The Shadow of the Galilean: The Quest of the Historical Jesus in Narrative Form (originally Der Schatten des Galiläers) is a 1986 novel by German theologian Gerd Theissen (b. 1943). Theissen is a Protestant Christian whose scholarly pursuits focus primarily on the origins of Christianity. Through the eyes of a fictional protagonist, a merchant named Andreas, Theissen reconstructs the political and religious landscape of Palestine around the time of Jesus’s death. He attempts to build a plausible account of why Jesus’s message became popular, why he was executed, and how ordinary people might have felt about the situation.

This guide uses the 1987 Fortress Press edition of the novel, translated into English by John Bowden. 

Content Warning: This text includes extensive discussions of antisemitism.

Plot Summary

Each chapter of The Shadow of the Galilean includes a letter written ostensibly by Gerd Theissen to a colleague, Dr. Kratzinger, asking for advice. Often, the letters imply that Kratzinger has been critical of Theissen’s approach to the narrative of Jesus’s life. In the first of these letters, Theissen explains that his narrative will be unlike other fictionalizations of real people’s lives in that it will include nothing about Jesus that is not corroborated by valid historical sources.

The story begins in first-century Palestine with Andreas, a wealthy Jewish grain merchant who has been wrongfully arrested for being caught up in an anti-Roman protest in Jerusalem. He meets with Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judaea, who offers him his freedom if he is willing to provide information about Jewish politics and anti-Roman sentiments. Under duress, Andreas agrees to become a spy, though he privately decides that he will only provide information that does not betray his people.

Andreas is released from prison. A Roman officer, Metilius, asks him to visit the isolated community of the Essenes near the Dead Sea to see if they pose a threat to Rome. Andreas knows his mission will be difficult, as the Essenes are extremely secretive. Metilius also asks Andreas to learn more about the wandering prophet John the Baptist, who was recently imprisoned by King Herod Antipas. The Romans have a hard time understanding their Jewish subjects because of their monotheism and their relatively closed religious and cultural practices. Andreas and his two enslaved servants, Timon and Malchus, venture into the wilderness in search of the Essene community. On their way, they encounter a starving man named Baruch. He was exiled from the Essenes because he questioned part of the group’s doctrine. They claimed to hold a vow of poverty, but they also claimed to have a stash of jewels in the desert. Baruch wanted them to donate the stash to the poor. Now, Baruch wanders the desert, forbidden to return to his community or to accept help from others. 

Andreas convinces Baruch to travel with him to Jericho, and on the way he learns more about the Essenes’ politics. He writes a brief report for Metilius, emphasizing that the Essenes are not a threat to the Romans. News arrives that Antipas has had John the Baptist executed. Everyone speculates about his reasoning: Perhaps his wife Herodias and step-daughter Salome were responsible. Andreas visits his friend Chuza, a steward of Antipas’s, to ask more questions. Chuza and his wife, Joanna, discuss Antipas’s scandalous marriage to Herodias, his late half-brother’s wife. John the Baptist preached about following Jewish marriage laws, so Antipas may have found him inconvenient. For the first time, Andreas hears about one of John the Baptist’s disciples: Jesus of Nazareth.

Back in Jerusalem, Andreas delivers his report to Metilius, who asks him to investigate Jesus to see if he poses a threat to Rome. Andreas begins in his home village of Sepphoris, near where Jesus often preaches. He meets a couple whose sons have left home to join religious movements. One has joined the militant Zealots, a Jewish group who live in the mountains and oppose any form of conciliation with the Roman authorities; another follows Jesus. The Zealots want to violently overthrow the Roman leaders, while Jesus’s preaching helps poor people feel that their lives have meaning. As Andreas, Timon, and Malchus continue their travels, they get kidnapped by Zealots and brought to caves high in the mountains. The Zealots try to ransom Andreas, but he gets lucky: One of them is his friend, Barabbas. Barabbas gets the Zealots to agree to free Andreas and the others if they become informants.

Before he leaves, Andreas learns from Barabbas that one of Jesus’s close disciples was once a Zealot, though Jesus’s policy is to avoid violence. The Zealots, by and large, disapprove of Jesus. When Andreas leaves the Zealots, one of them asks him to visit his family and give them a letter and some money. Andreas agrees and soon meets the Zealot’s family, including 12-year-old Miriam, who is very ill. She has heard stories of Jesus healing people and wonders why he does not come to save her. Andreas participates in a debate about what is permissible for Jewish people on the Sabbath. He summons the physician Hippocrates, who believes Miriam will recover. Andreas leaves and meets Kostabar, an uncompromising toll collector at the border of Bethsaida. Kostabar dislikes Jesus’s followers because they are always asking him for food when he has his own family to feed.

Andreas meets with Chuza and Joanna again. Joanna has been sending money to Jesus and his followers because she likes his message. Chuza disapproves, but after a spirited argument, he starts to see his wife’s point. Andreas feels a change within himself and becomes sympathetic to Jesus’s message, too. He writes a report on Jesus that frames him as an itinerant philosopher and poet whose ideas are not so different from those of some Roman and Greek philosophers. He downplays Jesus’s political radicalism. Andreas gets news: Barabbas and some other Zealots have been arrested in Jerusalem, and Jesus has caused a public disturbance in the temple. Andreas meets with Pontius Pilate just before Passover. Jesus has been arrested. Pilate wants to release one prisoner—either Jesus or Barabbas—as a show of good will to the people; the others will be killed. Andreas is devastated and laments his part in the proceedings. 

The people choose to release Barabbas. Jesus and two Zealots are crucified. Andreas sees Jesus for the first time when he is dead on the cross. Over the next few months, some of Jesus’s followers claim to have seen him alive in visions. Baruch joins these new, largely underground early Christians, and Metilius expresses an interest in Judaism. Andreas has a dream in which Jesus rescues everyone from oppressive governments and ushers in a new age, implying that he has chosen to convert to Christianity. In a final letter, Theissen reveals that he made up Dr. Kratzinger to better highlight his arguments.