Today’s Menu SessionResearch baseResource Jesus of Nazareth Historical method applied to the Gospels Unpublished MS MS Curriculum VI/Ashland The Authority of Jesus (short summary) Narrative Criticism of Mark’s Gospel VI course on Matthew & Mark Our Mission MandateHistorical Theology LGBT 6 months research within Round Tables Position Paper then Published Work

Meet Jesus of Nazareth Introducing Jesus to you as recently rediscovered

How do you “know” Jesus? But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming. That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans Through saving faith

How do you “know” Jesus? For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 4.4:

How do you know about Jesus? 1. By reading the New Testament: the 4 Gospels 2. By listening to sermons and reading Christian books 3. By absorbing the prevailing picture of Jesus in evangelical churches 4. Jesus movies Is your picture of Jesus accurate? There are many Jesus figures “out there”

Why so many versions? 1. For roughly two millenia, the church has read the gospels in an historical vacuum. 2. Then, beginning in the late 19 th Century, and growing in number, there has been the discovery of the literature of 2 nd Temple Judaism (e.g. Dead Sea Scrolls ). 3. For the first time, the gospels, and the story of Jesus, can be read in the historical context: worldviews, beliefs, hopes, meaning of words and ideas. 4. As a result, the picture of Jesus has been reviewed, many times. A huge debate has ensued, featuring the “good, the bad, and the ugly.” 5. The “good guys” today are biblical scholars in the “Third Quest for the historical Jesus” (N.T. Wright, James Dunn, Ben Meyer, J. P. Meier, Craig Keener, Graham Twelftree etc).

Which one? ‘Jesus’ Protestant Evangelical Liberal Protestant Orthodox Catholic – ‘Mel’s’ Da Vinci code The Jesus Seminar The ‘Third Quest’ Jesus The Gnostic Jesus

How do third questers work? 1. Establish “Messianic” expectations in 2 nd Temple Judaism. 2. Look for the earliest Gospel sources. 3. View the Jesus of the earliest sources in the historical context: his intentions, preaching, teaching, and deeds. 4. Use rigorous and responsible historical criteria (the rules of doing history). 5. Put 1-4 together into a coherent picture of Jesus.

The historical method: A shift Modernism Postmodernism The Enlightenment Post-Enlightenment Foundationalism Postfoundationalism Naïve Realism Critical Realism First Quest Third Quest

Expectations 1. The age to come will replace this age (the end, eschatos). 2. A new covenant will replace the old covenant. 3. Israel’s real return from exile and the re-gathering of the 12 tribes. 4. Paradise restored, creation renewed, the healing of all defects. 5. The outpouring of the Spirit on the anointed one (Messiah) and on Israel. 6. The return of Yahweh’s presence to Zion/Jerusalem/Temple. 7. The building of a new Temple. 8. The vindication and triumph of Israel in relation to other nations.

Expectations 9. The re-gathering of the 12 tribes may include the Gentile nations. 10. The re-inheriting of the Land may include the whole earth. 11. The final Day of Judgment for Israel and for all nations. 12. Satan will be finally defeated. 13. The bodily resurrection of the dead of all Israel. 14. The transition to the coming age will involve birth pains: a time of climactic tribulation. 15. Cosmic disturbances will take place as creation is destroyed and renewed.

The emerging picture of Jesus 1. Jesus and John the Baptist 2. Jesus and the Kingdom of God 3. The authority of Jesus 4. The threat that Jesus posed 5. The aims, identity and destiny of Jesus

Jesus & John the Baptist 1. His ministry truly begins through his association with John the Baptist, his early mentor. 2. John was an eschatological (age to come) prophet who preached a message of imminent judgment. 3. He saw his role as preparing Israel for the coming of the new age through repentance and baptism, which he offered outside the standard religious system. 4. At some point Jesus ministry became independent of John, and took on a new direction, primarily through his announcement that the coming age was not only imminent, but was somehow already present in his ministry.

Jesus & the Kingdom of God 1. The term Kingdom of God as used by Jesus has no parallels in Judaism. The way he used it to refer to a future and present reality was equally unique. 2. “Kingdom of God” incorporated all of Israel’s expectations. 3. Jesus not only announced the kingdom, but demonstrated and explained it as well. 4. Jesus demonstrated the presence of the kingdom through exorcisms, healings and striking acts of power. His exorcisms showed that Yahweh was present to liberate his people from captivity and defeat the power of Satan. 5. Jesus used the language of cosmic warfare to indicate that he was engaged in a final battle against the powers of darkness.

The authority of Jesus 1. Jesus explained the kingdom through wise sayings (as wisdom teacher) to give concrete directions on how to observe the Mosaic Law (Torah). A striking characteristic of Jesus was his use of “amen”, not to endorse the saying of another, but his own saying (authority). 2. Jesus differed from other contemporary teachers by the way he took the initiative in calling disciples (with authority) to follow him. 3. He called twelve disciples into a special group that symbolized the beginning of the re-gathered Israel of the coming age. 4. Jesus miracles (acts of kingdom authority) attracted large crowds and many followers. 5. It was the combination of his kingdom preaching, plus his miracles, plus his authority in teaching the Law, plus his gathering of disciples to symbolize a new Israel, that made him unique (Meier).

The threat Jesus posed 1. Jesus offered the final forgiveness of the coming age outside the official structures, to the “wrong people”, and on his own authority. 2. He replaced allegiance to Temple and Torah with allegiance to himself. 3. Jesus regularly disagreed with the Pharisees and Temple authorities on many matters of purity. He behaved in ways that were controversial and offensive to them. 4. His symbolic prophetic acts of “royal entry” into the city and cleansing of the temple were the primary factors that led to the Temple authorities deciding that he should be killed. 5. He also made statements about the destruction and replacement of the Temple. His preaching in the temple was confrontational towards the Jewish authorities. 6. Jesus frequently spoke of the coming judgment on “this generation”, on the Temple and on the city of Jerusalem as part of the time of great tribulation in Israel’s eschatological expectation.

The aims & destiny of Jesus 1. Jesus did not favour the title Messiah, preferring to identify himself as the Son of Man (Daniel 7) and Suffering Servant in Isaiah. These titles portray Jesus as identified with and representing the people of God (SS), or humanity itself (SoM). 2. Jesus had a special meal with his disciples the night before his arrest during which he explained the meaning of the exodus in terms of his approaching death. The new Exodus was about to happen in and through him. 3. In his reply to the High Priest at his trial, Jesus used Son of Man language, a higher claim than Messiahship. 4. Jesus anticipated his vindication after death, as part of the general vindication and resurrection of Israel (SS and SoM). 5. His body was laid in a tomb owned by Joseph or Arimathea. 6. A few days later his tomb was found to be empty and a series of meetings took place between Jesus and his followers, which indicated that he had been resurrected into a new kind of trans- physical embodiment.

Jesus Risen I regard this conclusion as coming in the same sort of category, of historical probability so high as to be virtually certain, as the death of Augustus in AD 14 or the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. N. T. Wright As historical fact (probability)

Knowing Jesus For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. 2 Corinthians 11:4 Knowing about Jesus

The traditional Protestant Jesus Jesus came to die on the cross So that my sins can be forgiven To secure my eternal life (next world) A true but reduced Jesus

What are the implications? 1. Any change in our vision of Jesus changes our vision of God, of salvation, the churches mission, and the Christian life. 2. The traditional “orthodox” picture of Jesus, while not false, leaves serious gaps and reduces the full picture of Jesus. 3. It elevates the cross, and eternal life (understood as the afterlife) at the expense of the total message and mission of Jesus about the age to come and the sovereign rule of God renewing all of creation. We need to meet Jesus, again Jesus rediscovered: “More than …”

Witnessing in a postmodern context The rediscovered Jesus for the postmodern seeker What the ‘emerging church’ is trying to find

Suggested Reading N. T. Wright Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, HarperOne, Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters, HarperOne, How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels, HarperOne, Wright weakness: Little on Jesus’ miracles – Twelftree & Keener Twelftree – Jesus the Miracle Worker & Jesus the Exorcist Keener – The Historical Jesus of the Gospels & Miracles (2 volumes) Next: The Authority of Jesus