Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE CLIMAX OF JESUS' MISSION §18.6
that the first Christian preaching was not simply a repreaching of Jesus' message;
it was a proclamation of Jesus' resurrection. That there was a turn from Jesus'
gospel to the gospel about Jesus, from Jesus as proclaimer to Jesus as proclaimed,
225 remains a fundamental perception of the difference between pre-
Easter Jesus tradition and post-Easter kerygma. 226
In thus responding to Marxsen I do not for a moment retract my methodological
principle, that our only viable subject matter for historical investigation is the
impact made by Jesus as it has impressed itself into the tradition. I hope in what I
have already written I have not been misunderstood to mean that nothing can be
said about what (the one who) made that impact. So here, it is the impact summarized
in the word 'resurrection' which requires us to conclude that there was a
something which happened 'on the third day' which could only be apprehended/
conceptualized as 'resurrection'. The tradition itself leaves no room, no time for
the sort of reflection (Marxsen) or deception (Reimarus) which their hypotheses require.
Despite the inconsistencies and tensions which the diversity of traditions evidences
only too clearly, it is in the end of the day the tradition itself which pushes
us to the conclusion that it was something perceived as having happened to Jesus
(resurrection evidenced in empty tomb and resurrection appearances) and not just
something which happened to the disciples (Easter faith) which provides the more
plausible explanation for the origin and core content of the tradition itself.
18.6. The Final Metaphor
In conclusion two clarifications are called for.
a. 'Resurrection' as Interpretation
To return to the starting point of this chapter: in what sense, if any, can we speak of
the resurrection of Jesus as historical? In terms of the distinction made earlier be-
Kerygma and the Historical Jesus', in C. E. Braaten and R. A. Harrisville, eds., The Historical
Jesus and the Kerygmatic Christ [Nashville: Abingdon, 1964] 15-42 [here 42]). Schillebeeckx
attempts to discern an 'Easter experience' of conversion, 'of grace as forgiveness', which was
independent of and prior to the appearances and traditions of the empty tomb (Jesus 379-97).
Carnley attempts a both-and: resurrection faith is based not only on 'a memory of the Jesus of
the past', but also on 'a knowledge of the present Christ-Spirit' (Structure 298); see also his critique
of Schillebeeckx (199-222).
225.1 echo, of course, two of the classic slogans from the quest, from the Liberal quest
(§4.3) and from Bultmann (§5.4).
226. 'The resurrected Jesus is not simply Jesus resumed, as if his death/resurrection had
been a mere interruption' (Keck, Who Is Jesus? 110).
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