Ep. 229 - John Dominic Crossan & Michael Okinczyc-Cruz "Jesus and Justice" pt. 1
The Deconstructionists
John Williamson
4.4 • 823 Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2026
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of The Deconstructionists Podcast, we’re joined by John Dominic Crossan and Michael Okinczyc-Cruz for the first part of a wide-ranging conversation about Jesus, empire, and why historical context matters now more than ever.
As religion, power, and nationalism continue to collide in the United States, this conversation feels remarkably timely — not because it’s reacting to current events, but because it’s rooted deeply in history.
In Part One, we focus on setting the foundation:
- The world of the Roman Empire and how it shaped early Christianity
- Why Jesus must be understood as a first-century Jewish figure under imperial occupation
- What happens when modern readers remove Jesus from his historical context
- Why asking historical questions doesn’t weaken faith — but often deepens it
This episode invites listeners to take the Bible seriously enough to let it challenge modern assumptions about power, violence, and faithfulness.
About Our Guests
John Dominic Crossan is one of the most influential New Testament scholars of the last fifty years. A historian of early Christianity and co-founder of the Jesus Seminar, Crossan has written extensively on the historical Jesus, the Roman Empire, and the political implications of early Christian theology.
Michael Okinczyc-Cruz is a scholar whose work focuses on empire, power, and the intersection of theology, politics, and economic systems. His research explores how religious ideas function in real historical and social contexts — especially under conditions of domination.
Together, they bring historical rigor and moral clarity to questions that remain deeply relevant today.
Featured Works & Links
John Dominic Crossan
- Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography
- https://www.harpercollins.com/products/jesus-a-revolutionary-biography-john-dominic-crossan
- The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant
- https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-historical-jesus-john-dominic-crossan
- God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now
- https://www.harpercollins.com/products/god-and-empire-john-dominic-crossan
- How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian
- https://www.harpercollins.com/products/how-to-read-the-bible-and-still-be-a-christian-john-dominic-crossan
Michael Okinczyc-Cruz
- The Politics of Discipleship (with John Dominic Crossan)
- https://www.fortresspress.com/store/productgroup/553/The-Politics-of-Discipleship
Special Music Provided by: Forrest Clay from his Recover EP.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What I mean by that is capitalism is part of our dominant culture. |
| 0:05.0 | Whiteness is part of our dominant culture. |
| 0:08.0 | Individualism is part of our dominant culture. |
| 0:12.0 | Consumerism is part of our dominant culture. |
| 0:15.0 | War and patriotism is part of our dominant culture. |
| 0:18.0 | So we have all these aspects that represent the dominant culture, politically, ideologically, economically, militarily. |
| 0:27.2 | And we've said, how do we make Christianity essentially affirm all these things that we love? |
| 0:34.1 | And so we have a Christianity that reflects the dominant culture and there's marriage |
| 0:40.0 | between Christianity and whiteness and all these images of a white Jesus, which quite simply |
| 0:45.8 | is not reflective of a first century Jesus who grew up, who's Middle Eastern and grew up in this |
| 0:54.0 | particular part of the world. |
| 0:59.2 | Welcome to The Deconstructionist podcast. I'm your host John Williamson, and sorry for the slightly late episode this week. Due to the holiday, I was a little off and did some fun stuff for |
| 1:13.5 | Valentine's Day. Hopefully you did as well, or Singles Appreciation Day, as it might pertain to |
| 1:19.0 | you. Anyway, this is an exciting episode that kind of came about last second, and maybe I'm |
| 1:27.4 | friends with him now. I don't know. I feel like I |
| 1:29.2 | kind of am. But John Dominic Croson, who's been on the show a couple times before and is considered |
| 1:35.2 | one of the foremost New Testament scholars in the world today, approached me about having him on |
| 1:41.9 | to talk about his latest book that he co-wrote with another author, |
| 1:45.6 | who I will intro here in a second. But as always, his work, at least within the last, |
| 1:51.6 | like, several books that he's written has felt very, very timely. It seems to be that he's |
| 1:57.1 | just a hair ahead, a step ahead of things as they unfold in the world today. |
| 2:03.5 | And so today, this one feels very, very timely, as I mentioned. |
... |
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