Jesusviolence : Racism, Speciesism, and Other Violences in and after the Gospels

What does Jesus say and do within the narrative worlds of the New Testament gospels that, through the ages, enabled innumerable gory horrors and immense systemic violences to be perpetrated with his presumed permission?That is the question driving this book. Its compound title, Jesusviolence, simultaneously denotes: first, the violences inflicted on the gospel Jesuses in their narrative worlds; second, the violences enacted by the gospel Jesuses in their narrative worlds; and third, certain of the violences enacted in Jesus's name in our histories and worlds.The book's investigation of Jesusviolence extends over a spectrum ranging from the spectacularly visible--most notably, the ultraviolent spectacle that was Roman crucifixion--to the systemically invisible, which is to say structural, sanctioned, or sanctified violence, encapsulated in such gospel sayings as "The poor you always have with you" and "Are you [humans] not of more value than [nonhuman animals]?" Entangled with class- an