The Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and for ...
claims, the title Nazarene for Jesus was derived from the prophecy "He will be called a Nazorean" (), despite the lack of any
Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
source. Finally, scholars turn to external sources, including the testimony of early church leaders, to writers outside the church, primarily Jewish and Greco-Roman historians, who would have been more likely to have criticized the church, and to archaeological evidence.
Quest for the historical Jesus
![Hermann Samuel Reimarus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Hermann_Samuel_Reimarus.jpg)
Since the 18th century, three scholarly quests for the historical Jesus have taken place, each with distinct characteristics and based on different research criteria, which were often developed during each specific phase.
[''Jesus as a Figure in History: How Modern Historians View the Man from Galilee'' by Mark Allan Powell, Westminster John Knox Press (1999) pp. 19–23] These quests are distinguished from pre-Enlightenment approaches because they rely on the
historical-critical method
Historical criticism, also known as the historical-critical method or higher criticism, is a branch of criticism that investigates the origins of ancient texts in order to understand "the world behind the text". While often discussed in terms of ...
to study biblical narratives. While
textual analysis of biblical sources had taken place for centuries, these quests introduced new methods and specific techniques in the attempt to establish the historical validity of their conclusions.
[''Criteria for Authenticity in Historical–Jesus Research'' by Stanley E. Porter 2004 pp. 100–120]
First quest
The scholarly effort to reconstruct an "authentic" historical picture of Jesus was a product of the
Enlightenment skepticism of the late eighteenth century. Bible scholar
Gerd Theissen
Gerd Theißen (or Theissen; born 24 April 1943) is a German Protestant theologian and New Testament scholar. He is Professor of New Testament Theology at the University of Heidelberg.
Early life and education
Theissen obtained his doctorate in th ...
explains that "It was concerned with presenting a historically true life of Jesus that functioned theologically as a critical force over against
stablished Roman CatholicChristology." The first scholar to separate the historical Jesus from the theological Jesus in this way was philosopher, writer, classicist, Hebraist and Enlightenment free thinker
Hermann Samuel Reimarus
Hermann Samuel Reimarus (22 December 1694, Hamburg – 1 March 1768, Hamburg), was a German philosopher and writer of the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment who is remembered for his Deism, the doctrine that human reason can arrive at a existenc ...
(1694–1768).
Copies of Reimarus' writings were discovered by
G. E. Lessing (1729–1781) in the library at Wolfenbüttel where Lessing was the librarian. Reimarus had left permission for his work to be published after his death, and Lessing did so between 1774 and 1778, publishing them as ''Die Fragmente eines unbekannten Autors'' (''The Fragments of an Unknown Author''). Over time, they came to be known as the ''Wolfenbüttel Fragments'' after the library where Lessing worked. Reimarus distinguished between what Jesus taught and how he is portrayed in the New Testament. According to Reimarus, Jesus was a political
messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...
who failed at creating political change and was executed. His disciples then stole the body and invented the story of the resurrection for personal gain.
Reimarus' controversial work prompted a response from "the father of historical critical research" Johann Semler in 1779, ''Beantwortung der Fragmente eines Ungenannten'' (''Answering the Fragments of an Unknown'').
Semler refuted Reimarus' arguments, but it was of little consequence. Reimarus' writings had already made lasting changes by making it clear criticism could exist independently of theology and faith, and by founding historical Jesus studies within that non-sectarian view.
According to
Homer W. Smith
Homer William Smith (January 2, 1895 – March 25, 1962) was an American physiologist and science writer known for his experiments on the kidney and philosophical writings on natural history and the theory of evolution.
Biography
Smith was bor ...
, the work of Lessing and others culminated in the
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
theologian
David Strauss
David Friedrich Strauss (german: link=no, Strauß ; 27 January 1808 – 8 February 1874) was a German liberal Protestant theologian and writer, who influenced Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical Jesus", whose divine nature h ...
's ''Das Leben Jesu'' ('The Life of Jesus', 1835), in which Strauss expresses his conclusion that Jesus existed, but that his godship is the result of "a historic nucleus
eingworked over and reshaped into an ideal form by the first Christians under the influence of
Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
models and the idea of the messiah found in
Daniel
Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...
."
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-D0116-0041-019, Albert Schweitzer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-D0116-0041-019%2C_Albert_Schweitzer.jpg)
The enthusiasm shown during the first quest diminished after
Albert Schweitzer
Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was an Alsatian-German/French polymath. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. A Lutheran minister, Schwei ...
's critique of 1906 in which he pointed out various shortcomings in the approaches used at the time. After Schweitzer's ''Von Reimarus zu Wrede'' was translated and published in English as ''
The Quest of the Historical Jesus'' in 1910, the book's title provided the label for the field of study for eighty years.
Second quest
The
second quest began in 1953 and introduced a number of new techniques, but faded away in the 1970s.
[
]
Third quest
In the 1980s a number of scholars gradually began to introduce new research ideas,[''The Symbolic Jesus: Historical Scholarship, Judaism and the Construction of Contemporary Identity'' by William Arnal, Routledge 2005 pp. 41–43] initiating a third quest characterized by the latest research approaches.Robert E. Van Voorst
Robert E. Van Voorst (born June 5, 1952) is an American theologian and educator.
He retired in 2018 as a Professor of New Testament Studies at Western Theological Seminary, in Holland, Michigan, and has published scholarly works in early Christi ...
''Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence'' Eerdmans Publishing, 2000. pp. 2–6[''Criteria for Authenticity in Historical-Jesus Research'' by Stanley E. Porter, Bloomsbury 2004 pp. 28–29] One of the modern aspects of the third quest has been the role of archaeology; James Charlesworth states that modern scholars now want to use archaeological discoveries that clarify the nature of life in Galilee
Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Galil ...
and Judea
Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous L ...
during the time of Jesus.["Jesus Research and Archaeology: A New Perspective" by James H. Charlesworth in ''Jesus and archaeology'' edited by James H. Charlesworth 2006 pp. 11–15] A further characteristic of the third quest has been the interdisciplinary and global nature of its scholarship.[''Soundings in the Religion of Jesus: Perspectives and Methods in Jewish and Christian Scholarship'' by ]Bruce Chilton
Bruce D. Chilton (born September 27, 1949 Roslyn, NY) is an American scholar of early Christianity and Judaism. He is Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College, former Rector of the Church of St John the Evangelist and formerly Li ...
, Anthony Le Donne, and Jacob Neusner
Jacob Neusner (July 28, 1932 – October 8, 2016) was an American academic scholar of Judaism. He was named as one of the most published authors in history, having written or edited more than 900 books.
Life and career
Neusner was born in Hartfor ...
(2012) p. 132 While the first two quests were mostly carried out by European Protestant theologians, a modern aspect of the third quest is the worldwide influx of scholars from multiple disciplines.[ More recently, historicists have focused their attention on the historical writings associated with the era in which Jesus lived or on the evidence concerning his family.
By the end of the twentieth century, scholar Tom Holmén writes that Enlightenment skepticism had given way to a more "trustful attitude toward the historical reliability of the sources ... urrentlythe conviction of Sanders, (we know quite a lot about Jesus) characterizes the majority of contemporary studies."] Reflecting this shift, the phrase "quest for the historical Jesus" has largely been replaced by ''life of Jesus research.''
Demise of authenticity and the "Next Quest"
Since the late 1900s, concerns have been growing about the usefulness of the criteria of authenticity.
According to Le Donne, the usage of such criteria is a form of " positivist historiography
Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...
." According to Chris Keith, a historical Jesus is "ultimately unattainable, but can be hypothesized on the basis of the interpretations of the early Christians
Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish d ...
, and as part of a larger process of accounting for how and why early Christians came to view Jesus in the ways that they did." According to Keith, "these two models are methodologically and epistemologically incompatible," calling into question the methods and aim of the first model.
In 2021, James Crossley (editor of the ''Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus
According to itBrill listingThe Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus "investigates the social, cultural and historical context in which Jesus lived, discusses methodological issues surrounding the reconstruction of the historical Jesus, ...
'') announced that historical Jesus scholarship now had moved to the era of the Next Quest. The Next Quest has moved on from the criteria, obsessions with the uniqueness of Jesus, and the supersessionism
Supersessionism, also called replacement theology or fulfillment theology, is a Christian theology which asserts that the New Covenant through Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ has superseded or replaced the Mosaic covenant exclusive to the Jews ...
still implicit in scholarly questions of the Jewishness of Jesus. Instead, sober scholarship now focuses on treating the subject matter as part of the wider human phenomenon of religion, cultural comparison, class relations, slave culture and economy, and the social history of historical Jesus scholarship and wider reception histories of the historical Jesus. The book by Crossley and Robert J. Myles, ''Jesus: A Life in Class Conflict'', is indicative of this new tendency.
Methods
Textual, source and form-criticism
The first quest
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
, which started in 1778, was almost entirely based on biblical criticism
Biblical criticism is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible. During the eighteenth century, when it began as ''historical-biblical criticism,'' it was based on two distinguishing characteristics: (1) the concern to ...
. This took the form of textual and source criticism originally, which were supplemented with form criticism
Form criticism as a method of biblical criticism classifies units of scripture by literary pattern and then attempts to trace each type to its period of oral transmission."form criticism." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica ...
in 1919, and redaction criticism
Redaction criticism, also called ''Redaktionsgeschichte'', ''Kompositionsgeschichte'' or ''Redaktionstheologie'', is a critical method for the study of biblical texts. Redaction criticism regards the author of the text as editor (redactor) of the ...
in 1948. Form criticism began as an attempt to trace the history of the biblical material during the oral period before it was written in its current form, and may be seen as starting where textual criticism ends.[''The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology'' by Alan Richardson 1983 pp. 215–216] Form criticism views Gospel writers as editors, not authors. Redaction criticism may be viewed as the child of source criticism and form criticism.[''Interpreting the New Testament'' by Daniel J. Harrington (1990) pp. 96–98] and views the Gospel writers as authors and early theologians and tries to understand how the redactor(s) has (have) molded the narrative to express their own perspectives.[
]
Criteria of authenticity
When form criticism questioned the historical reliability of the Gospels, scholars began looking for other criteria. Taken from other areas of study such as source criticism, the "criteria of authenticity" emerged gradually, becoming a distinct branch of methodology associated with life of Jesus research. The ''criteria'' are a variety of rules used to determine if some event or person is more or less likely to be historical. These criteria are primarily, though not exclusively, used to assess the sayings and actions of Jesus.
In view of the skepticism produced in the mid-twentieth century by form criticism concerning the historical reliability of the gospels, the burden shifted in historical Jesus studies from attempting to identify an authentic life of Jesus to attempting to prove authenticity. The criteria developed within this framework, therefore, are tools that provide arguments solely for authenticity, not inauthenticity. In 1901, the application of criteria of authenticity began with dissimilarity. It was often applied unevenly with a preconceived goal. In the early decades of the twentieth century, F. C. Burkitt and B. H. Streeter provided the foundation for multiple attestation. The Second Quest introduced the criterion of embarrassment
The criterion of embarrassment is a type of historical analysis in which a historical account is deemed likely to be true under the inference that that the author would have no reason to invent a historical account which might embarrass them. Cer ...
. By the 1950s, coherence was also included. By 1987, D. Polkow lists 25 separate criteria being used by scholars to test for historical authenticity including the criterion of "historical plausibility".
Criticism
A number of scholars have criticized the various approaches used in the study of the historical Jesus—on one hand, for the lack of rigor in research methods; on the other, for being driven by "specific agendas" that interpret ancient sources to fit specific goals.[Clive Marsh, "Diverse Agendas at Work in the Jesus Quest" in ''Handbook for the Study of the Historical Jesus'' by Tom Holmen and Stanley E. Porter (2011) pp. 986–1002] By the 21st century, the "maximalist
In the arts, maximalism, a reaction against minimalism, is an aesthetic of excess. The philosophy can be summarized as "more is more", contrasting with the minimalist motto "less is more".
Literature
The term ''maximalism'' is sometimes associ ...
" approaches of the 19th century, which accepted all the gospels, and the "minimalist
In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...
" trends of the early 20th century, which totally rejected them, were abandoned and scholars began to focus on what is historically probable and plausible about Jesus.John P. Meier
John Paul Meier (August 8, 1942 – October 18, 2022) was an American biblical scholar and Roman Catholic priest. He was author of the series ''A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus'' (5 v.), six other books, and more than 70 articles ...
"Criteria: How do we decide what comes from Jesus?" in ''The Historical Jesus in Recent Research'' by James D. G. Dunn and Scot McKnight (2006) p. 124 "Since in the quest for the historical Jesus almost anything is possible, the function of the criteria is to pass from the merely possible to the really probable, to inspect various probabilities, and to decide which candidate is most probable. Ordinarily, the criteria can not hope to do more."[''The Historical Jesus of the Gospels'' by Craig S. Keener (2012) p. 163][''Jesus in Contemporary Scholarship'' by Marcus J. Borg (1994) pp. 4–6]
Consensual knowledge about Jesus
There is widespread disagreement among scholars on the details of the life of Jesus mentioned in the gospel narratives, and on the meaning of his teachings.[ Scholars differ on the historicity of specific episodes described in the biblical accounts of Jesus,][ but almost all modern scholars consider his ]baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
and crucifixion to be historical facts.[''Jesus of Nazareth'' by Paul Verhoeven (2010) p. 39]
Baptism
The existence of John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
within the same time frame as Jesus, and his eventual execution by Herod Antipas
Herod Antipas ( el, Ἡρῴδης Ἀντίπας, ''Hērǭdēs Antipas''; born before 20 BC – died after 39 AD), was a 1st-century ruler of Galilee and Perea, who bore the title of tetrarch ("ruler of a quarter") and is referred to as both "H ...
is attested to by 1st-century historian Josephus and the overwhelming majority of modern scholars view Josephus' accounts of the activities of John the Baptist as authentic.[Craig Evans, 2006 "Josephus on John the Baptist" in ''The Historical Jesus in Context'' edited by Amy-Jill Levine et al. Princeton Univ Press pp. 55–58] One of the arguments in favor of the historicity of the Baptism of Jesus by John is the criterion of embarrassment
The criterion of embarrassment is a type of historical analysis in which a historical account is deemed likely to be true under the inference that that the author would have no reason to invent a historical account which might embarrass them. Cer ...
, i.e. that it is a story which the early Christian Church would have never wanted to invent, as it implies that Jesus was subservient to John.[''Jesus as a figure in history: how modern historians view the man from Galilee'' by Mark Allan Powell 1998 p. 47][''Who Is Jesus?'' by John Dominic Crossan, Richard G. Watts 1999 pp. 31–32][''Jesus of Nazareth: An Independent Historian's Account of His Life and Teaching'' by Maurice Casey 2010 p. 35] Another argument used in favour of the historicity of the baptism is that multiple accounts refer to it, usually called the criterion of multiple attestation The criterion of multiple attestation, also called the criterion of independent attestation or the cross-section method, is a tool used by Biblical scholars to help determine whether certain actions or sayings by Jesus in the New Testament are from ...
.[''John the Baptist: prophet of purity for a new age'' by Catherine M. Murphy 2003 pp. 29–30] Technically, multiple attestation does not guarantee authenticity, but only determines antiquity. However, for most scholars, together with the criterion of embarrassment it lends credibility to the baptism of Jesus by John being a historical event.
Crucifixion
John P. Meier
John Paul Meier (August 8, 1942 – October 18, 2022) was an American biblical scholar and Roman Catholic priest. He was author of the series ''A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus'' (5 v.), six other books, and more than 70 articles ...
views the crucifixion of Jesus as a historical fact and states that based on the criterion of embarrassment
The criterion of embarrassment is a type of historical analysis in which a historical account is deemed likely to be true under the inference that that the author would have no reason to invent a historical account which might embarrass them. Cer ...
, Christians would not have invented the painful death of their leader.[ Meier states that a number of other criteriathe criterion of '']multiple attestation The criterion of multiple attestation, also called the criterion of independent attestation or the cross-section method, is a tool used by Biblical scholars to help determine whether certain actions or sayings by Jesus in the New Testament are from ...
'' (i.e., confirmation by more than one source), the ''criterion of coherence'' (i.e., that it fits with other historical elements) and the ''criterion of rejection'' (i.e., that it is not disputed by ancient sources)help establish the crucifixion of Jesus as a historical event.[ Eddy and Boyd state that it is now firmly established that there is non-Christian confirmation of the crucifixion of Jesusreferring to the mentions in Josephus and Tacitus.]
Most scholars in the third quest for the historical Jesus
The quest for the historical Jesus consists of academic efforts to determine what words and actions, if any, may be attributed to Jesus, and to use the findings to provide portraits of the historical Jesus.. Since the 18th century, three scholarl ...
consider the crucifixion indisputable,[John P. Meier "How do we decide what comes from Jesus" in ''The Historical Jesus in Recent Research'' by James D. G. Dunn and Scot McKnight 2006 pp. 126–128, 132–136][Ehrman, Bart D. (2008). ''A Brief Introduction to the New Testament''. p. 136] as do Bart Ehrman, John Dominic Crossan
John Dominic Crossan (born 17 February 1934) is an Irish-American New Testament scholar, historian of early Christianity, former Catholic priest who was a prominent member of the Jesus Seminar, and emeritus professor at DePaul University. His res ...
and James Dunn. Although scholars agree on the historicity of the crucifixion, they differ on the reason and context for it, e.g. both E. P. Sanders and Paula Fredriksen
Paula Fredriksen (born January 6, 1951, Kingston, Rhode Island) is an American historian and scholar of early Christianity. She held the position of William Goodwin Aurelio Professor of Scripture at Boston University from 1990 to 2010. Now emerit ...
support the historicity of the crucifixion, but contend that Jesus did not foretell his own crucifixion, and that his prediction of the crucifixion is a Christian story.[ ]Géza Vermes
Géza Vermes, (; 22 June 1924 – 8 May 2013) was a British academic, Biblical scholar, and Judaist of Hungarian Jewish descent—one who also served as a Catholic priest in his youth—and scholar specialized in the field of the history of rel ...
also views the crucifixion as a historical event but believes this was due to Jesus’ challenging of Roman authority.[''A Century of Theological and Religious Studies in Britain, 1902–2002'' by ]Ernest Nicholson
Ernest Wilson Nicholson, (26 September 1938 – 22 December 2013) was a British scholar of the Old Testament and Church of England priest. He was Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford from 1979 to 1 ...
2004 pp. 125–126 On the other hand, Maurice Casey
Philip Maurice Casey (18 October 1942 – 10 May 2014) was a British scholar of New Testament and early Christianity. He was an emeritus professor at the University of Nottingham, having served there as Professor of New Testament Languages and ...
and John P. Meier state that Jesus did predict his death, and this actually strengthened his followers' belief in his Resurrection.
Other possibly historical elements
In addition to the two historical elements of baptism and crucifixion, scholars attribute varying levels of certainty to various other aspects of the life of Jesus, although there is no universal agreement among scholars on these items:[
* Jesus was a ]Galilean
Generically, a Galilean (; he, גלילי; grc, Γαλιλαίων; la, Galilaeos) is an inhabitant of Galilee, a region of Israel surrounding the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret). The New Testament notes that the Apostle Peter's accent gave him a ...
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
who was born between 7 and 2 BC and died 30–36 AD.
* Jesus lived only in Galilee and Judea: Most scholars reject that there is any evidence that an adult Jesus traveled or studied outside Galilee and Judea. Marcus Borg
Marcus Joel Borg (March 11, 1942 – January 21, 2015) was an American New Testament scholar and theologian. He was among the most widely known and influential voices in Liberal Christianity. Borg was a fellow of the Jesus Seminar and a major fig ...
states that the suggestions that an adult Jesus traveled to Egypt or India are "without historical foundation".[''The Historical Jesus in Recent Research'' edited by James D. G. Dunn and Scot McKnight 2006 p. 303] John Dominic Crossan states that none of the theories presented to fill the 15–18-year gap between the early life of Jesus and the start of his ministry have been supported by modern scholarship.[ The ]Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...
refers to "Jesus the Nazarene" several times and scholars such as Andreas Kostenberger and Robert Van Voorst
Robert E. Van Voorst (born June 5, 1952) is an American theologian and educator.
He retired in 2018 as a Professor of New Testament Studies at Western Theological Seminary, in Holland, Michigan, and has published scholarly works in early Christ ...
hold that some of these references are to Jesus.[Van Voorst, Robert E. (2000). ''Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence'' Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. pp. 177–118] Nazareth
Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...
is not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
and the Christian gospels portray it as an insignificant village, John 1:46 asking "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?"[''The Life and Ministry of Jesus'' by Douglas Redford 2007 -p. 32] Craig S. Keener
Craig S. Keener (born 4 July 1960) is a North American academic, Charismatic Baptist pastor, theologian, Biblical scholar and professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary.
Biography
Keener was born on 4 July 1960. Education
In 1982 ...
states that it is rarely disputed that Jesus was from Nazareth, an obscure small village not worthy of invention. Gerd Theissen concurs with that conclusion.
* Jesus spoke
A spoke is one of some number of rods radiating from the center of a wheel (the hub where the axle connects), connecting the hub with the round traction surface.
The term originally referred to portions of a log that had been riven (split l ...
Aramaic and may have also spoken Hebrew and Greek.[ James Barr, ''Which language did Jesus speak'', Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, 1970; 53(1) pp. 9–2]
[''Handbook to exegesis of the New Testament'' by ]Stanley E. Porter
Stanley E. Porter (born November 23, 1956) is a Canadian–American academic and New Testament scholar, specializing in the Koine Greek grammar and linguistics of the New Testament.
Life and career
Porter was born in Long Beach, California, on ...
1997 pp. 110–112 The languages spoken in Galilee and Judea
Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous L ...
during the 1st century include the Semitic Aramaic and Hebrew languages as well as Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, with Aramaic being the predominant language. Most scholars agree that during the early part of the 1st century, Aramaic was the mother tongue of virtually all women in Galilee and Judea.
* Jesus called disciples: John P. Meier sees the calling of disciples a natural consequence of the information available about Jesus.[''Authenticating the Activities of Jesus'' by Bruce Chilton and Craig A. Evans 2002 pp. 3–7][''Jesus as a Figure in History: How Modern Historians View the Man from Galilee'' by Mark Allan Powell (Nov 1, 1998) p. 117] N. T. Wright accepts that there were twelve disciples, but holds that the list of their names cannot be determined with certainty. John Dominic Crossan disagrees, stating that Jesus did not call disciples and had an "open to all" egalitarian approach, imposed no hierarchy and preached to all in equal terms.[ However, James Crossley and Robert J. Myles and the emerging consensus disagree with Crossan, arguing that "we should dispel romantic notions that this movement was proudly egalitarian and progressive in the sense of the 'radical liberalism' of today" and instead point out that the core Twelve may have been "a central committee or politburo with membership sometimes changing."
* Jesus caused a controversy at the Temple.]
* After his death his disciples continued, and some of his disciples were persecuted.[
Some scholars have proposed further additional historical possibilities such as:
* An approximate ]chronology of Jesus
A chronology of Jesus aims to establish a timeline for the events of the life of Jesus. Scholars have correlated Jewish and Greco-Roman documents and astronomical calendars with the New Testament accounts to estimate dates for the major even ...
can be estimated from non-Christian sources, and confirmed by correlating them with New Testament accounts.Paul L. Maier
Paul L. Maier (born May 31, 1930) is a historian and novelist. He has written several works of scholarly and popular non-fiction about Christianity and novels about Christian historians. He is the former Russell H. Seibert Professor of Ancient H ...
"The Date of the Nativity and Chronology of Jesus" in ''Chronos, kairos, Christos'' by Jerry Vardaman, Edwin M. Yamauchi 1989 pp. 113–129[''The Lion and the Lamb'' by Andreas J. Kostenberger, L. Scott Kellum and Charles L Quarles (2012) p. 40]
* Claims about the appearance or ethnicity of Jesus are mostly subjective, based on cultural stereotypes and societal trends rather than on scientific analysis.[''The forging of races: race and scripture in the Protestant Atlantic world'' by Colin Kidd 2006 p. 18][''Jesus: the complete guide'' by Leslie Houlden 2006 082648011X pp. 63–100][''The likeness of the king: a prehistory of portraiture in late medieval France'' by Stephen Perkinson 2009 p. 30]
* The baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist can be dated approximately from Josephus' references ( ''Antiquities'' 18.5.2) to a date before AD 28–35.[''Herodias: at home in that fox's den'' by Florence Morgan Gillman 2003 pp. 25–30][''Herod Antipas'' by Harold W. Hoehner 1983 pp. 125–127]
* The main topic of his teaching was the Kingdom of God
The concept of the kingship of God appears in all Abrahamic religions, where in some cases the terms Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven are also used. The notion of God's kingship goes back to the Hebrew Bible, which refers to "his kingdom" b ...
, and he presented this teaching in parables
A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, w ...
that were surprising and sometimes confounding.[ Funk, Robert W., Roy W. Hoover, and the ]Jesus Seminar
The Jesus Seminar was a group of about 50 critical biblical scholars and 100 laymen founded in 1985 by Robert Funk that originated under the auspices of the Westar Institute.''Making Sense of the New Testament'' by Craig Blomberg (Mar 1, 2004) ...
(1993). ''The Five Gospels''. HarperSanFrancisco, pp. 1–30.
* Jesus taught an ethic of forgiveness, as expressed in aphorisms such as "turn the other cheek
Turn may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Dance and sports
* Turn (dance and gymnastics), rotation of the body
* Turn (swimming), reversing direction at the end of a pool
* Turn (professional wrestling), a transition between face and heel
* Turn, ...
" or "go the extra mile."
* An emerging scholarly consensus suggests Jesus and his inner-circle claimed "a degree of hardened 'servant' masculinity for themselves as an example to the world."
* The date of the crucifixion of Jesus was earlier than 36 AD, based on the dates of the prefecture of Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of J ...
who was governor of Roman Judea
Judaea ( la, Iudaea ; grc, Ἰουδαία, translit=Ioudaíā ) was a Roman province which incorporated the regions of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea from 6 CE, extending over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms o ...
from 26 AD until 36 AD.
Portraits of the historical Jesus
Scholars involved in the third and next quests for the historical Jesus have constructed a variety of portraits and profiles for Jesus.[''The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament'' by Andreas J. Köstenberger, L. Scott Kellum 2009 pp. 124–125][ However, there is little scholarly agreement on the portraits, or the methods used in constructing them.][ The portraits of Jesus that have been constructed in the quest for the historical Jesus have often differed from each other, and from the image portrayed in the gospel accounts. These portraits include that of Jesus as an ''apocalyptic prophet'', ''charismatic healer'', ''Cynic philosopher'', ''Jewish Messiah'' and ''prophet of social change'',][ but there is little scholarly agreement on a single portrait, or the methods needed to construct it.][ There are, however, overlapping attributes among the various portraits, and scholars who differ on some attributes may agree on others.][
Contemporary scholarship, representing the "third quest" and the "next quest" places Jesus firmly in the Jewish tradition. Jesus was a Jewish preacher who taught that he was the path to ]salvation
Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...
, everlasting life, and the Kingdom of God. A primary criterion used to discern historical details in the "third quest" is that of plausibility, relative to Jesus' Jewish context and to his influence on Christianity. Contemporary scholars of the "third quest" include E. P. Sanders, Géza Vermes, Gerd Theissen, Christoph Burchard, and John Dominic Crossan
John Dominic Crossan (born 17 February 1934) is an Irish-American New Testament scholar, historian of early Christianity, former Catholic priest who was a prominent member of the Jesus Seminar, and emeritus professor at DePaul University. His res ...
. In contrast to the Schweitzerian view, certain North American scholars, such as Burton Mack, advocate for a non-eschatological Jesus, one who is more of a Cynic sage than an apocalyptic preacher.
Mainstream views
Despite the significant differences among scholars on what constitutes a suitable portrait for Jesus, the mainstream views supported by a number of scholars may be grouped together based on certain distinct, primary themes.[ These portraits often include overlapping elements, and there are also differences among the followers of each portrait. The subsections below present the main portraits that are supported by multiple mainstream scholars.][
]
Apocalyptic prophet
The apocalyptic prophet view primarily emphasizes Jesus preparing his fellow Jews for the End Times
Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that nega ...
. The first proponent of this hypothesis was Albert Schweitzer
Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was an Alsatian-German/French polymath. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. A Lutheran minister, Schwei ...
in his 1906 book '' The Quest of the Historical Jesus''.
The works of E. P. Sanders and Maurice Casey
Philip Maurice Casey (18 October 1942 – 10 May 2014) was a British scholar of New Testament and early Christianity. He was an emeritus professor at the University of Nottingham, having served there as Professor of New Testament Languages and ...
place Jesus within the context of Jewish eschatological tradition. Bart D. Ehrman aligns himself with Schweitzer's view that Jesus expected an apocalypse during his own generation, and he bases some of his views on the argument that the earliest gospel sources (for which he assumes Markan priority
Marcan priority is the hypothesis that the Gospel of Mark was the first of the three synoptic gospels to be written, and was used as a source by the other two (Matthew and Luke). It is a central element in discussion of the synoptic problem; the q ...
) and the First Epistle to the Thessalonians
The First Epistle to the Thessalonians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle, and is addressed to the church in Thessalonica, in modern-day Greece. It is likely among th ...
, chapters 4 and 5, probably written by the end of AD 52, present Jesus as far more apocalyptic than other Christian sources produced towards the end of the 1st century, contending that the apocalyptic messages were progressively toned down.[''Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium'' by Bart D. Ehrman (1999) Oxford University Press pp.] Dale C. Allison Jr. does not see Jesus as advocating specific timetables for the End Times, but sees him as preaching his own doctrine of "apocalyptic eschatology" derived from post-exilitic Jewish teachings,[Dale Allison, ''Constructing Jesus: Memory, Imagination, and History'' 2010, p. 32] and views the apocalyptic teachings of Jesus as a form of asceticism
Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...
.
The characterization of Jesus as an apocalyptic or millenarian prophet can also be combined with other categories, such as in the work of James Crossley and Robert J. Myles (see below) who regard the end-time teaching of Jesus as a culturally credible way of responding to social and material upheaval in Galilee and Judea.
Charismatic healer
The charismatic healer portrait positions Jesus as a pious and holy man in the view of Géza Vermes, whose profile draws on the Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...
ic representations of Jewish figures such as Hanina ben Dosa
Hanina ben Dosa ( he, ) was a first-century Jewish scholar and miracle-worker and the pupil of Johanan ben Zakai. He is buried in the town of Arraba in northern Israel.Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p206/ref>
Biography
Hanina lived in the G ...
and Honi the Circle Drawer and presents Jesus as a Hasid. Marcus Borg
Marcus Joel Borg (March 11, 1942 – January 21, 2015) was an American New Testament scholar and theologian. He was among the most widely known and influential voices in Liberal Christianity. Borg was a fellow of the Jesus Seminar and a major fig ...
views Jesus as a charismatic "man of the spirit", a mystic or visionary who acts as a conduit for the "Spirit of God". Borg sees this as a well-defined religious personality type, whose actions often involve healing. Borg sees Jesus as a non-eschatological figure who did not intend to start a new religion, but his message set him at odds with the Jewish powers of his time based on the "politics of holiness".[ Both Sanders and Casey agree that Jesus was also a charismatic healer in addition to an apocalyptic prophet.]
Cynic philosopher
In the Cynic philosopher profile, Jesus is presented as a Cynic, a traveling sage and philosopher preaching a cynical and radical message of change to abolish the existing hierarchical structure of the society of his time.[''The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament'' by Andreas J. Köstenberger, L. Scott Kellum 2009 pp. 117–125] In John Dominic Crossan
John Dominic Crossan (born 17 February 1934) is an Irish-American New Testament scholar, historian of early Christianity, former Catholic priest who was a prominent member of the Jesus Seminar, and emeritus professor at DePaul University. His res ...
's view Jesus was crucified not for religious reasons but because his social teachings challenged the seat of power held by the Jewish authorities. Burton Mack also holds that Jesus was a Cynic whose teachings were so different from those of his time that they shocked the audience and forced them to think, but Mack views his death as accidental and not due to his challenge to Jewish authority.[
]
Jewish Messiah
The Jewish Messiah
The Messiah in Judaism () is a savior and liberator figure in Jewish eschatology, who is believed to be the future redeemer of the Jewish people. The concept of messianism originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible a messiah is a king or ...
portrait of N. T. Wright
Nicholas Thomas Wright (born 1 December 1948), known as N. T. Wright or Tom Wright, is an English New Testament scholar, Pauline theologian and Anglican bishop. He was the bishop of Durham from 2003 to 2010. He then became research profe ...
places Jesus within the Jewish context of "exile and return", a notion he uses to build on his view of the 1st-century concept of hope.[ Wright believes that Jesus was the Messiah and argues that the ]Resurrection of Jesus
The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lo ...
was a physical and historical event. Wright's portrait of Jesus is closer to the traditional Christian views than many other scholars, and when he departs from the Christian tradition, his views are still close to them. Like Wright, Markus Bockmuehl
Markus Bockmuehl (born 1961) is a biblical scholar specialising in Early Christianity. He has been the Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford since 2014, and a Fellow of Keble College, Oxford, since ...
, Peter Stuhlmacher Peter Stuhlmacher (born 18 January 1932 in Leipzig) is a Protestant theologian, professor emeritus of New Testament studies at the University of Tübingen.
His book ''Jesus of Nazareth-Christ of Faith'' was published in 1993.
In 1997 a ''Festschri ...
and Brant J. Pitre support the view that Jesus came to announce the end of the Jewish ''spiritual exile'' and usher in a new messianic era in which God would improve this world through the faith of his people.
Prophet of social change
The prophet of social change portrait positions Jesus primarily as someone who challenged the traditional social structures of his time. Gerd Theissen sees three main elements to the activities of Jesus as he effected social change: his positioning as the Son of man, the core group of disciples that followed him, and his localized supporters as he journeyed through Galilee and Judea. Richard A. Horsley goes further and presents Jesus as a more radical reformer who initiated a grassroots
A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...
movement. David Kaylor's ideas are close to those of Horsley, but have a more religious focus and base the actions of Jesus on covenant theology and his desire for justice. Elisabeth Fiorenza has presented a feminist perspective which sees Jesus as a social reformer whose actions such as the acceptance of women followers resulted in the liberation of some women of his time. James Crossley and Robert J. Myles advocate a nuanced historical materialist perspective of Jesus as a religious organizer who responded to the intersecting material conditions of Galilee and Judea in culturally credible ways such as through intra-Jewish legal debate and a revolutionary millenarian proclamation.
S. G. F. Brandon
Samuel George Frederick Brandon (1907 – 21 October 1971) was a British Anglican priest and scholar of comparative religion. He became professor of comparative religion at the University of Manchester in 1951.
Biography
Born in Devon in 1907, B ...
, Fernando Bermejo Rubio, and Reza Aslan
Reza Aslan ( fa, رضا اصلان, ; born May 3, 1972) is an Iranian-American scholar of sociology of religion, writer, and television host. A convert to evangelical Christianity from Shia Islam as a youth, Aslan eventually reverted to Islam b ...
(the last one is not a biblical scholar) argue that Jesus was an anti-Roman revolutionary that tried to overthrow Roman rule in Palestine and re-establish the Kingdom of Israel.
Rabbi
The rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
portrait advances the idea that Jesus was simply a rabbi who sought to reform certain ideas within Judaism. This idea can be traced to the late nineteenth century, when various liberal Jews sought to emphasize the Jewish nature of Jesus, and saw him as something of a proto- Reform Jew. Perhaps the most prominent of these was Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch
Emil Gustav Hirsch (May 22, 1851 – January 7, 1923) was a Luxembourgish-born Jewish American biblical scholar, Reform rabbi, contributing editor to numerous articles of ''The Jewish Encyclopedia'' (1906), anfounding member of the NAACP
Biog ...
, who in ''The Doctrine of Jesus'' wrote:
Bruce Chilton
Bruce D. Chilton (born September 27, 1949 Roslyn, NY) is an American scholar of early Christianity and Judaism. He is Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College, former Rector of the Church of St John the Evangelist and formerly Li ...
, in his book ''Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography'', painted Jesus as a devout student of John the Baptist who came to see it as his mission to restore the Temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
to purity, and purge the Romans and the corrupt priests from its midst. Jaroslav Pelikan
Jaroslav Jan Pelikan Jr. (December 17, 1923 – May 13, 2006) was an American scholar of the history of Christianity, Christian theology, and medieval intellectual history at Yale University.
Early years
Jaroslav Jan Pelikan Jr. was born on Dec ...
, in ''The Illustrated Jesus Through the Centuries'' stated:
The most neutral and least controversial of these words is probably Rabbi, along with the related Rabbouni. Except for two passages, the Gospels apply the Aramaic word only to Jesus; and if we conclude that the title "teacher" or "master" (didaskalos in Greek) was intended as a translation of that Aramaic name, it seems safe to say that it was as Rabbi that Jesus was known and addressed.[
The conservative evangelical scholar ]Andreas J. Köstenberger
Andreas Johannes Köstenberger (born November 2, 1957), usually cited as Andreas J. Köstenberger, is Research Professor at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Until 2018 he was Senior Research Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theolog ...
in ''Jesus as Rabbi in the Fourth Gospel'' also reached the conclusion that Jesus was seen by his contemporaries as a rabbi.[
In 2012, the book '']Kosher Jesus
''Kosher Jesus'' (2012) is a book by the Orthodox Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, focusing on the relationship between Christianity and Judaism. The book examines the rabbinic origins of the teachings of Jesus within the context of Second Temple Judaism i ...
'' by Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
Rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
Shmuley Boteach
Jacob Shmuel Boteach ( ; born November 19, 1966) is an American Orthodox Jewish rabbi, author, and television host. Boteach is the author of 31 books, including the best seller ''Kosher Sex: A Recipe for Passion and Intimacy'', and ''Kosher Jesu ...
was published in which Boteach takes the position that Jesus was a wise and learned Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...
-observant Jewish rabbi. Boteach says he was a beloved member of the Jewish community. At the same time, Jesus is said to have despised the Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
for their cruelty, and to have fought them courageously. The book states that the Jews had nothing whatsoever to do with the murder of Jesus, but rather that the blame for his trial and killing lies with the Romans and Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of J ...
. Boteach states clearly that he does not believe in Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. At the same time, Boteach argues that "Jews have much to learn from Jesusand from Christianity as a wholewithout accepting Jesus' divinity. There are many reasons for accepting Jesus as a man of great wisdom, beautiful ethical teachings, and profound Jewish patriotism." He concludes by writing, as to Judeo-Christian values
The idea that a common Judaeo-Christian ethics or Judeo-Christian values underpins American politics, law and morals has been part of the "American civil religion" since the 1940s. In recent years, the phrase has been associated with American co ...
, that "the hyphen between Jewish and Christian values is Jesus himself."
Non-mainstream views
Other portraits have been presented by individual scholars:
* Ben Witherington
Ben Witherington III (born December 30, 1951) is an American Wesleyan-Arminian New Testament scholar. Witherington is Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary, a Wesleyan-Holiness seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, an ...
supports the "Wisdom Sage" view and states that Jesus is best understood as a teacher of wisdom who saw himself as the embodiment or incarnation of God's Wisdom.
*John P. Meier
John Paul Meier (August 8, 1942 – October 18, 2022) was an American biblical scholar and Roman Catholic priest. He was author of the series ''A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus'' (5 v.), six other books, and more than 70 articles ...
's portrait of Jesus as the Marginal Jew is built on the view that Jesus knowingly marginalized himself in a number of ways, first by abandoning his profession as a carpenter and becoming a preacher with no means of support, then arguing against the teachings and traditions of the time while he had no formal rabbinic training.
*Robert Eisenman
Robert Eisenman (born 1937) is an American biblical scholar, historian, archaeologist, and poet. He is currently professor of Middle East religions, archaeology, and Islamic law and director of the Institute for the Study of
Judaeo-Christian Orig ...
proposed that James the Just
James the Just, or a variation of James, brother of the Lord ( la, Iacobus from he, יעקב, and grc-gre, Ἰάκωβος, , can also be Anglicized as "Jacob"), was "a brother of Jesus", according to the New Testament. He was an early lead ...
was the Teacher of Righteousness
The Teacher of Righteousness (in Hebrew: מורה הצדק ''Moreh ha-Tzedek'') is a figure found in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, most prominently in the Damascus Document. This document speaks briefly of the origins of the sect, proba ...
mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the nor ...
, and that the image of Jesus of the gospels was constructed by the Apostle Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
as pro-Roman propaganda.
*Hyam Maccoby
Hyam Maccoby ( he, חיים מכובי, 1924–2004) was a Jewish-British scholar and dramatist specialising in the study of the Jewish and Christian religious traditions. He was known for his theories of the historical Jesus and the origins of C ...
proposed that Jesus was a Pharisee, that the positions ascribed to the Pharisees in the Gospels are very different from what we know of them, and in fact their opinions were very similar to those ascribed to Jesus. Harvey Falk also sees Jesus as proto-Pharisee or Essene
The Essenes (; Hebrew: , ''Isiyim''; Greek: Ἐσσηνοί, Ἐσσαῖοι, or Ὀσσαῖοι, ''Essenoi, Essaioi, Ossaioi'') were a mystic Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st c ...
.
*Morton Smith
Morton Smith (May 28, 1915 – July 11, 1991)Neusner, Jacob, ''Christianity, Judaism, and other Greco-Roman Cults. Part 1: New Testament'', ed. J. Neusner, ''Studies for Morton Smith at Sixty, vol 1, New Testament'' (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1975), p. ...
views Jesus as a magician, a view based on the presentation of Jesus in later Jewish sources and on (dubious) apochryphal writings such as the Secret Gospel of Mark
The Secret Gospel of Mark or the Mystic Gospel of Mark ( grc-x-biblical, τοῦ Μάρκου τὸ μυστικὸν εὐαγγέλιον, tou Markou to mystikon euangelion), also the Longer Gospel of Mark, is a putative longer and secret or my ...
.
*Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
saw Jesus as championing Christian anarchism
Christian anarchism is a Christian movement in political theology that claims anarchism is inherent in Christianity and the Gospels. It is grounded in the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answ ...
(although Tolstoy never actually used the term "Christian anarchism"; reviews of his book following its publication in 1894 coined the term.)
*It has been suggested by psychiatrists Oskar Panizza
Leopold Hermann Oskar Panizza (12 November 1853 – 28 September 1921) was a German psychiatrist and avant-garde author, playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, publisher and literary journal editor. He is best known for his provocative tragicomedy ...
, George de Loosten, William Hirsch, William Sargant
William Walters Sargant (24 April 1907 – 27 August 1988) was a British psychiatrist who is remembered for the evangelical zeal with which he promoted treatments such as psychosurgery, deep sleep treatment, electroconvulsive therapy and insu ...
, Anthony Storr
Anthony Storr (18 May 1920 – 17 March 2001) was an English psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and author.
Background and education
Born in London, Storr was educated at Winchester College, Christ's College, Cambridge, and Westminster Hospital. H ...
, Raj Persaud
Rajendra 'Raj' Persaud FRCPsych (born 13 May 1963) is an English consultant psychiatrist, broadcaster and author of books about psychiatry. He is known for raising public awareness of psychiatric and mental health issues in the general media, ...
, psychologist Charles Binet-Sanglé
Charles Binet-Sanglé (4 July 1868 – 14 November 1941) was a French people, French military doctor and psychologist, who notably was the first to broadly and thoroughly question the mental health of Jesus, which he did in his four-volume work ' ...
and others that Jesus had a mental disorder or psychiatric condition. This theory is based on the fact that the Gospel of Mark (Mark 3:21) reports that ''When his family heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, ″He is out of his mind.″'' Psychologist Władysław Witwicki
Władysław Witwicki (30 April 1878, Lubaczów – 21 December 1948, Konstancin-Jeziorna, Konstancin) was a Poles, Polish psychologist, philosopher, Translation, translator (mainly of Plato's works into Polish language, Polish), historian (of phi ...
states that Jesus had difficulties communicating with the outside world and suffered from multiple personality disorder, which made him a schizothymic or even schizophrenic type. In 1998–2000 Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
author Leszek Nowak (born 1962) from Poznań
Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...
authored a study in which, based on his own history of delusions of mission and overvalued ideas, and information communicated in the Gospels, made an attempt at reconstructing Jesus’ psyche[Leszek Nowak]
Prywatna Witryna Internetowa Leszka Nowaka
at Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
(Polish) with the view of the apocalyptic prophet.[Analysis of fragments of the New Testament books for Jesus as apocalyptic prophet: Leszek Nowak]
"A great mistake and disappointment of early Christianity"
at Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
(Polish)
See also
* Biblical archaeology
Biblical archaeology is an academic school and a subset of Biblical studies and Levantine archaeology. Biblical archaeology studies archaeological sites from the Ancient Near East and especially the Holy Land (also known as Palestine, Land o ...
* Biblical manuscript
A biblical manuscript is any handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Bible. Biblical manuscripts vary in size from tiny scrolls containing individual verses of the Jewish scriptures (see ''Tefillin'') to huge polyglot codices (multi-ling ...
* Census of Quirinius
The Census of Quirinius is generally believed to be a census of Judea taken by Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, governor of Roman Syria, upon the imposition of direct Roman rule in 6 CE. The Gospel of Luke uses it to date the birth of Jesus, w ...
, a census of Judaea taken by Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, Roman governor of Syria, upon the imposition of direct Roman rule in 6 AD.
* Criterion of dissimilarity
The criterion of dissimilarity (often used as a shorthand for criterion of double dissimilarity;''The Historical Jesus and the Final Judgment Sayings in Q'' (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen Zum Neuen Testament) by Brian Han Gregg (30 June 2006) ...
* Criticism of the Bible
Criticism of the Bible is an interdisciplinary field of study concerning the factual accuracy of the claims and the moral tenability of the commandments made in the Bible, the holy book of Christianity. Devout Christians have long regarded their ...
* Chronology of Jesus
A chronology of Jesus aims to establish a timeline for the events of the life of Jesus. Scholars have correlated Jewish and Greco-Roman documents and astronomical calendars with the New Testament accounts to estimate dates for the major even ...
* Gospel harmony
A gospel harmony is an attempt to compile the canonical gospels of the Christian New Testament into a single account. This may take the form either of a single, merged narrative, or a tabular format with one column for each gospel, technically kn ...
* Historical background of the New Testament
Most scholars who study the historical Jesus and early Christianity believe that the canonical gospels and the life of Jesus must be viewed within their historical and cultural context, rather than purely in terms of Christian orthodoxy. They lo ...
* Historicity of the Bible
The historicity of the Bible is the question of the Bible's relationship to history—covering not just the Bible's acceptability as history but also the ability to understand the literary forms of biblical narrative. One can extend biblical his ...
* Jesus in comparative mythology
The study of Jesus in comparative mythology is the examination of the narratives of the life of Jesus in the Christian gospels, traditions and theology, as they relate to Christianity and other religions. Although the vast majority of New Testa ...
* Jesus Seminar
The Jesus Seminar was a group of about 50 critical biblical scholars and 100 laymen founded in 1985 by Robert Funk that originated under the auspices of the Westar Institute.''Making Sense of the New Testament'' by Craig Blomberg (Mar 1, 2004) ...
* Life of Jesus in the New Testament
The life of Jesus in the New Testament is primarily outlined in the four canonical gospels, which includes his genealogy and nativity, public ministry, passion, prophecy, resurrection and ascension. Other parts of the New Testament – suc ...
* Mental health of Jesus
The question of whether the historical Jesus was in good mental health has been explored by multiple psychologists, philosophers, historians, and writers. The first person to openly question Jesus' sanity was French psychologist Charles Binet-San ...
* New Testament places associated with Jesus
The New Testament narrative of the life of Jesus refers to a number of locations in the Holy Land and a Flight into Egypt. In these accounts the principal locations for the ministry of Jesus were Galilee and Judea, with activities also taking place ...
* Race and appearance of Jesus
The race and appearance of Jesus has been a topic of discussion since the days of early Christianity. Various theories about the race of Jesus have been proposed and debated.''Racializing Jesus: Race, Ideology and the Formation of Modern Biblica ...
* Scholarly interpretation of Gospel elements Scholars have given various interpretations of the elements of the Gospel stories.
Chronology
The approximate chronology of Jesus can be estimated from non-Christian sources, and confirmed by correlating them with New Testament accounts.Paul L. M ...
* Timeline of Christianity
The purpose of this timeline is to give a detailed account of Christianity from the beginning of the current era ( AD) to the present. Question marks ('?') on dates indicate approximate dates.
The year one is the first year in the ''Christia ...
* '' The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors''
Notes
References
Sources
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* Brown, Raymond E. ''et al.'' ''The New Jerome Biblical Commentary'' Prentice Hall 1990
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* Craffert, Pieter F. and Botha, Pieter J. J. "Why Jesus Could Walk On The Sea But He Could Not Read And Write." ''Neotestamenica''. 39.1, 2005.
* Bock, Darrell L., ''Studying the Historical Jesus: A Guide to Sources and Methods.''. Baker Academic: 2002. .
* Crossan, John Dominic. ''Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography''. Harpercollins: 1994. .
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* Fiensy, David A.; ''Jesus the Galilean: soundings in a first century life'', Gorgias Press LLC, 2007, ,
Google books
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* Gnilka, Joachim.; ''Jesus of Nazareth: Message and History'', Hendrickson Publishers, 1997.
* Gowler, David B.; ''What Are They Saying About the Historical Jesus?'', Paulist Press, 2007,
* Loke, Andrew Ter Ern. ''The Origin of Divine Christology.'' Cambridge University Press. 2017.
* Grant, Michael. ''Jesus: A Historian's Review of the Gospels.'' Scribner's, 1977. .
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* Harris, by William V. ''Ancient Literacy''. Harvard University Press: 1989. .
* Meier, John P. ''A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus'', Doubleday,
:v. 1, ''The Roots of the Problem and the Person'', 1991,
:v. 2, ''Mentor, Message, and Miracles'', 1994,
:v. 3, ''Companions and Competitors'', 2001,
:v. 4, ''Law and Love'', 2009,
:v. 5, ''Probing the Authenticity of the Parables'', 2016,
* O'Collins, G. '' Jesus: A Portrait''. Darton, Longman and Todd: 2008.
* O'Collins, G. '' Christology: A Biblical, Historical, and Systematic Study of Jesus''. OUP: 2009.
* Sanders, E. P. ''Jesus and Judaism''. Augsburg Fortress Publishers: 1987.
* Sanders, E. P. ''The Historical Figure of Jesus''. Lane The Penguin Press: 1993.
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* Van Voorst, Robert E., ''Jesus Outside the New Testament'', 2000, Eerdmans
google books
* Vermes, Géza Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels. SCM Classics:2001,
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* Wright, N. T. Christian Origins and the Question of God, a projected six-volume series of which three have been published under:
:v. 1, ''The New Testament and the People of God.'' Augsburg Fortress Publishers: 1992.;
:v. 2, ''Jesus and the Victory of God.'' Augsburg Fortress Publishers: 1997.;
:v. 3, ''The Resurrection of the Son of God.'' Augsburg Fortress Publishers: 2003.
* Wright, N. T. ''The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering who Jesus was and is''. IVP 1996
* Yaghjian, Lucretia. "Ancient Reading," in Richard Rohrbaugh, ed., ''The Social Sciences in New Testament Interpretation''. Hendrickson Publishers: 2004. .
External links
"Jesus Christ"
Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2009. The first section, on Jesus' life and ministry
Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jesus, Historical
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