Overview

Many--both religious and nonreligious-- find Jesus one of the most compelling figures in human history. Richards came to his view of Jesus from an outsider's perspective, as a gay and nonreligious man, inspired by the psychoanalyst Winnicott's understanding of both psychoanalysis and Jesus and its illumination of his own struggles to equal love. Many may find in this book how and why Jesus so moves them, and why--given the hegemonic power of patriarchy in human history and in the life and times of Jesus and the subsequent history of Christianities--he has been so difficult to see face to face and yet moves something deep in our human natures, the love of equals that he believed was coming into existence through his life and teaching. The book's argument integrates empirical psychology and history to reveal the antipatriarchal Jesus--challenging the anti-Semitism, sexism, and homophobia of the Christianities (Augustine and Luther) that accommodated the hegemonic Roman patriarchy, making many Christianities more Roman than Christian. In contrast, heterodox Christianities, appealing to the antipatriarchal Jesus, have advanced justice and human rights. Their values underlie both Kant's appeal to universal human rights and Rawls's reconstruction of Kant in contemporary terms.

Full Product Details

9798385242580

Table of Contents

Reviews

""The Antipatriarchal Jesus is a meditation on psychoanalysis and the teachings of Jesus that is revolutionary in its insights. David Richards is deeply influenced by James Gilligan and Donald Winnicott and brilliantly contrasts an authentic understanding of Jesus's teaching with the patriarchal Jesus the Romans created. Richards's Jesus, whom Winnicott called the first psychotherapist, is a paragon of nonviolence and equality, an antipatriarchal prophet who serves as a moral guide for the perplexed."" --Charles B. Strozier, author of Apocalypse ""A very readable and touching book, at once alive with personal and social history. Many readers will benefit and be appreciative. A subtle book of redemption, both kind and giving, a nourishing offering in its own right."" --Michael Eigen, author of The Psychotic Core ""In a time when many no longer identify with formal religion but want something spiritual, and the rules-based international order is dissolving before our frightened eyes, Richards avoids certitude about things of which we cannot be certain in favor of a universal relatedness on which we can confidently depend. He returns us to an inspirational gospel ethic of love, largely obscured since Constantine, and levers open 'the crack . . . where the light gets.'"" --John Alderdice, Senior Research Fellow, Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford

Author Information

David A. J. Richards, Edwin D. Webb Professor of Law at New York University, has published twenty-five books on moral philosophy, constitutional law, feminism, gay rights, and Shakespeare, including two books on how patriarchy threatens democracy with Carol Gilligan. A graduate of Harvard College (studying with John Rawls) and Harvard Law School, he received his doctorate in moral philosophy from Oxford University. He lives in New York City with his partner of fifty years, Donald Levy.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available