Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

PREFACE
revisions of the lecture material meant that the third section of 'Beginnings' continued
to find itself restricted to two or three brief sketches.
The situation changed significantly with my move to the University of
Durham in 1982, where I inherited a core NT course on 'New Testament Theology'.
Faced by a similar challenge of too much material to cover in a single
course, I had no doubt that the course should focus on the two NT figures of
greatest theological significance — Jesus and Paul. It seemed obvious to me
then, and still seems obvious to me, that in a Department focusing on the Jewish
and Christian traditions of theologizing, detailed historical treatment of the principal
focus of all Christian theology (Jesus) was indispensable. Similarly in regard
to Paul, arguably the first and most influential of all Christian theologians
(by virtue of the canonization of his letters): how could a course in New Testament
Theology not give equivalently detailed treatment of Paul's theology? And
so my earlier material was reworked to sharpen the theological focus (already a
central concern of the earlier course anyway) and to concentrate solely on Jesus
and Paul. In a larger Department it was always possible to offer various options
which advanced my continuing interest in the second generation of Christianity
and the transition to the so-called 'sub-apostolic' age.
This latter interest came to initial fruition in the Durham-Tubingen research
seminar on 'The Partings of the Ways, AD 70 to 135', in September 1989,
appropriately on the centenary of the death of my great hero, J. B. Lightfoot. The
papers were subsequently published (1992) under the title Jews and Christians,
with the original title of the Symposium as the book's subtitle. There was also the
lecture series which I gave in the Gregorian Pontifical University (Rome) in 1990
as Joseph McCarthy Visiting Professor, which was published in fuller version as
The Partings of the Ways between Christianity and Judaism in 1991. But in the
meantime the theology of Paul had become such a major concern that further
work towards the fulfilment of my original vision had to be put on hold until I
had got Paul out of my system. That time duly arrived, with the publication of my
The Theology of Paul the Apostle in 1998. At which point, as I delighted to tease
my friends, 'I gave up Paul for Jesus'.
Having focused my attention so heavily on Paul for nearly twenty years I had no
delusions as to the magnitude of the mountain before me. Even though I had
kept fairly well abreast of Jesus and Gospels scholarship during that period I
knew well enough that the shift of research interest from Paul to Jesus demanded
a massive re-tooling job on my part. Fortunately I was granted by the
University in effect two years research leave, first as a Derman Christopherson
Fellow (1999-2000), and then as my regular research leave enhanced in recognition
of my (second) spell of three years service as Head of the Department. I
continued my postgraduate supervisions (almost always a delight and stimulus)
but otherwise was freed from academic duties as a member of the Department. I
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