Jesus against the Scribal Elite: The Origins of the Conflict

How did the controversy between Jesus and the scribal elite begin? We know that it ended on a cross, but what put Jesus on the radar of established religious and political leaders in the first place? Chris Keith argues that, in addition to concerns over what Jesus taught and perhaps even how he taught, a crucial aspect of the rising conflict concerned his very status as a teacher.

Addressing an overlooked aspect in Jesus studies, this fresh and provocative work is the first book-length treatment of the origins of the controversy between Jesus and the scribal authorities. It exposes the broader significance of Keith's highly regarded technical work on the literacy of Jesus.

• Contents
• Introduction: The Teacher from Galilee and the Origins of Controversy
• 1. Teachers in the Time of Jesus: Scribal Literacy and Social Roles
• 2. Jesus as Teacher in the Gospels: Questioning, Rejecting, and Affirming the Nazarene
• 3. Assessing the Texts: Authenticity, Memory, and the Historical Jesus
• 4. Jesus and Scribal Literacy: Possession and Perception
• 5. The Content of the Conflict: Scripture and Authority
• 6. The Emergence of the Conflict: Its Origins and Nature
• Concluding Remarks: The Beginning, the End, and the
• Beginning of the End
• Indexes