The book conveys a sharp sense of the times and places, the issues and discussions, the difficulties and possibilities.

In so doing, the authors speedily debunk the “Great Man” myth and demonstrate the large number of similar grouplets in a Palestine that was being convulsed by serious dislocations.Written for a broad audience, it understands the Jesus movement and rise of Christianity without resorting to the usual Great Man view of history and instead pursues a history from below. Most sciences aim to establish general laws, but the science of history accepts that historical events are unique. When John’s shorthand term for the Jewish authorities in the Passion narrative as “the Jews” is described as a “chilling ‘fascist-like’ tendency”, the reader may be forgiven for assuming that the authors slip too readily into a Marxist perspective. What is important from the biblical point of view is not which hat he wore, but what the author wishes to convey by mentioning it, nor whether skeletons rose from their tombs at the death of Jesus (Matthew 27. Crossley and Myles offer a vivid portrait of the man and his movement and uncover the material conditions that converged to make it happen.

The book is sound in its scholarship, reasonable in its conclusions, yet provocative enough that it will hold an array of readers' interests. For many young men of the time, there were only two realistic responses: banditry or hitching themselves to a prophetic itinerant movement. That said, the authors do reinforce more traditional interpretations in other regards, including the self-awareness of Jesus that the trajectory of his life would lead to a challenge to the religious and military authorities in Jerusalem. Despite being written from a perspective that questions many of the traditions of the Christian faith, it is respectful in its approach, reasonable in most of its assessments, and simply enjoyable to read. For some in Galilee, these grandiose projects, constructed in part to solidify the status of the comprador bourgeoisie of their day, resulted in great wealth and an enhanced social standing.

The movement’s popular appeal was due in part to a desire to represent the values of ordinary rural workers, and its vision meant that the rich would have to give up their wealth, while the poor would be afforded a life of heavenly luxury.

Crossley and Myles locate Jesus’s class position as that of a tektōn, an ancient Greek noun meaning craftsman or carpenter. From the outset, this book seeks to place the “Jesus Movement” within its wider economic and social context.

Seeing such portraits as romanticized and overly idealized, the interest here is on the social and economic forces that produced the Jesus movement.