Historical Jesus Research Articles

On the Reliability of L

Abstract This article examines the historicity of Luke 13:10–17 and 14:1–6, both of which contain healing miracles of Jesus attested only in Luke. The article proceeds by first considering the coherence of these pericopes with material widely accepted as reflecting activity of the historical Jesus. Details within these pericopes are then examined for their potential historical significance. Finally, common objections to historicity are considered. Although the evidence for these singly attested healings is incapable of ‘proving’ their historicity, it suggests that Luke’s source for these healings contains historical information that he handled no more or less responsibly than he handled Mark.

Wilfrid Ward on the Revelatory Nature of the Saints

This article examines how Wilfrid Philip Ward (1856–1916) explains his understanding of the saints as a categorical means of explicating divine revelation within the structures of a religion, particularly Catholicism. A description of the late nineteenth-century Zeitgeist, as perceived by Ward, is provided, followed by an explanation of how Ward responds philosophically to his perceived Zeitgeist with a description of the saints as revelatory of the incarnation in the particularity of historical and social contexts of those outside of the historical Jesus’s own context. This article concludes that Ward’s epistemology of the saints is the foundation for his incarnational ecclesiology.

Jesus the Sect Leader in Comparative Perspective

This article seeks to expand our view of the New Testament’s Jesus by tentatively comparing him to present day sect leaders. With reference to ancient Christian writings, the article shows how the texts’ Jesus seems to share a significant number of traits with his modern peers, and that he is best understood in that context. It is thus—time and place taken into consideration—suggested that the historical Jesus was forged in sociocultural processes rather similar to those that form present day sect leaders, but also that his presumed mindset reflects that of a typical sect leader. In order to show one particular benefit from this comparative exercise, it is suggested that Scientology’s founder and leader, L. Ron Hubbard, is reaching his post–mortem apotheosis in ways similar to those detectable in the ancient case of Jesus. Finally, it is suggested that the characteristics of Jesus the godhead, developed from the characteristics of Jesus the sect leader.

Jesus, Socialism, and “Judeo-topia”

This article addresses the contention commonly expressed among liberal theologians and commentators that the Jesus of history, to the extent that he may be identified, was essentially a social revolutionary, broadly sympathetic to what might be identified in contemporary terms as ideological “socialism.” It is often conceived that Jesus’ concern for the poor, the disenfranchised, and the underclass of Second Temple Judea endows him with a broad egalitarian ethic, making him akin to an ancient “redistributionist.” I will argue, however, that “socialism” did indeed exist in those days, in the form of the Dead Sea sect, and that the historical Jesus was profoundly opposed to the community of property it represented. For him, “social justice” was part of the embedded ethics of Judaism itself, divorced from the “redistributionist” theories of Marxist and neo-Marxist adherents. Whereas the Essene sectarians withdrew from what they called “the material wealth of wickedness,” Jesus admonished his disciples to pursue dealings out of economic contact with the world at large.

Jesus As an Apocalyptic Prophet: The Meaning of the Theory for Systematic Theology

In contemporary research on the figure of historical Jesus, the dominant theory is that he was an apocalyptic prophet, heralding the imminent coming of the end of the present world and the coming of the eschatological kingdom of God. Beginning with the work of Albert Schweitzer, this theory is considered the most probable according to most researchers of the origins of Christianity. This article examines the assumptions of this theory to show how challenging it is to contemporary systematic theology. The first part presents the history and status of the theory in contemporary scientific research. The second part briefly presents the basic assumptions of the theory itself. Finally, the third part presents the problems that the theory raises for systematic theology.

Losing the Lost Coin

The Bible continues to be a contested book with texts that are both detrimental to women’s full participation and inclusive and liberating with the latter often being hidden and sometimes deliberately obscured, however, they can be uncovered. The question of which of these traditions go back to the historical Jesus is contested. Historical Jesus traditions would have higher authority in the eyes of critical readers, and denying this status to traditions diminishes their importance. This article examines the tradition of “gender doublets” where double parables cite two examples for the same idea that illustrate male and female reality. The author argues that the frequency of these doublets, as well as the spread of evidence and the variability of construction, make it very probable that these doublets go back to the historical Jesus. In an environment hostile to women, it is more likely that parables like “the lost coin” or “the woman baking with leaven” got “lost” or were deliberately omitted from parallel traditions rather than the possibility of a later redactor compiling or composing such doublets. The Bible continues to be a contested book with texts that are both detrimental to women’s full participation and inclusive and liberating with the latter often being hidden and sometimes deliberately obscured, however, they can be uncovered. The question of which of these traditions go back to the historical Jesus is contested. Historical Jesus traditions would have higher authority in the eyes of critical readers, and denying this status to traditions diminishes their importance. This article examines the tradition of “gender doublets” where double parables cite two examples for the same idea that illustrate male and female reality. The author argues that the frequency of these doublets, as well as the spread of evidence and the variability of construction, make it very probable that these doublets go back to the historical Jesus. In an environment hostile to women, it is more likely that parables like “the lost coin” or “the woman baking with leaven” got “lost” or were deliberately omitted from parallel traditions rather than the possibility of a later redactor compiling or composing such doublets.

Jesus the Jew: Survey on the Cliché in Its Context

This essay pursues the studies pertaining to the Quest for the Historical Jesus, which began in the Enlightenment era, and focuses on the dominant discourse of this quest in the present-day scholarly works on Jesus the Jew. The late-coming acceptance of the Jewishness of Jesus is now a scholarly cliché. In the context of the Gospels, to say “Jesus was a Jew” is not a really shocking or unexpected idea. The problem with the Jewishness of Jesus is why it took until the 1970s for this idea to develop. The second problem is how the assertion of the Jewishness of Jesus could develop so tremendously in the contemporary academy. That is a difficult question to answer within the borders of mere theology. Therefore, in this essay, I will have recourse to the help of politics and anthropology, and ultimately will claim that the changing of the main discourse in the New Testament scholarship on Jesus the Jew has happened for several reasons, but the 1967 and 1973 Arab-Israeli Wars and the Prague Spring of 1968 have played more important roles than others, such as multiculturalism, the Second Vatican Council, and neoliberalism. These two events might show us the motivation for the sudden but widely accepted alteration. With the rise of the Jesus the Jew emphasis in Historical Jesus Studies, the intensity of Holocaust studies has also increased. Whereas until the 1970s there was no significant concentration of work on the Holocaust, since the 1970s this trend has been reversed and has taken a dominant place in modern academia. The Holocaust narrative has also been valorised by the changing geopolitics of the world, which has also influenced Historical Jesus Studies. With the rise of Israel in the region as a result of the Arab-Israeli wars, which made Israel one of the countries that could serve the world system, the emphasis on the Holocaust and Jesus the Jew became a kind of propaganda in the academy. However, it is not these movements that have ensured the success of this wind change. The event that led to the thawing of the Cold War was the Prague Spring of 1968. The ideal of a Socialism outside the example of the Soviet Union, which was trying to be created in Czechoslovakia, was crushed by Soviet tanks. Since the Soviet Union itself destroyed this attempt to heal the corruption within itself, the Soviet reaction must be seen as the suicide of Socialism. It is for this reason that the second power of the Cold War period ideologically withdrew from the scene. The crushing of the Prague Spring led to a spring in a different field of modern academia: the Quest for the Historical Jesus and Holocaust Studies.

Book Review:] Andreev Alexey. Quest for the Historical Jesus: from Reimarus to our Time. Moscow: NLO, 2022. 368 p.

The monograph by A. A. Andreev is devoted to the history of the “search for the historical Jesus”, that is, attempts to reconstruct the life of Jesus of Nazareth, with the involvement of the most important works on this topic from the end of the 18th cent. and up to the present day. The work correctly presents the general picture of the “search”, but contains numerous inaccuracies and errors, especially in the presentation of the methods and views of modern participants in the “search”.

Book Review:] Andreev Alexey. Quest for the Historical Jesus: from Reimarus to our Time. Moscow: NLO, 2022. 368 p.

The monograph by A. A. Andreev is devoted to the history of the “search for the historical Jesus”, that is, attempts to reconstruct the life of Jesus of Nazareth, with the involvement of the most important works on this topic from the end of the 18th cent. and up to the present day. The work correctly presents the general picture of the “search”, but contains numerous inaccuracies and errors, especially in the presentation of the methods and views of modern participants in the “search”.

Rabbi Jesus in Martin Luther’s Bible Translations

Abstract This article explores the figure of Jesus as teacher in Martin Luther’s translation of the New Testament by analysing Luther’s translation of the word “rabbi.” In three of the four Gospels, several interlocutors call Jesus “rabbi.” In his earliest translation (1522), Luther rendered the word as “master” in almost all the verses where the word appeared. However, in the editions of the New Testament that appeared in 1526–30, Luther revised the translation and reinstated “rabbi” as a valid title of Jesus. In order to understand Luther’s meaningful reconsideration of one of the main biblical titles of Jesus, the article discusses Luther’s translation practice, his general view on biblical titles and his employment of the term “rabbi” in polemics. The article suggests that rather than anti- or pro-Jewish sentiments, Luther’s view on the figure of Jesus as teacher enabled the revision in the translation. For Luther, the word “rabbi” was a locus where the Jewish and the Christian met, where the historical Jesus could by glimpsed and the unique qualities of Jesus as a teacher, as the only teacher, could be expressed.

Understanding as a Way of Attitude According to Rudolf Bultmann and Demythologizing

The existence of the development of Hermeneutics was widely applied by 20th century theologians to apply their thoughts, especially in responding to the existence of myths in the Bible gospels. This shows that it is difficult for post-modern humans to accept the myths contained in the Bible gospels at that time because they are supernatural and irrational. The purpose of this writing is to describe the development of Demythologised Hermeneutics and the resulting influence at this time on Christian values. This study uses a qualitative descriptive method, the data used through literature review with an approach that is in accordance with Rudolf Bultmann's thoughts. Based on the results of Rudolf Bultmann's Demythologizing research centered on the existence of myths, kerygma, as well as historical Jesus and Christ the Faith, and the resulting influences tend to be negative

The Quest for the Historical Jesus, 2000–2023

Abstract This article provides a bibliography of historical Jesus research from 2000 to 2023 in German and English language publications. In addition to the bibliography, a brief introductory essay identifies trends in historical Jesus research.

Many Healings of the Woman with the Flow of Blood

With the emergence of the modern quest for the historical Jesus, theologians began increasingly questioning traditional views of Jesus as a healer of human bodies. While a growing suspicion of Jesus’s role as a literal healer of the body is commonly traced to the influence of the Enlightenment, in this essay, I will suggest that the roots of this theological marginalization run deeper, in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformations, when supernatural did not yet equal superstitious. The essay will examine two representative exegeses of the healing of the woman with the flow of blood in Mark 5:25–34, offered by Martin Luther and John Calvin. My analysis will reveal a shift of hermeneutical emphases from the bleeding woman’s restoration to the dynamics of her faith, and consequently, a new Protestant vision of Jesus’s role in the story, which I will argue occurred due to the new theological importance placed on faith by Protestant reformers.

The Resurrection of Jesus: Apologetics, Polemics, History by Dale C. Allison Jr.

Reviewed by: The Resurrection of Jesus: Apologetics, Polemics, History by Dale C. Allison Jr. Glenn B. Siniscalchi dale c. allison jr., The Resurrection of Jesus: Apologetics, Polemics, History (New York: T&T Clark, 2021). Pp. xi + 403. Paper $47.95. Dale Allison's published works on the historical Jesus have always been rigorous, thought-provoking, and accessible. In his latest installment, A. clarifies, expands, and strengthens most of his earlier thoughts on the historical approach to the resurrection of Jesus in much greater detail. NT critics and other inquirers who are dedicated to understanding the academic study of Christian origins and the rise of resurrection faith must engage the intricacies of A.'s latest book in order to push forward any meaningful developments in this controversial area of NT studies. The book covers a dizzying array of arguments and reflections related to the standard discussion points that are dedicated to the credibility of Jesus's resurrection (i.e., the burial of the crucified Jesus, the discovery of his empty grave, the series of after-death communications, and the disciples' willingness to die for their newfound faith). A.'s expansive pedagogy is on full display throughout the book, showing a variety of creative and defensible ways to think about the origins of the Jesus movement. For instance, he accepts most aspects of the traditional evidence but also includes the historicity of Jesus's prophetic predictions of his own resurrection from the dead. There is also great emphasis placed on the apocalyptic expectations that characterized Jesus's ministry and how they affected the original meanings that were assigned to the after-death experiences. "Resurrection," then, was the best category that was used by the first percipients to explain and describe the metanormal experiences of the Easter Jesus. These provocative contentions and conclusions notwithstanding, a major theme in A.'s book is that historical investigations into earliest Christianity cannot be of service to the ambitions of Christian apologists and their primary interlocutors, the secular skeptics. In A.'s consistently held view, both camps unjustifiably stretch the shape of historical reason in support of their predetermined convictions. Instead, historical methods and conclusions are very limited in what they can accomplish. According to A., the first strata of evidence for the resurrection may include, for instance, the sequence of postmortem appearances to the disciples and other unbelievers (cf. 1 Cor 15:3–8), but one can easily invoke certain controversial studies in religious studies, historiography, the philosophy of religion, biblical studies, and parapsychology, in order to understand or even modify common understandings of what the first percipients saw and experienced. In effect, believing in the bodily resurrection does not necessarily entail the supernatural reanimation of Jesus's cadaver (the latter view has been endorsed by William Lane Craig, Gary Habermas, Michael Licona, and N. T. Wright, among a host of other well-known supporters). I can decipher at least two important reasons why A. is hesitant to accept the common verdicts that are upheld by Christian apologists. The first reason is presented toward the beginning of the book and is candidly discussed in lucid detail: his background beliefs are multifaceted, fluid, and even inconsistent in a critical approach to the biblical texts. Worldviews are indeed difficult to pinpoint within a person's mind and psychological outlooks, but we should agree with A. in acknowledging that people frequently observe and interpret texts and other artifacts from the past in radically different ways. Worldviews simply cannot be reduced to belief in an omnipotent, personal God who will probably act in human history within a religiously charged context. We hold to many unrecognized beliefs about psychology [End Page 349] and philosophy that often shade our interpretations and intuitions related to historical investigations. The second reason is due to the information overload, hyper-pluralism, and fragmented nature of contemporary biblical studies as it relates to the historical quests for Jesus. A. is thoroughly immersed in this world, and he emphasizes the difficulty of arriving at certain conclusions in the attempt to decide whether the evidence points decidedly in favor of Jesus's physical resurrection. Because I found myself agreeing with most of A.'s newest book, I can no...

Christianity Without Christ

As a result of the poor historiographical research that has been done on mythicism (the position that there was no historical Jesus), a particular phenomenon has been somewhat overlooked, that of mythicist Christians. Mythicist Christians occupy a strange space as both being conceptualized as heretics to Christians, and oddities to non-Christians, and their space within mythicist research is, as a result, entirely understudied. This article seeks to provide a starting point for such research by discussing two case examples of mythicist Christians: Eliza Sharples and Thomas L. Brodie. The article then provides a list of other figures and potential starting places for further research on historical Christian mythicists and calls for further study of this phenomenon among contemporary Christian populations.

Putting the Apocalyptic Jesus to the Sword: Why Were Jesus’s Disciples Armed?

The claim that the historical Jesus was a violent revolutionary has seen a revival in recent years with the work of Dale Martin and Fernando Bermejo-Rubio. Central to their case is the datum that Jesus’s disciples were armed at the time of his arrest in anticipation of their active participation in an end-time battle. However, whilst it can be established that it is likely that the disciples did carry bladed implements that could be used as weapons, when the literary and material-cultural evidence is scrutinised more closely, it is unreasonable to infer that these were intended to be used for apocalyptic ends or that the disciples or anyone else would see them as evidence of military intent.

Das Gleichnis vom ungerechten Haushalter (Lk 16,1–8)

Abstract The present article proposes what can be labeled an ecclesiological interpretation of the highly debated parable of the unjust steward. Jesus (probably the Historical Jesus) adhorts his followers to practice solidarity – also in financial matters – towards each other, something that obviously works pretty well among criminals (who keep together since one knows about the skeletons in the closet of the other and vice versa). It is typical of the narrative humor of the Historical Jesus that he makes his audience learn from criminal subjects; learning from others, even criminals is a Jesuanic strategy that should not be underrated in research on the Historical Jesus. Apart from presenting a new interpretation of the parable of the unjust steward, this article aims at documenting forgotten research about this text, especially from the 19th century and from some patristic sources, e.g. an exegetical tradition attributed to Theophilus of Antioch cited by Jerome (see n. 2).

Jesus in Context: Making Sense of the Historical Figure by David Wenham

Reviewed by: Jesus in Context: Making Sense of the Historical Figure by David Wenham Glenn B. Siniscalchi david wenham, Jesus in Context: Making Sense of the Historical Figure (Cambridge Studies in Religion, Philosophy, and Society; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021). Pp. xii + 249. Paper $29.99. David Wenham’s evenhanded, concise, and accessible book is dedicated to the basic themes of contemporary research on the historical Jesus. It is strongly recommended for introductory-level college courses that are related to historical approaches to the NT writings. One of the best aspects of Jesus in Context is the comprehensive coverage of most of the pertinent subjects in the current state of historical Jesus research. Whether it is the broad contours of the Roman Empire or the Jewish matrix from which Jesus and his first followers emerged in ancient Israel, there is plenty of informative and digestible material in this book. Wenham’s impartial coverage of the current findings of Jesus research is both ecumenically sensitive and consistent with the presuppositions of Christian theology. In this way, W.’s text subtly reports that christological orthodoxy and many well-established conclusions about the historical figure of Jesus can now be seen as comrades-in-arms. W. is keen on informing the reader where the consensus of NT scholars stand with respect to Jesus and his self-understanding; his teachings, actions, and miracles; and the immediate impact that he made on his followers. One might profit from understanding the political and socioreligious contexts in which Jesus lived (part 1) and some of the major themes that characterized his sayings and ministry (part 2). Toward the beginning of Jesus in Context, W. discusses the literary sources that ancient historians commonly use to study Jesus, the geographical and archaeological discoveries that seem pertinent for the relevant contemporary studies, and the history of ancient Israel and the Roman Empire up to and including the first century of the Common Era. [End Page 168] Wenham’s text is also excellent with regard to the fundamental reliability of the canonical Gospels. He rightly reports that form criticism, redaction criticism, the fascination with the second-century apocryphal Gospels, and the notion of oral traditions in ancient Palestine are not relevant enough concerns to lead one to conclude that the Christian Gospels are unreliable. Moreover, the current state of NT scholarship is not on the side of the revision-ist views of Rudolf Bultmann (who was known for separating the theology of the canonical Gospels from whatever history might lie behind them) or the older nineteenth-century scholars who saw the Gospels as fabricated myths. In the words of W., “The skepticism that ends up with scholars concluding or implying that much gospel tradition is the creation of the early Christian church rather than Jesus is curious, to say the least. It is much more likely that the main creative genius reflected in the gospel stories and teaching was the person who inspired the Christian movement, rather than . . . his followers” (p. 76). Rather, most of the newest questers in the guild endorse the historicity of Jesus and his various teachings about the reign of God, his baptism by John the Baptist, his wondrous miracles, and his resurrection from the dead. Recognizing that Paul’s letters were not understood as inspired texts by the original recipients, W. pointedly brings home the relevance of the apostle Paul for Jesus studies: “Both these early letters and others that followed, . . . give a lot of evidence about what the first Christians said and believed about Jesus. The letters are not telling the stories of Jesus, but are dealing with issues that had arisen in the churches; their references to Jesus are all the more revealing for being incidental” (p. 47). One of W.’s areas of special interest is that the apostle Paul and the four Gospel writers were not literarily dependent on one another. Despite that barrage of technical publications on early christology and historical criticism, W.’s book should be warmly welcomed as one of the best introductory texts on the current state of the basic questions on the historical Jesus and the reliability of the NT. In terms of accessibility and depth of...

Bornavirus Genes in the Human Genome: Bringing the New from the Old

The genomic era has provided unassailable evidence that humans have evolved from common ancestors we share with chimpanzees and (further back in time) with all other primates and with all other mammals. One class of this evidence is the presence of ancient viral genes that were spliced into the genomes of our prehuman ancestors and transmitted to us. Retroviruses are the classical exemplar of this phenomenon, but more recently genes derived from potentially pathogenic bornaviruses have been discovered in our genome. At least two of these genes have been coopted to provide important functions. The advent of humanity, due in part to capabilities generated by random genetic mechanisms, is describable in theological terms as creatio ex vetere—creation of the new from the old (from stardust and antecedent species). This concept is applicable to the biblical depiction of human development, as seen in the commissioning of humanity as the image of God. Genetic changes are usually innocuous but may generate either disease or new capabilities. The cost of evolution reflects the biblical theme that suffering precedes glory, of which the history of Jesus is paradigmatic. Our biological history argues against our tendency to self-glorification—our hubris—but can be seen, from a theological point of view, to be part of the divine plan by which a redeemed and transformed humanity will be raised to share in the very life of God.

Historical Jesus vs Chalcedonian definition: The problem of Christ’s ignorance

Some of the sayings of Jesus show that he did not possess omniscience. But this is incompatible with the Chalcedonian definition according to which in Christ the divine and human natures are united in one person. Traditional theology has therefore concluded that Christ’s ignorance was only apparent. However, the studies of the historical Jesus proved that Christ as man did not really know the time of the end of the world and his Second Coming. Moreover, he expected these events to come in the very near future. The article shows that the arguments of scholars are so conclusive that the incompatibility of the gospel testimonies with the Chalcedonian definition can be considered a well-established fact. These results of New Testament studies fundamentally change the situation in modern Christian theology: a literal understanding of the Chalcedonian formula became now not only difficult, but impossible. However, the Chalcedonian definition is only one possible way to describe the unity of the divine and the human in Christ. Alternative ways are not only theoretically possible, but have already been proposed and actually exist in Christian theology. The final section of the article briefly describes three such ways proposed by Karl Barth, Albert Schweitzer, and Paul Tillich.