Leaders of Mass Movements and the Leader of the Jesus Movement

Abstract

This study seeks to answer three questions. Can one discern anything typical about the leaders of peasant mass movements? Was Jesus typical? What made him typical? After preliminary definitions a summary of anthropological studies of peas ant mass movements is presented. The evidence from these works indicates that leaders do exhibit a pattern with respect to social origins. Next the article surveys the mass movements in the Roman empire known from the classical sources, fol lowed by a similar survey of movements in Palestine. Virtually the same pattern can be seen in these sources. The conclusions will be that there was a discernible pattern concerning the origin of the leaders of the movements, that Jesus fit the pattern, and that his background as a craftsman did not impede his leadership of peasants.