What Was Jesus’s Religious Life Like?

The Bible and Beyond

An Interview with Dr. Meredith J. C. Warren

We asked Dr. Meredith J. C. Warren to describe how Jesus’s family and followers would have practiced their religion. They were probably a typical Jewish family, where the types of houses and everyday life were all intertwined with religious practices. She claims that both Jesus and his mother were probably less unusual than we have been taught to think, especially in everyday life—except that Jesus was probably more radical in his commitment to Torah teachings.

Dr. Meredith J. C. Warren is a Senior Lecturer in Biblical and Religious Studies at the University of Sheffield, in England, where she is director of the Sheffield Centre for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies and is editor in chief of its journal, The Journal of Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies. She is also an associate editor for the Enoch Seminar Online Reviews.

Her publications include several books and articles, and they cover topics such as gender, anti-Judaism, feminism, the senses, and clothing for early Judaism and early Christianity. Her co-authorship of Jewish and Christian Women in the Ancient Mediterranean provides the basis of this podcast interview.

In addition to this interview on the Bible and Beyond Podcast, Warren has given interviews on BBC Radio, NPR, and The Guardian.

A transcript of this interview is available here: https://earlychristiantexts.com/jesus-practice-religion/.