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Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

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CHAPTER 7<br />

The Sources<br />

In Part One I have attempted to highlight <strong>the</strong> chief moments <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> quest for <strong>Jesus</strong>,<br />

particularly over <strong>the</strong> last two hundred years, but earlier also, and particularly<br />

<strong>in</strong> terms of <strong>the</strong> tensions between history and faith which have left such<br />

last<strong>in</strong>g marks (or scars!) on biblical scholarship. I have drawn attention to <strong>the</strong><br />

classic or def<strong>in</strong>itive treatments which <strong>in</strong>cisively posed issues that still rema<strong>in</strong><br />

with us or which first formulated breakthroughs whose significance still endures.<br />

And <strong>in</strong> chapter 6 I have offered my own summ<strong>in</strong>g up of <strong>the</strong> lessons to be<br />

learned from <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>terplay of history, hermeneutics, and faith, both <strong>in</strong> response<br />

to <strong>the</strong> challenges old and new of <strong>the</strong> last fifty years and as <strong>in</strong>dicat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> perspective<br />

from which I seek to pursue <strong>the</strong> historical and hermeneutical tasks of<br />

this <strong>vol</strong>ume.<br />

The survey also posed o<strong>the</strong>r fundamental issues of method which are often<br />

neglected by those still pursu<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> quest <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> terms laid down by <strong>the</strong> post-<br />

Bultmannian generation. 1 What should be <strong>the</strong> start<strong>in</strong>g po<strong>in</strong>t for an approach to<br />

<strong>the</strong> <strong>Jesus</strong> tradition for those <strong>in</strong> 'quest of <strong>the</strong> historical <strong>Jesus</strong>'? In particular, what<br />

should count as sources for <strong>the</strong> earliest phases of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Jesus</strong> tradition? With what<br />

conception of <strong>the</strong> tradition<strong>in</strong>g process should we operate? And have <strong>the</strong> implications<br />

of <strong>Jesus</strong>' 'Jewishness' and of his particular historical sett<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Galilee been<br />

adequately taken <strong>in</strong>to account? These questions had to be 'put on hold' till <strong>the</strong><br />

challenge of postmodernism had been posed and <strong>the</strong> basic pr<strong>in</strong>ciples which determ<strong>in</strong>e<br />

<strong>the</strong> very conception of our task had been exam<strong>in</strong>ed. But now <strong>the</strong>se ques-<br />

1. The only ones who on <strong>the</strong> way to writ<strong>in</strong>g a <strong>Jesus</strong> book have made a serious attempt to<br />

address fundamental issues of method <strong>in</strong> recent years are Meyer, Aims 76-110, Wright, New<br />

Testament 31-144, and Theissen and W<strong>in</strong>ter, Kriterienfrage. Sanders' attempt to shift <strong>the</strong> focus<br />

of <strong>the</strong> quest from <strong>the</strong> say<strong>in</strong>gs of <strong>Jesus</strong> to <strong>the</strong> 'facts about <strong>Jesus</strong>' {<strong>Jesus</strong> 3-22 [here 5]) has been<br />

<strong>in</strong>fluential. Crossan's practice assumes more than it expla<strong>in</strong>s (but see his Birth 137-73); his<br />

hope had been to <strong>in</strong>augurate a full-blown debate on methodology (139).<br />

139

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