Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

FAITH AND THE HISTORICAL JESUS §5.4
tence attributed to Wellhausen expresses the point in a neat epigram: 'Jesus was
the last of the Jews and Paul the first Christian' , 55 But in response to the criticism
of the new questers, Bultmann conceded that Jesus' proclamation is also
kerygma, is already kerygma; the kerygma of the post-Easter community is already
implicit in the pre-Easter ministry of Jesus; Jesus' message is 'after all a
hidden or secret Christian preaching'. 56 This concession was of major importance.
Central to the distinction between the proclamation of Jesus and the
kerygma of the church had been the assertion that Jesus proclaimed the kingdom,
whereas the church proclaimed Jesus; in Bultmann's formulation, 'the proclaimer
became the proclaimed'. So a key issue for the new quest was whether in
some sense Jesus proclaimed himself; to what extent was a Christology implicit
in Jesus' own message? In this case, ironically, the potential is reversed; now the
historical Jesus might provide grounds for faith in Christ. Despite Barth, the possibility
of a Christology 'from below' reappears, including the possibility of a
'high' Christology. 57
Through such discussion the theological legitimacy of the quest was reasserted.
58 But what about the other stumbling block posed by Kahler and
Bultmann — the conclusion that the quest was impossible to fulfil? Here the initial
response was surprisingly positive. Form-critical analysis need not be so negative
in its findings after all! Thus Käsemann was able to identify 'the distinctive
element in the mission of Jesus' as the amazing authority Jesus claimed for himself
over against Moses and the Torah. 59 Bornkamm adds to that the note of eschatological
fulfilment in Jesus' proclamation. In a further rebuttal of Bultmann,
he insists in effect that in an eschatological schema of old age and new age, Jesus
cannot be put on the former side of the division. It is the Baptist who is forerunner;
whereas 'Jesus calls: The shift in the aeons is here, the kingdom of God
is already dawning'. 60 In turn, Ernst Fuchs, another Bultmann pupil, focused attention
on Jesus' conduct as 'the real context of his preaching', thus reversing a
55.1 have not been able to trace the quotation (it is referred to by O. Betz, What Do We
Know about Jesus? [ET London: SCM, 1968] 17), but the concluding remarks ofWellhausen's
Einleitung express the same opinion (113-15).
56. Cited by Robinson, New Quest 21.
57. Cf. particularly W. Pannenberg, Jesus — God and Man (London: SCM, 1968) 21-
30: 'faith primarily has to do with what Jesus was. Only from that can we know what he is for
us today and how proclamation about him is possible today. Christology is concerned, therefore,
not only with unfolding the Christian community's confession of Christ, but above all
with grounding it in the activity and fate of Jesus in the past' (28). See also J. Roloff, Das
Kerygma und der irdische Jesus (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1970) 25-40, indeed
the whole thesis (conclusion 270-73).
58. See also Keck, Future 50-58.
59. Käsemann, 'Problem' 37-45.
60. Bornkamm, Jesus 67; followed by Robinson, New Quest 118-19.
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