Guest Editorial/Introduction

Abstract

Pope Benedict XVI recently invited Christian believers and theologians to interrogate research on the historical Jesus with the question, “What has Jesus really brought . . . if he has not brought world peace, universal prosperity, and a better world?” The “great question” driving Benedict’s study Jesus of Nazareth (2007) emerges from his confrontation with the charge that Jesus “can hardly be the true Messiah,” since the kingdom of God that biblical exegetes tell us he claimed to inaugurate has “not brought world peace” or “conquered the world’s misery.” This query places the Gospel accounts of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ in a hermeneutical circle with the hopes and the tragedies of humankind at the dawn of a new millennium. What does Jesus offer to the half of humanity that struggles for life in the face of grinding poverty? to those whose very culture and human dignity are under assault by predatory forms of globalization? to the innocent who yearn for peace amidst endless wars “of choice” like the recent conflagration in Iraq? and to the billions living in the shadow of looming planetary environmental crisis? In this special issue of Theological Studies Catholic theologians from Africa, Asia, Central America, Europe, South America, and the United States respond to the pope’s invitation, focusing on the significance for Christian churches and communities of faith around the globe of what we learned about Jesus of Galilee. This project emerged from events leading up to the 40th anniversary of the option for the poor embraced by the bishops of Latin America at Medellin (1968), and the 30th anniversary of Virgilio Elizondo’s groundbreaking dissertation (1978) on the Galilean Jesus in Mexican