Finding Jesus through his later followers

Last updated on: November 28, 2019 at 5:36 am by Michael F. Bird

Finding Jesus through his later followers 2019-07-28T21:48:19-04:00 Michael F. Bird

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

One discernible trend in scholarship is that Jesus, historical or otherwise, is only accessible through the memory, tradition, and theology of his later followers:

Allison (“The Historians’ Jesus and the Church,” 94) puts it eloquently: “Jesus’ identity cannot be sundered from a whole constellation of post-Easter circumstances: somebody attributed to him the remarkable Sermon on the Mount, and somebody else remembered his death by creating Mark’s stark and moving passion narrative, and somebody else penned Luke’s beautiful and human Gospels, and somebody else produced the symbolically rich and mystically charged Gospel of John, and somebody else composed the paean to love in 1 Corinthians 13 and declared there to be no difference between Jesus and Gentile, Jesus wrote none of this, but without him none of it would have been written; and if his character had been different, the character of these texts would be too.”

Watson (“Veritas Christi: How to Get from the Jesus of History to the Christ of Faith without Losing One’s Way,” 107, 114) is similar: “At every point Jesus is filtered through early Christian tradition; at no point do we encounter him face to face. … Even from a historical point of view, however, it is not at all easy to detach Jesus from his first followers. Their reception of him is also his impact of them.”

Schnelle (New Testament Theology, 67) expands on the same point: “The quest for Jesus cannot be reduced to the ‘historical Jesus’ or the ‘real Jesus, for if Jesus is accessible to us only in the narratives that present him, and therefore already interpret him, research cannot distinguish between a ‘purely historical’ and a theological approach. There is a historical quest for Jesus, but not a quest for the historical Jesus. Because Jesus of Nazareth has never been accessible apart from his significance for faith, research must also pose the pre-Easter questions of his consciousness of his own mission and the theological significance of his work.”

I’d aver that in a massive traditionsgeschichte paradox, on the one hand, the Jesus traditions lying underneath the Gospels have undoubtedly been shaped by the interpreters and custodians of that tradition; but on the other hand, the shapers of that tradition were themselves somehow shaped by the historical Jesus.

Several good essays on this topic are available in Beverly Gaventa and Richard Hays (eds.), Seeking the Identity of Jesus: A Pilgrimage (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008).

Uncategorized

Previous Post

November 25, 2019

The Making of Christian Morality

Next Post

November 30, 2019 Disability and the Quest for the Inclusive Church

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Bible Lands Blogosphere Book Review Calvinism Colleges & Universities Ecclesiology Emerging Adulthood Evangelicalism Foreign Affairs Gospel of John Greco-Roman World Humor Just War N. T. Wright Old Testament Resurrection Terrorism Theological Education Travel Uncategorized Writing

Select a Month September 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What sacred tent did God command the Israelites to build?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Tabernacle Temple Booth House of David

Books by This Author Books by Mike Bird

See All Titles »