Review of James G. Crossley,Jesus in an Age of Terror: Scholarly Projects for a New American Century

Abstract

Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor's New Clothes is frequently employed as a metaphor for any situation in which a young maverick reveals a major failing of the established order about which others have been inexcusably blind. In Jesus in an Age of Terror: Scholarly Projects for a New American Century, James G. Crossley dramatically exposes the pervasive Orientalism which continues to be proudly paraded in many quarters of New Testament scholarship, and which since 11 September 2001 has become, in Derek Gregory’s words, ‘hideously emboldened’. The book is divided into three main parts, each demonstrating how certain trends within biblical studies emerged at the same time as similar socio-political trends in the broader world. As Crossley also shows, these trends in biblical studies have in turn tended to reinforce AngloAmerican power and hegemony. Crossley’s concerns are not merely theoretical but also, as he is careful to emphasise, entail some deadly consequences. Instead of providing a radical countervoice to state propaganda and oppression, time and again scholarship has not only accepted stereotypes of Islam and Arabs, but has provided an ‘intellectual’ rationale with which to buttress it. As one particularly powerful example, Crossley discusses the American soldiers who raped and tortured Iraqis at Abu Ghraib – who were following procedures based in part on theoretical generalisations about ‘the Arab’ made by Raphael Patai in The Arab Mind (in particular, sexual and shaming stereotypes), and which happen to be the same stark generalisations quoted with favour by biblical scholars who are members of the Context Group. For Crossley, such scholarly complicity is diametrically opposed to the proper role of the intellectual, who should continually and severely question authoritatively received positions and problematise popular prejudices. In Part One, Crossley provides a historical survey of the ways New Testament scholarship has ‘been influenced by its political and social settings’ over the last century or so (p. xiii). He brings this survey up to date by closely examining contemporary biblical studies blogs, or ‘biblioblogs’. Unlike academic books and articles, biblical scholars frequently voice their personal and BOOK REVIEWS