Dr James Crossley
James Crossley joined the department in 2005. He did his undergraduate and postgraduate work at the University of Nottingham. His PhD was on the date of Mark´s gospel and the role of the Law in the teaching of Jesus and early Christianity. This thesis became his first monograph, The Date of Mark´s Gospel: Insight from the Law in Earliest Christianity (2004). He has also published related articles on the Semitic background to the gospel tradition.
One of his major research interests has been historiography and historical methodology. He has co-edited (with sociologist C. Karner) an interdisciplinary book on historiography and the study of religion, Writing History, Constructing Religion (2005). Applying socio-historical methodologies, he has also written a monograph entitled Why Christianity Happened: A Sociohistorical Account of Christian Origins 26-50CE. This book focuses mainly on the question of why the Jesus movement would become a gentile religion, with particular reference to issues of Law observance, by looking at urbanisation in Galilee and social unrest, the role and identification of the gospel `sinners´, the use of earliest gospel legal traditions in different ethnic settings, the emergence of `pagan monotheism´, social networks, and shifting observance levels of the earliest converts.
His more recent recent interests concern the ideological location of New Testament scholarship. Developing the work of Edward Herman, Noam Chomsky, Edward Said and others, he has looked at the ways in which scholars can function as `experts in legitimation´ and how debates in New Testament scholarship are framed by dominant interest groups. This has also included analysis of the ways in which the Cold War, the Middle East in Anglo-American foreign policy, and the `war on terror´ have had an impact on New Testament scholarship. His monograph on these issues is Jesus in an Age of Terror: Scholarly Projects for a New American Century (2008). His current research plans involve reception history and the role of the Bible in popular culture, from pop music to party politics.
James Crossley is also co-editor of the Bible World series for Equinox, co-editor of the Social World of Biblical Antiquity series for Sheffield Phoenix Press, a member of the editorial board for the Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus, co-chair of the Jesus seminar for the British New Testament Conference, and a member of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (SNTS).
In order to view his research interests and a list of suggested topics for research opportunities click on the link for `Research Interests´ on the righthand side of the page.
email : james.crossley@sheffield.ac.uk
|
|
