aramaic, meaning “son of the father” or “son of the teacher,” which is ironic given that Jesus was thought to be the son of God the father. Some people believe that this coincidence implies that Barabbas was not a real person; this remains open to debate. In a letter to Andreas, Barabbas reveals that he is grateful to Jesus for his life, but he still believes in the importance of the Zealots, at least as an alternative to Jesus’s ideas.