Homebrewed Christianity Podcast

In this preview for our upcoming Lent class, Jesus in Galilee, John Dominic Crossan dives into what he calls "A Tale of Two Gods"—Caesar and Christ. He takes on C.S. Lewis's famous trilemma (Lord, Lunatic, or Liar) and asks the question Lewis never considered: what if there were two contemporary claimants to divinity? Because there were. Before Jesus ever showed up, Caesar Augustus was already being called Son of God, Savior of the World, and Lord. Dom walks us through the Battle of Actium and how Octavian's victory became the foundation for a theology of peace through violent victory—and then sets that against the Jesus movement's counter-claim: peace through distributive justice. It's not just ancient history either; as our live audience pointed out, we're watching the "normalcy of civilization" play out in real time right now. The big question Dom leaves us with is whether our species is sustainable if we keep betting on escalatory violence. Heavy stuff, but exactly the kind of thing we'll be unpacking tog