Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§8.1 The Tradition
with John as his faithful shadow (3.1-11; 4.13, 19; 8.14), and James by implication
(12.2). Fortunately for any concerned at such over-dependence on Acts,
Paul's testimony confirms that a Jerusalem triumvirate (with James the brother of
Jesus replacing James the executed brother of John) were generally accounted
'pillars' (Gal. 2.9). The imagery clearly implies that already, within twenty years
of the beginnings of the new movement, these three were seen as strong supports
on which the new community (temple?) was being built. 42 This correlates well
with the remembrance of the Jesus tradition that Peter and the brothers Zebedee
had been closest to Jesus 43 and thus were accounted principal witnesses to and
custodians of Jesus' heritage.
Paul's concept of apostleship is somewhat different from Luke's. But it coheres
to the extent that Paul regarded his apostolic role to consist particularly in
founding churches (Rom. 15.20; 1 Cor. 3.10; 9.1-2). And, as we have seen, a fundamental
part of that role was to pass on foundation tradition (above §8.1b).
e. How the Jesus Tradition Was Used
The circumstantial and cumulative evidence cited above is not usually given the
weight I am placing upon it, because Paul in particular seems to show so little interest
in the ministry of Jesus and so little knowledge of Jesus tradition. 44 We
cannot assume that he ever encountered Jesus personally or had been in Jerusalem
during the time of Jesus' mission. 45 On the other hand, Paul would surely
have used the two weeks spent in Peter's company (three years after his conversion)
to fill out his knowledge of Jesus and of the traditions of Jesus' mission and
teaching from Jesus' leading disciple (Gal. 1.18). 46 Nevertheless, the fact remains
that Paul cites Jesus explicitly on only three occasions, all curiously in
1 Corinthians (7.10-11; 9.14; 11.23-25), though he also implies that had he
known Jesus tradition relevant to other issues of community discipline he would
42. See my The Partings of the Ways between Christianity and Judaism (London: SCM,
1991) 60; and further below §13.3.
43. Mark 5.37/Luke 8.51; Mark 9.2 pars.; 13.3; 14.33/Matt. 26.37.
44. Funk, e.g., stands in a line of argument stretching from Reimarus and through Baur
in claiming that Paul was 'alienated from the original disciples and, as a consequence, from the
written gospel tradition' (Honest 36).
45. At the same time, it can scarcely be credited that Paul received his training as a Pharisee
away from Jerusalem (see below, vol. 2); if so, given the timescale between Jesus' death
and Paul's conversion (perhaps only two years), the probability that he was indeed present in
Jerusalem during the climax of Jesus' mission becomes quite strong. The evaluation of this possibility
still suffers from the influence of the reading of 2 Cor. 5.16 common in the early decades
of the twentieth century (see above §5.3; and further Dunn, Theology of Paul 184-85).
46. See again my Theology of Paul 188; and above §7.2.
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