Abstract:
In the peasant society of Jesus' world the family revolved around the
father. The father and the mother were the source of the family, not only
in the biological sense, but because their interaction with their children
created the structures of society. In first-century Medite"anean culture,
fatherlessness led to marginalization. Seen against the background of
the patriarchal mind set of Israelites in the Second Temple period, a
fatherless son would have been without social identity. He would have
been deba"ed from being called child of Abraham (that is child of God)
and from the privilege of being given a daughter in marriage. He would
be denied access to the court of the Israelites in the Temple. In this article,
with ~he help of cross-cultural anthropology and cultural psychology,
the life of the historical Jesus is explained in social-scientific terms
against the background of the marriage regulations determined by the
Temple. The historical Jesus is seen as someone who suffered the stigma
of being fatherless but who trusted God as father.
