Podcast: 'Has God given us the freedom to destroy ourselves and our world?' asks John Dominic Crossan

On this week's episode of "The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast," I speak with author and theologian John Dominic Crossan, one of the most widely read Scripture scholars in the world. 

Crossan is an Irish-born Biblical scholar with post-doctoral diplomas in exegesis from Rome's Pontifical Biblical Institute and in archeology from Jerusalem's École Biblique et Archaéologie Française de Jérusalem. He has been a Catholic priest, co-founder of the Jesus Seminar, president of the Society of Biblical Literature, and is professor emeritus of religious studies at DePaul University in Chicago. 

His many books include: God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now; How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian; Resurrecting Easter; Excavating Jesus; The Birth of Christianity; Who Killed Jesus?; The Historical Jesus; The Essential Jesus; Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography; and his memoir, A Long Way from Tipperary.

In our conversation, he tells his fascinating journey to "the historical Jesus," and how this term became "a global movement." 

"I can't not think of Jesus while living in this country and what's happening today," he said. "What is hopeful now for the first time is that we are asking the right question: the historical Jesus is not just for Christians. The story isn't just Jesus against Rome; it's about God's creation against our civilization which is based entirely on violence."

At 92, after a lifetime of writing about the historical Jesus, Crossan wonders about the fate of humanity. 

"Are we a sustainable species?" he asks. "That's the question. Or has God given us the freedom to destroy ourselves and our world?" 

Part 2 will discuss his recently published book with Michael Okinczyc-Cruz — Jesus and Justice: Organizing for God's Reign on Earth Then and Now. 

Listen to the full episode here.