INTRODUCTION TO THE QUEST FOR THE HISTORICAL JESUS

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INTRODUCTION TO THE QUEST FOR THE HISTORICAL JESUS
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Introduction to the Quest
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An overview of the three quests.
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The old quest-at least three main approaches
dominated this period (19th Century)
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Rationalism-Jesus of history was a mere man, he
had no miracle working abilities, or divine
nature. Strauss and Reimarus would be included in
this group.
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Romantics-Jesus is a consummately gentle teacher
of love, beauty and joy who offered compelling
moral precepts for his people. This would have
been taken by the Roman Catholic priest, Renan.
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Liberals-Jesus is a person who fits in with
beliefs in social progress. He would have
stressed the fatherhood of God and the
brotherhood of man. This group is ably
represented by Adolf vonHarnack
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The second quest-also called the no-quest,
sometimes called the new quest
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Due to Schweitzers and Bultmanns influence,
very little work was done on the Historical Jesus
from about 1900 to the 1950s.
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In 1954 Kassemann read a paper on the historical
Jesus to a group of Bultmanns former students.
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The new quest. Also called the third quest. This
quest is recognized for its work on
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An emphasis on the deeds of Jesus. This has been
the case, a focus more on the deeds of Jesus than
his sayings.
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A smaller emphasis on the sayings of Jesus
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A tendency to view Jesus as a particular kind of
person Cynic Sage by Crossan feminist before
his time by Fiorenza a magician by Morton Smith.
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Some important figures in the quests
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Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694-1768), a noted
philologist in Hamburg. Though it is inaccurate
to state that he began modern criticism, most
scholars consider him to be the "father of gospel
criticism".
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Jesus was a political Messiah who wanted to
establish the Kingdom of God on earth.
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Jesus' aspirations were frustrated by rejection
and his life ended in a despairing cry of defeat.
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The notion of a spiritual, resurrected Savior was
invented by the followers of Jesus after his
death.
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Therefore, the Jesus of History is not the Christ
of faith.
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Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965), a brilliant
scholar who had three earned doctorates
Medicine, Music and Theology. Before he was
thirty, he authored his famous The Quest of the
Historical Jesus A Critical Study of Its
Progress from Reimarus to Wrede
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Jesus was a political Messiah absorbed in
eschatological enthusiasm about the imminent end
of the world.
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To speed up the end, Jesus sent out the Twelve,
convinced that the Son of Man would come before
they returned (Matt 1023).
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When the Twelve returned, Jesus became depressed
but learned from this that he was to be a
Suffering Servant.
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Rudolf Bultmann (1884-1976). Borrowing heavily
from M. Heidegger, Bultmann made a profound
influence upon NT studies through several of his
writings. You should be aware of the following
The History of the Synoptic Tradition.
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The Gospels are products of faith, expressing
only the faith of the early Christians, not
historical accounts of Jesus from Nazareth. This
was nurtured by Bultmann's positivistic
framework all must be doubted.
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Thus, virtually nothing can be known about Jesus.
He says, "I do indeed think that we can now know
almost nothing concerning the life and
personality of Jesus, since the early Christian
sources show no interest in either, are moreover
fragmentary and often legendary ..."
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What we do know is minimal baptized by J-B, part
of a messianic movement, preached the Kingdom of
God, and was executed under Pilate.
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Finally, what distinguished Bultmann from the
rest, is that the quest for data on the
historical Jesus is theologically perverse
because faith is based upon encounter, not facts
in history. This is where his commitment to
existentialism appears.
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Norman Perrin (1920-1976) who was a student of
Bultmann and J. Jeremias. N. Perrin represents
for us the epitome of skepticism.
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Basing his views upon an unproven assertion of R.
Bultmann, Perrin states that the early
Christians made no distinctions between words of
Jesus and words of early Christian prophets, an
idea which has a massive bibliography to this
day.
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Unless a saying could pass one of his three
tests, it is considered in-authentic. His three
tests were dissimilarity, multiple attestation
and coherence.
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E.P. Sanders, entitled, Jesus and Judaism
(Philadelphia Fortress, 1985). Sanders, in
essence, revives much of the thesis of A.
Schweitzer and H.S. Reimarus.
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Jesus saw himself as God's last messenger before
the establishment of the Kingdom, understood as
the restored Israel.
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He performed miracles.
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He was a mistaken visionary.
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N.T. Wright-perhaps the most influential
conservative scholar doing Jesus research today.
His work Jesus and the Victory of God is the
second in a projected five volume series.
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The Gospel traditions are much more reliable than
most Jesus scholars would admit.
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In order to truly understand Jesus, He must be
placed into his first century Jewish milieu.
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The First century Jew was still looking for a
return from exile.
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Jesus offers this return from exile (which is
forgiveness) in a totally unexpected manner.
Forgiveness comes through and the return from
exile comes from an acceptance of the Messiah.
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Important Works on Jesus

• Ben Meyer, The Aims of Jesus
• S. McKnight, A New Vision for Israel
• J. P. Meier, A Marginal Jew
• N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God
• J. Jeremias, New Testament Theology
• R. H. Stein, Jesus the Messiah