ABSTRACT
This contribution explores to what extent Jesus’s attitude towards apostates and outsiders could be described as lenient, strict, or somewhere in between. How did he position himself within the religious‐cultural web of parties, splinter groups, and movements, and how did this materialize into idiosyncratic ways of approaching dilemmas regarding apostasy and assimilation? Who are the apostates according to Jesus, if any? Methodologically, the investigation looks primarily for narrative and propositions, structured in the literary device of the parable, to discern what purport and intentions the historical Jesus transmitted to his followers. Alongside Jesus’s own Galilean tradition and style, particular attention is paid to the texts in which he expresses belief and despair, faithfulness and doom (hybridity versus exile).
