As he had promised at the Context Group Meeting in Portand (March, 2008), Douglas Oakman sent me a copy of his latest book, “Jesus and the Peasants” (Cascade Books, 2008).  It is published in the same series my book was published: Matrix: The Bible in Mediterrannean Context).

Containing both previously published and new articles, the outline of the book is as follows:

Part 1: Political Economy and the Peasant Values of Jesus
1. Jesus and Agrarian Palestine: The Factor of Debt
2. Jesus and the Problem of Debt in Ancient Palestine
3. The Buying Power of Two Denarii (Luke 10:35)
4. How Large Is a “Great Crowd”? (Mark 6:34)
5. The Ancient Economy
6. The Ancient Economy and St. Johns Apocalypse
7. Money in the Moral Universe of the New Testament
8. The Economics of Palestine

Part 2: The Jesus Traditions within Peasant Realities
9. Social Meaning and Rural Context: The Mustard Seed Parable of Jesus
10. Rulers’ Houses, Thieves, and Usurpers: The Beelzebul Pericope
11. “All the Surrounding Country”: The Countryside in Luke-Acts
12. Was Jesus a Peasant? (Luke 10:30-35)
13. Cursing Fig Trees and Robbers’ Dens (Mark 11:12-25)
14. The Lord’s Prayer in Social Perspective

Part 3: The Peasant Aims of Jesus
15. Models and Archaeology in the Social Interpretation of Jesus
16. Jesus the Tax-Resister
17. Jesus, Q, and Ancient Literacy in Social Perspective

Also present are a number of models and figures.  I have not read it as yet, but I look forward to doing so!  Thanks Doug!