Performing 'The Duty of Discontent' in Dialogue with Christian Strecker: A Plea for Cross-Cultural Historical Jesus Research.

This article is a response to the critical evaluation by Christian Strecker of my book, The Life of a Galilean Shaman:Jesus of Nazareth in Anthropological-Historical Perspective (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2008; hereafter LGS). Anthropological historiography is set as an alternative framework to historical criticism for the discussion about Jesus as an historical figure. The dialogue with Strecker follows the three main categories of his evaluation; namely, the feasibility of a new historiographical paradigm for historical Jesus research, the shamanic complex as a cross-cultural analytical model and the testing of the shamanic hypothesis against the Gospel traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]