Introduction: Clashing Civilizations, a New Threat, and Christian Origins

In Chapter 1 I referred to my argument that social sciences in the study of the New Testament and Christian origins were virtually non-existent between (approximately) the 1930s and the 1970s. Key reasons for this included the not wholly unjustified association between social sciences and atheistic Marxism and, by implication, Communism. The usual social reasons for the shift toward social-scientific criticism in the 1970s include the prominence of 1960s protest movements, the impact of 1968, the increasing influence of sociology in the universities, declining church numbers, the perception of secularism, and the impact of decolonialization. I have added several other reasons, including the development of an explicitly non-Marxist (and therefore more palatable) social-scientific/anthropological approach (e.g. Keith Thomas on magic), translations of Weber into English, and overt shifts in West German historiography away from the Nazi cult of the individual toward trends and themes.

There is another important argument that now needs to be added to this explanation, particularly given the controversial events of the late 1960s onward taking place in the portrayal of world history and corporate interest. In 1967, Israel had established itself as a major player in the Middle East, one not easily messed with.