A liberator

**Scholars that agree

Scholars that disagree**

Reza Aslan: In his book 'Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth' writes that we know three things about the historical Jesus

1. Jesus was a Jew, preaching Judaism to other Jews,
2. Jesus led a messianic movement, predicated on the Kingdom of God,
3. As a result of that movement, he was arrested for the crime of sedition by Rome.

Gutierrez: Liberation theologian Gutierrez argued that when we think about the life of Jesus 'We believe his mission was purely religious. Indeed we have witnessed . . . the 'iconization' of the life of Jesus' Here

💡 Gutierrez is arguing that we have forgotten about the political liberation that Christ carried out, but that we are wrong to do that and we have to see Jesus as a political liberator as this is what he did in his lifetime

Barth: The person of Jesus cannot be separated from the work of Jesus, thus, whilst it is true that Jesus politically liberated people we would be wrong to conclude that this was the extent of this work on Earth. Given that Jesus is 'true God and true man' he is the direct revelation of God and thus his political/religious liberation on Earth communicates the will of God to us and is therefore so much more than liberation from the likes of other admirable, yet mortal, liberators such as Martin Luther King.

McGrath: Holding that it is "impossible to talk about God, salvation or, worship without bringing Jesus into the discussion" McGrath posits that "God is revealed finally and supremely through Christ" Thus, like Barth, McGrath also believes that any political or religious liberation carried out by Jesus is one of the many multi-faceted ways that he communicated the will of God to use humans at the epistemic distance from him. Therefore, whilst not disputing the fact that Jesus was politically liberated, McGrath would contest the notion that Jesus was a liberator in a mortal sense.

Mark 5:24–34 (healing the bleeding woman) This shows that Jesus was more than a liberator because: Whilst the act did religiously liberate the bleeding woman as she was now able to access the synagogue again, the heart of her religious and political community, the means in which Jesus liberated her was miraculous. This shows that he is more than simply a liberator as he was also able to heal a chronic health condition with one simple touch.

Luke 10:25–37 (Parable of the good Samaritan) This shows that Jesus was more than a political liberator because: The parable shows that Jesus challenged religious leaders as people who were too concerned with religious rituals to help those in need, choosing to use a Samaritan (a hated race) as an example of what God wants, which is for all people 'love their neighbour'. This showed that Jesus had divine insight into the will of God as he was able to recognize that in cases like this one, prioritizing worship of God over helping someone in need is actually the wrong thing to do which is not information that a lay person would be able to know so confidently

Church view

Roman Catholic and Church of England both hold that Jesus stood against the political and religious leaders of the time, however will both argue there is no longer a need to stand against the religious leaders as they have the correct hermeneutics in place. Despite this, Jesus remains uniquely significant thus highlighting that his contributions are more than just political liberation

Catechism of the Catholic Church in referring to Christ's work, uses the terms "redemption," "salvation," and "liberation" in that order of frequency. This shows that The Catholic Church do recognize that Jesus was a liberator, but, that this is not his primary role