Jesus Was Not an Egalitarian. A Critique of an Anachronistic and Idealist Theory

Abstract

The currently-advanced theory that Jesus was an egalitarian who founded a "community of equals" is devoid of social and political plausibility and, more importantly, of textual and historical evidence. Moreover, it distorts the actual historical and social nature of the nascent Jesus movement and constitutes a graphic example of an "idealist fallacy." The biblical texts to which proponents of the egalitarian theory appeal show Jesus and his followers engaged not in social revolution, democratic institutions, equality, and the eradication of the traditional family, but in establishing a form of community modelled on the family as redefined by Jesus and united by familial values, norms, and modes of conduct.