I was recently interviewed by the BBC for a radio show on the portrayal of the crowds in the Gospels in light of modern crowd behaviour. I was invited on the basis of my 2020 article in the Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus: “Crowds and Power in the Early Palestinian Tradition”.
You can listen to the full episode (28 minutes) here. A description of the programme is below:
Roy Jenkins looks at contemporary crowd behaviour - good, bad and sometimes downright ugly - in the light of the events that led to the Crucifixion. A crowd welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday with cries of Hosanna; a crowd later called for him to be crucified. In all there are over one hundred references to crowds in the Gospels, and the anonymous crowd is at least as important in the narrative as the named protagonists. Crowds can inspire and energise us, as football fans can bear witness; but crowds can also on occasions disgust or terrify us, whether in political protests or football violence. And yet crowds can also show tremendous support, and in the context of worship a crowd of fellow believers can be a rare and precious thing. Roy's guests include historian David Ceri Jones; theologian Robert Myles; Church in Wales priest Manon Ceridwen James; Chief Inspector Stuart Bell; and journalist Paul Vallely.