Endnote 32 – Did Jesus Oppose the Purity Laws?

Sanders, Borg, Crossan and Wright all assume the historicity of the Temple incident; Sanders interprets it as prophecy (as I did above); the others, as symbolic protest. I have in the past considered this incident as historical; recently, however, I have come to question whether it in fact originates in evangelical tradition; see Paula Fredriksen, “What You See Is What You Get: Context and Content in Current Research on the Historical Jesus,” Theology Today, April 1995.