©McGraw-Hill Higher Education Chapter 12 The Continuing Quest for the Historical Jesus

©McGraw-Hill Higher Education Key Topics/Themes Formidable challenge of distinguishing Jesus of history from Christ of faith Criteria for recovering authentic words and deeds of Jesus Scholarly differences regarding Jesus’ self-identity and essential teachings

©McGraw-Hill Higher Education Introduction Paul as first interpreter of historical Jesus Jesus as divine in the Nicene Creed Distinguishing the goals of theologians and historians in examining who Jesus was

©McGraw-Hill Higher Education Early Historical References to Jesus Tacitus Suetonius Flavius Josephus Pliny the Younger Limited usefulness of these for recovering the life of Jesus

©McGraw-Hill Higher Education Survey of the Historical Search for the “Real” Jesus Samuel Reimarus David Friedrich Strauss H. J. Holtzmann Johannes Weiss Albert Schweitzer Rudolph Bultmann

©McGraw-Hill Higher Education Survey of the Search (cont’d.) Ernst Käsemann Joachim Jeremias C. H. Dodd

©McGraw-Hill Higher Education Criteria for Testing the Authenticity of Jesus’ Words and Deeds Orality Form Dissimilarity Multiple attestation Coherence The embarrassment factor

©McGraw-Hill Higher Education Jesus: A Nonapocalyptic Wisdom Teacher The work of the Jesus Seminar –Goal: screen all early Christian literature for historically reliable data –Applied criteria for authenticity to all relevant sources –Work published in extensively annotated volumes Criticisms of the Jesus Seminar’s work

©McGraw-Hill Higher Education An Apocalyptic Jesus Fits better with first-century Jewish milieu of Jesus Numerous scholarly proponents of an apocalyptic Jesus

©McGraw-Hill Higher Education Some General Agreements About the Historical Jesus Born during reign of Herod the Great Son of Mary From family of carpenters/artisans Baptized by John the Baptist Proclaimed that kingdom of God is near Taught that God’s kingdom would reverse generally accepted social values

©McGraw-Hill Higher Education General Agreements (cont’d.) Lived as itinerant preacher and healer Attracted followers from lower segments of Galilean society Seen by some followers as Messiah who would bring freedom from Rome Crucified by Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Judea

©McGraw-Hill Higher Education Jesus’ Teaching About the Kingdom Background of concept of kingdom of God –“Kingdom” denotes activity of God’s ruling, not a place –Followers of Jesus must seek kingdom above all else Kingdom portrayed as future event in some of Jesus’ teachings

©McGraw-Hill Higher Education Kingdom (cont’d.) Kingdom portrayed as unexpected event Kingdom portrayed as a hidden power that grows slowly Kingdom portrayed as present reality in some of Jesus’ teachings Kingdom as physically present yet unnoticed

©McGraw-Hill Higher Education Wisdom and the Kingdom of God Gospel of John’s deemphasis on kingdom of God Emphasis on Jesus as exponent of divine Wisdom Jesus the eternal Word Parallels with Proverbs and Wisdom of Solomon

©McGraw-Hill Higher Education Wisdom (cont’d.) Wisdom as revealer of the kingdom of God in wisdom literature Gospel of John: Jesus’ wisdom teachings define his kingship Jesus’ followers share in his kingship

©McGraw-Hill Higher Education Summary Great scholarly disagreement about Jesus’ identity and teachings Attempts to reconcile apocalyptic and wisdom images of Jesus Disagreements about Jesus’ kingdom teachings

©McGraw-Hill Higher Education Summary (cont’d.) Scholarly doubts about whether Jesus taught about himself Scholarly doubts about whether Jesus called himself Messiah or Son of God Many scholars: these titles bestowed on Jesus posthumously Canonical Gospels focus on Resurrection in their interpretations of Jesus