A Prophet Is Rejected in His Home Town (Mark 6.4 and Parallels): A Study in the Methodological (In)Consistency of the Jesus Seminar

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-84
Author(s):  
William John Lyons
Keyword(s):  
Historical Jesus ◽  
Home Town ◽  
Jesus Seminar

AbstractWhile some might construct their view of the historical Jesus based upon the published findings of the Jesus Seminar, others may re-examine individual pericopae and argue that a change of 'colour' would be appropriate. Here it is suggested that the arguments offered by the Seminar to justify the colouring of one saying of Jesus—that a prophet is rejected in his home town (Gos. Thom. 31.1, Mk 6.4, Matt. 13.57, Lk. 4.24, and Jn 4.44)—as a (deep) pink are flawed. Arguments based upon multiple attestation, plausibility and embarrassment are considered and rejected, leading to the conclusion that black is the most appropriate colour for the saying. Two explanations for its inclusion in the Gospels are offered: that it is a proverb inserted by the writers because it mirrored their own circumstances, and the more speculative view that the saying was viewed as appropriate because of Jesus' own hyperbolic characterization of discipleship (cf. Lk. 14.26).

Theses on the Nature of the Leben-Jesu-Forschung

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Fernando Bermejo-Rubio
Keyword(s):  
Historical Jesus ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Basic Principles

Criticisms addressed to the historiographical paradigm of the so-called ‘three quests’ by several scholars with different ideological backgrounds and who have worked independently have debunked it by proving its untenable character. The present paper makes a proposal for a new paradigm which allows us to understand the quest of the historical Jesus in a more comprehensive, lucid and explanatory way. This proposal has been articulated through a set of theses, accompanied in each case by an explanation (and, sometimes, by corollaries), accomplishing a threefold task: a broader characterization of historical Jesus research, a summary discussion of the main distortions contained in the ‘three-quests’ model, and, more importantly, an exposition of the basic principles of a new paradigm.

Symbolic Eschatology and the Apocalypticism of Q

1987 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
John S. Kloppenborg
Keyword(s):  
Historical Jesus ◽  
Profound Impact ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship of the preaching and teaching of Jesus to apocalyptic has been a vexed one ever since Albert Schweitzer's assault on the liberal “Lives of Jesus” and his advocacy of consistent eschatology along with his characterization of Jesus’ teachings as interim ethics. While many of the details of Schweitzer's hypothesis failed to be persuasive, his insistence that Jesus’ activity be seen in the context of apocalypticism has made a profound impact on subsequent historical Jesus scholarship and, in spite of his own noncommital stance with regard to the Two Document Hypothesis, on the theological characterization of Q.

Capernaum: A ‘Hub’ for the Historical Jesus or the Markan Evangelist?

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-165
Author(s):  
Christopher B. Zeichmann
Keyword(s):  
Historical Jesus ◽  
Point Of Interest ◽  
Ample Reason

One of the less controversial points among Jesus scholars is the importance of Capernaum to the historical Jesus, variously described as his ‘hub,’ ‘headquarters,’ ‘centre,’ etc. This article instead suggests that the importance of Capernaum may be understood as a specific to Mark’s depiction of Jesus and that Mark’s redactional interest in Capernaum prematurely treated as a datum concerning the historical Jesus. Indeed, exegetical insights about Mark’s interest in Galilee have more recently developed into arguments that the Second Gospel was composed somewhere in that region. This article will survey Mark’s characterization of the region to not only argue that Capernaum is a distinctively Markan point of interest, but that there is ample reason to believe that the Gospel was composed in that village.

Mapping Current South African Jesus Research: the Schweitzerstrasse, the Wredebahn and Cultural Bundubashing

2003 ◽  
Vol 10 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 339-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter F. Craffert
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Historical Jesus ◽  
Toll Roads ◽  
Cultural Approach ◽  
The Third ◽  
Jesus Seminar ◽  
Alternative Routes

AbstractWright'.s well-known distinction between the Schweitzerstrasse (the third questers) and the Wredebahn (the Jesus Seminar) in historical Jesus research is supplemented by a third approach, referred to as cultural bundubashing, which describes an interpretive, interdisciplinary and cross-cultural approach to historiography. An analytical distinction is made between these three trends which, like the roads in South Africa: toll roads (the Wredebahn), alternative routes (the Schweltzerstrasse) and off-road travelling (cultural bundubashing), offer divergent driving experiences, alternative perspectives on the same scenery and often unique features and scenes. Current South African contributions to historical Jesus research are mapped according to this grid.

The Nazi Quest for an Aryan Jesus

2004 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Head
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Historical Jesus ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Detailed Treatment ◽  
Jesus Seminar ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ideological Background

AbstractThis paper introduces perhaps the most neglected era in the history of the Quest for the historical Jesus. The era is National Socialist Germany and the particular Quest involves the attempt to prove Jesus was not Jewish but rather Aryan. Despite sev eral recent attempts to associate the contemporary Jesus Seminar with such ap proaches, the whole period is largely ignored in the standard works on the history of New Testament scholarship. This paper introduces and describes the most impor tant of the attempts to prove that Jesus was Aryan, that of Walter Grundmann. Important aspects of the general ideological background, as well as the influence of his teacher, Gerhard Kittel are discussed, with a more detailed treatment of the arguments in his Jesus der Galiläer und das Judentum (1940).

scholarly journals Vernuwing in Historiese Jesus-Navorsing

2001 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
P.F. Craffert
Keyword(s):  
World View ◽  
Historical Jesus ◽  
The Third ◽  
Jesus Seminar ◽  
New Directions

The approaches of the Jesus Seminar and the Third Quest to the study of the historical Jesus are compared. Three different aspects are considered: Why is it done?; What is it about? and How is it done? Despite differences, it is shown that on a philosophical and world-view level, they share a similar positivistic historiography and modernist worldview. The main distinction is that theTthird Questers supplement the latter with a supernatural element. Further, it is argued that progress in historical Jesus research cannot be achieved by providing new answers to old questions or by means of mere adjustments to any of these approaches. What is needed is an approach that asks different questions and goes in totally new directions. The outlines of such an approach is sketched.

Humanity and the Incarnation

2020 ◽  
pp. 77-94
Author(s):  
Michael L. Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Historical Jesus ◽  
Relationship With God ◽  
Jesus Seminar

In presenting an exalted concept of humanity, Lewis endorses historic Christian orthodoxy, which corrects and transcends distorted versions of humanity that devalue it in order to accent God’s glory and our fallen condition. Lewis continues to explain how human nature is meant for relationship with God and how persons can find that relation through the historical person of Jesus Christ who, as Athanasius said, “assumed” our humanity in order to heal and redeem it. Lewis navigated early and mid twentieth-century criticisms of the historical Jesus, which are not greatly different from current criticisms by the Jesus Seminar and others, and Lewis concludes that the Gospels reliably reveal an underlying historical personality. Thus, we see the relevance of Lewis’s “Liar, Lunatic, or Lord” trilemma argument. In fact, in his own journey, he held some of these same criticisms and doubts, even after becoming a theist, such that it took a lengthy talk with J. R. R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson to convince him that the Gospels contained some “myths” (conceived as symbolic stories that communicate higher truth) but that in the person of Jesus the higher truth had become uniquely manifested in our world.

Searching for the Historical Jesus: Examining the Work of John Dominic Crossan and Marcus J. Borg

Horizons ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-192
Author(s):  
Michael E. O'Keeffe
Keyword(s):  
Popular Religion ◽  
Special Consideration ◽  
Historical Jesus ◽  
Direct Bearing ◽  
Academic Scholarship ◽  
Jesus Seminar

AbstractThe movement broadly defined as the “New Quest for the Historical Jesus” represents one of the more important areas where academic scholarship has had a direct bearing on popular religion. Although many forces have been instrumental in this development, perhaps the most important has been the popularizing work of the Jesus Seminar, under the direction of Robert Funk. This essay examines two of the premier scholars associated with the Seminar, namely, John Dominic Crossan and Marcus J. Borg. It examines their methodologies and central christological claims, and gives special consideration to Borg's addition of a “theo-cosmic level” that distinguishes his work from Crossan's.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Runar M. Thorsteinsson
Keyword(s):  
Gospel Of John ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Moral Character ◽  
Virtue Theory ◽  
Historical Jesus ◽  
Synoptic Gospels ◽  
The Subject

The Introduction presents the purpose and aim of the study, and describes its structure and content (under the heading ‘The Purpose and Aim of the Study’). It is explained exactly what is addressed in the study and what is not: the study addresses the Synoptic Gospels’ characterization of Jesus, but not that of the Gospel of John; it addresses the characterization of Jesus as it is presented in the Synoptic Gospels, but it is not concerned with the so-called historical Jesus (‘What Is Addressed and What Is Not? Jesus of the Gospels and the Historical Jesus’). Finally, the chapter describes classical virtue theory and explains how it relates to the subject under discussion (‘Moral Character, Classical Virtue Theory, and Early Christianity’).

Everybody’s Happy Nowadays? A Critical Engagement with Key Events and Contemporary Quests for the Historical Jesus

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 224-241
Author(s):  
James G. Crossley
Keyword(s):  
Historical Change ◽  
Historical Jesus ◽  
Critical Engagement ◽  
Jesus Seminar ◽  
The Future ◽  
Key Events

Key Events is clearly a major contribution to historical Jesus studies from a broadly evangelical perspective. While there is much to commend and a number of strong essays, there are, inevitably criticisms to be made. A number of arguments appear to be repeating debates from the 1980s and 1990s with a familiar cast of good (e.g. N.T. Wright), bad (e.g. Burton Mack, Jesus Seminar) and ambivalent (e.g. E.P. Sanders) characters. This nostalgic feel means that alternative understandings of the historical Jesus and wider issues of history and historical change are not properly discussed, although clearly the opportunities were present among the contributors of Key Events. There is a sustained discussion of historical change in the chapter on resurrection but this repeats problematic arguments in favour of the historicity of the resurrection in what is effectively an attempt to prove what is historically unprovable. Finally, to lesser or greater extent, a number of essays in Key Events continue to perpetuate the idea of a ‘Jewish … but not that Jewish’ Jesus through monolithic constructions of Jews and Judaism and through the discredited criterion of dissimilarity in disguise: double dissimilarity. It is not always clear that the problematic criterion of double dissimilarity is applied consistently, with some evidence of contributors forgetting aspects of dissimilarity from Christianity while never forgetting dissimilarity from Judaism (even when similar Jewish evidence is, in fact, available). These criticisms should not take away from a number of positive contributions made to historical Jesus studies and it may be that Key Events represents a vision of what most historical Jesus scholars see as the future of the sub-field.

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