Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§8.6 The Tradition
a. In the Beginning
In the beginning, already during Jesus' own ministry, as soon as disciples began
to gather round him, we can envisage initial impressions and memories being
shared among the group. 'Do you remember what he did/said when he . . . ?'
must have been a question often asked as the embryonic community began to feel
and express its distinctiveness. 265 No doubt in similar ways their village communities
had celebrated their identity and history in regular, even nightly gatherings.
And as soon as the disciples of Jesus began to perceive themselves as (a) distinctive
group(s) we may assume that the same impulse characteristic of oral and village
culture would have asserted itself. As Jesus' immediate group moved around
Galilee, encountering potential and then resident groups of disciples or
sympathisers in various villages, the natural impulse would be the same. We can
assume, of course, that Jesus was giving fresh teaching (as well as repeat teaching)
all the while. But in more reflective gatherings, or when Jesus was absent,
the impulse to tell again what had made the greatest impact on them would presumably
reassert itself. 266
Three features of this initial stage of the process are worth noting. First, if
Bailey's anecdotal accounts bring us closer than any other to the oral culture of
Galilee in the second quarter of the first century CE, then we may assume that the
traditioning process began with the initiating word and/or act of Jesus. That is to
say, the impact made by Jesus would not be something which was only put into
traditional form (days, months, or years) later. The impact would include the formation
of the tradition to recall what had made that impact. In making its impact
the impacting word or event became the tradition of that word or event. 267 The
stimulus of some word/story, the excitement (wonder, surprise) of some event
would be expressed in the initial shared reaction; 268 the structure, the identifying
elements and the key words (core or climax) would be articulated in oral form in
265. Cf. Funk, Acts of Jesus: 'The followers of Jesus no doubt began to repeat his witticisms
and parables during his lifetime. They soon began to recount stories about him...' (2).
266. Keck objects to speaking of Jesus as starting a 'movement' — 'an anachronistic
modern invention, the "secular" alternative to the idea that Jesus founded the church' {Who Is
Jesus? 48-50). But he is over-reacting to claims that Jesus sought to reform society and hardly
does justice to the group dynamics set in motion by a mission such as Luke reports (Luke 8.1-
3). Was the impact made by Jesus always individual and never involved groups other than the
core disciples? Keck evidently envisages only a latent impact triggered into effect by subsequent
post-Easter evangelism.
267. Cf. C. K. Barrett, Jesus and the Gospel Tradition (London: SPCK, 1967): '. . . the
tradition originated rather in the impression made by a charismatic person than in sayings
learnt by rote'; 'it was preserved because it could not be forgotten' (10, 16).
268. Or should we be determined, come what may, to find a Jesus (reconstruct a 'historical
Jesus') who neither stimulated nor excited?
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