The Jesus Handbook | Introduction by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

The Jesus Handbook Edited by Jens Schröter and Christine Jacobi

Translated by Robert L. Brawley

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Grand Rapids, Michigan

Originally published in German by Mohr Siebeck GmbH & Co. KG Tübingen under the title Jesus Handbuch, © 2017 Mohr Siebeck Tübingen Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 4035 Park East Court SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546 www.eerdmans.com © 2022 William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Published 2022 by permission of Mohr Siebeck Tübingen All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 28 27 26 25 24 23 22

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

ISBN 978-0-8028-7692-8 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Schröter, Jens, 1961– editor. | Jacobi, Christine, 1979– editor. | Brawley, Robert L. (Robert Lawson), translator. Title: The Jesus handbook / edited by Jens Schröter and Christine Jacobi ; translated by Robert L. Brawley. Other titles: Jesus Handbuch. English. Description: Grand Rapids, Michigan : William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, [2022] | “Originally published in German by Mohr Siebeck GmbH & Co. KG Tübingen under the title Jesus Handbuch, © 2017 Mohr Siebeck Tübingen.” | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “An international collection of scholarship on Jesus of Nazareth, his world, the outcomes of his life, and the quest to locate him in historical context”—Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2022011169 | ISBN 9780802876928 Subjects: LCSH: Jesus Christ—Teachings. | Jesus Christ—Person and offices. | Jesus Christ—History of doctrines. | BISAC: RELIGION / Biblical Studies / New Testament / Jesus, the Gospels & Acts | RELIGION / Biblical Reference / Dictionaries & Encyclopedias Classification: LCC BS2415 .J48913 2022 | DDC 232.9/54—dc23/eng/20220615 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022011169

Contents

Foreword by Dale C. Allison Jr.

Preface

Translator’s Preface

xvii

List of Abbreviations

xviii

Introduction

About This Handbook

II.

The Earthly Jesus and the Christ of Confession: Contours of the Jesus Quest

III.

The Jesus Quest in the Age of Critical Historiography

IV.

The “Remembered Jesus”—on the Relevance of a Paradigm of Current Jesus Research

Historical Material as a Foundation for the Reconstruction of the Deeds and Fate of Jesus

VI.

Early Impacts of Jesus

VII. Literature for Basic Orientation

History of Historical-Critical Research on Jesus

Introduction

II.

The Earthly Jesus in the Piety and Theology of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Reformation

Contents

III.

IV.

1. Antiquity 2. The Middle Ages/Humanism 3. Reformation

17 22 25

The Eighteenth Century as the Context for the Origin of Critical Theology

1. 2. 3. 4.

28 29 30 33

Critical Philosophy Critical Philosophy of Religion Critical Theology Historical-Critical Exegesis

Critical Historiography of the Late Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries and Its Implications for Jesus Research

1. Critical Historiography of the Late Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries: Periodization and Characterization 2. Effects on Jesus Research

35 41

The Concept of Myth in Historical Jesus Research and the Rise of the Two-Document Hypothesis

1. Strauss and the Concept of Myth 2. Reactions against Strauss and the Development of Markan Priority 3. Historical Jesus Studies, 1830–1870 4. The Emergence of the Liberal Lives of Jesus 5. The Nineteenth Century in Retrospect VI.

47 48 49 50 52

The “Kingdom of God” as an Eschatological Concept: Johannes Weiss and Albert Schweitzer

1. 2. 3. 4.

53 54 55 60

Introduction Weiss’s and Schweitzer’s Kingdom Weiss’s and Schweitzer’s Interpretation Some Closing Thoughts

VII. Historical Jesus and Kerygmatic Christ

1. Preliminary Remarks 2. Martin Kähler 3. On Rudolf Bultmann’s Approach

62 63 65

Contents 4. Luke Timothy Johnson 5. Review and Prospects VIII. The Literary Designs of the Gospels and Their Relationship to the Historical Jesus 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. IX.

71 72 73 77 78 82

The Gospels as “Kerygmatic Narratives” of Jesus and the “Criteria” in Historical Jesus Research

1. 2. 3. 4.

83 87 89 91

Ernst Käsemann Günther Bornkamm Ferdinand Hahn Summary

The “Third Quest for the Historical Jesus” 1. 2. 3. 4.

XI.

William Wrede Form and Redaction Criticism Narrative Study of the Gospel Narrative, Memory, and History Conclusion

68 70

Introduction Developments Characteristic Features Controversies and Debates

The “Remembered Jesus”: Memory as a HistoriographicalHermeneutical Paradigm of Research on Jesus

93 93 94 102 106

108

The Historical Material

121

Introduction

121

II.

Literary Evidence

125

1. Christian Texts 2. Non-Christian Texts

125 155

Nonliterary Evidence

166

1. Archaeological Evidence 2. Inscriptions and Coins

166 170

III.

vii

Contents D.

The Life and Work of Jesus

179

Introduction

179

II.

Political Conditions and Religious Context

180

1. Political Conditions: Roman Imperial Rule, Herod the Great, Antipas 2. Religious Context

180 192

Biographical Aspects

209

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

209 215 222 225 233

III.

IV.

Jesus: Descent, Birth, Childhood, Family Jesus’s Education and Language Jesus in the Judaism of His Time (Jewish Influence on Jesus) Galilee and Environs as the Sphere of Activity Jerusalem and Judea as a Sphere of Activity

Public Ministry

241

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

241 257 358 429 460

Jesus’s Social Context Jesus’s Activity Jesus’s Discourses/Jesus’s Teaching The Ethics of Jesus The Passion Events

Early Traces of the Wirkungen (Effects) and Reception of Jesus

487

Introduction

487

II.

Resurrection, Appearances, Instructions of the Risen One

489

1. Early Christian Talk about the God Who Raised Jesus from the Dead, and Its Traditio-Historical Background 492 2. The Accounts of Appearances in the Gospels 493 3. An Innovative Concept of Resurrection in Primitive Christianity: The Connection of One Individual Resurrection with the Dawning of the End Time and the Expectation of a General Resurrection of the Dead 500 4. Further Developments in the Second and Third Centuries 501 5. Conclusion 503

viii

Contents III.

IV.

Early Confessions of Faith

504

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Criteria Typologies Traditional Pistis Formulations Homological Predication Statements Other Traditional Formulations with a Kerygmatic or Soteriological Profile 6. Further Christological Confessions 7. Liturgical Forms 8. Conclusion

505 506 507 509

Christological Titles

515

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

516 517 519 521 525

The Formation of Structures: The Twelve, Wandering Charismatics, the Primitive Jerusalem Community, and Apostles 526 1. 2. 3. 4.

VI.

Lord The Anointed One (Christ/Messiah) Son of God Son of Man Son of David

510 512 513 514

The Twelve Wandering Charismatics/Wandering Radicals The Jerusalem Community Apostles

527 528 530 531

Jesus in Noncanonical Texts of the Second and Third Centuries 533 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

“Jewish Christian” Gospels The Gospel of Peter God and the Question of Death The Gospel of Thomas Gospel of Mary and Gospel of Judas Protevangelium of James and Infancy Gospel of Thomas Conclusion

VII. Visual Representations of Jesus up until ca. 500 CE 1. Pictorial Motifs 2. Typology of Depictions of Jesus

535 536 537 538 540 541 542 543 544 544

Contents 3. 4. 5. 6.

Overview Pictorial Cycles/Sequences of Figures Developments Plates with Explanatory Notes

VIII. Ethics (Sermon on the Mount) 1. 2. 3. 4.

Ancient Ethical Tradition Early Christian Communal Ethics Challenges for Christian Ethics in the Second Century Outlook: The Ethic of the Sermon on the Mount in Alexandrian Theology and Monastic Ethics

545 546 547 547 554 554 555 557 562

Bibliography

565

List of Contributors

639

Index of Authors

643

Index of Subjects

646

Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Sources

662

Foreword

The Jesus Handbook is perhaps the best guide we now have to the current state of the academic quest for the historical Jesus. It dispels the thought, which one occasionally encounters, that the field has grown stale, that all the feasible options are already on the table, and that one’s time is better spent elsewhere. The following chapters—which are of almost consistently high quality—demonstrate that scholarly work on Jesus continues to make authentic progress. While it may at times seem to some as though the field moves in circles, that is misperception: the apparent circles are rather spirals, and they move us in new directions. To cite an illustration: Ruben Zimmermann’s chapter on Jesus’s parables (D.IV.3.3) reveals the extent to which the old standards—the works of C. H. Dodd, Joachim Jeremias, and John Dominic Crossan—have given way to new, profitable discussions of narratological methods of interpretation, of parabolic forms remembered by the Gospel of John, and of the continuity (or lack of continuity) between Jewish parables and parables in the Jesus tradition. To offer another illustration: several chapters engage the current controversy over the utility of the so-called criteria of authenticity and also discuss the ongoing disputes about the closely associated topic of memory (note, for instance, the contributions of Jens Schröter and Chris Keith in B.XI and B.IX, respectively). It is to my mind a plus that some—not all—contributors to this handbook manage, while largely eschewing the criteria, to put to good use ideas about social memory as they seek to recover the past. In addition to exhibiting ways in which the field has advanced in recent years, The Jesus Handbook also serves to bring to an English-speaking audience the work of front-rank scholars whose books and articles have heretofore appeared exclusively or almost exclusively in another language. Christine Jacobi, for example, has written a significant German monograph on the vexed problem of the relationship between Paul and the historical Jesus: Jesusüberlieferung bei Paulus? Analogien zwischen den echten Paulusbriefen und den synoptischen Evangelien (BZNW 213 [Berlin: de Gruyter, 2015]). The long-standing puzzle, which is at the center of reconstructions of early Christian theology, has in large measure involved evaluating parallels between xi

Foreword the authentic Paulines and passages in the Synoptic Gospels. Jacobi’s contribution tackles this old issue with recent work on memory in mind, and this enables her to make a number of fresh observations and proposals. For those who cannot read German, her entry in the present volume, on the New Testament letters as a source for Jesus (C.II.1.3), offers a glimpse of her approach. Similarly, while Knut Backhaus’s important, provocative book on John the Baptist and his followers—Die “Jüngerkreise” des Täufers Johannes: Eine Studie zu den religionsgeschichtlichen Ursprüngen des Christentums, PaThSt 19 [Paderborn: F. Schöningh, 1991])—has not found an English translator, the present volume (D.III.1.1) makes some of his ideas available beyond the German-speaking sphere. A further virtue of the present work is that its introductions and contributions to contemporary disputes and areas of interest do not blind its authors to the great importance and continuing influence of earlier work. Indeed, the conviction that we cannot understand where we are without understanding where we have been characterizes the whole. The entirety of section B contextualizes current work by putting it into a very large history. That history stretches from antiquity to the present and includes developments in philosophy and critical historiography in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (B.III and B.IV), David Friedrich Strauss’s ideas about myth (B.V), the emergence of the two-document hypothesis (B.V), the writings of Johannes Weiss and Albert Schweitzer on Jesus and eschatology (B.VI), and the work of scholarly contrarians (such as Martin Kähler, Rudolf Bultmann, and Luke Timothy Johnson) who have issued serious reservations about the theological value of the quest (B.VII)—all subjects one can learn about in this handbook. One is equally pleased by the attention paid to the reception of Jesus and the so-called history of his effects. Particularly helpful are the articles at the end of the book that explore visual representations of Jesus in the first five centuries (E.VII) and that trace the dialogue between the Sermon on the Mount and evolving Christian ethics (E.VIII). Yet one more strength of The Jesus Handbook is that it does not peddle a single point of view. Its contributors represent not just several religious traditions but also have different ideas as to how to retrieve the historical Jesus and more than one idea about the identity of the man so retrieved. These pages do not hide the disparity that has marked and continues to mark the field; they do not pretend to display a unanimity that does not exist. They thus inhibit easy appeal to any alleged consensus. There is no agreement about the existence and nature of Q. There is no agreement about the nature of Jesus’s eschatology. And there is no agreement about his self-conception. Perhaps there never will be. This is not an indictment of the field, even if some have imagined otherwise. People disagreed about Jesus, we should recall, from the very beginning. Even xii

Foreword those who knew him face-to-face came to diverse opinions. Was he a prophet like John the Baptist? Was he Elijah or Jeremiah come again? Was he the one to redeem Israel? Was he a confederate of Beelzebul? Such diversity should not surprise. It is rather to be expected, given the rule that every historical figure of any significance provokes a spectrum of appraisals, positive and negative. Jesus is not the exception. In short, The Jesus Handbook is an up-to-date, expertly informed, and uniformly informative orientation to a fascinating and ever-growing field of discourse. We should be grateful to the translator for bringing it into English. Dale C. Allison Jr.

xiii

Preface

The Jesus Handbook stands in a long tradition of interpretations of the way of life, activity, and fate of Jesus of Nazareth in the history of Christianity. It is based on the multiple ways that were developed in the history of Christianity to approach the person of Jesus as the center of Christian faith. Furthermore, the handbook presents the person of Jesus in his historical context on the basis of historical-critical theology in the current state of international research. Thereby, multiple perspectives, which do not lead to a uniform image of Jesus, are considered. Indeed, distinctive points of view and varying accents are to be recognized. In this respect, The Jesus Handbook corresponds with the conception and implementation of the hermeneutical conclusion that there is no one “correct” or “true” approach to Jesus, but various interpretations of his person and meaning can stand alongside each other. The handbook is divided into five main parts. A basic introduction (part A) is followed by four sections, the middle parts of which (parts C and D) present the historical material, which is foundational for today’s preoccupation with Jesus, and highlight the related way of life and activity of Jesus from distinct points of view. These sections are framed by an account of the history of research on Jesus (part B) and aspects of the early history of reception of Jesus (part E). As this structure indicates, in this handbook the historical-critical approach to Jesus is set in a hermeneutical horizon. This considers the long preoccupation with Jesus in the history of Christianity that has taken place under distinctive epistemological presuppositions, and permits identifying at least to some extent that the effects that developed from his person have to be included in such a consideration. Not least of all, in this way older paradigms of research are set in relationship with current approaches that take into consideration the history of reception, which increased attention in recent scholarship. This concept is presented in the introduction as well as in the introductory overviews to the individual sections with a view toward their particular focus. These introductions can be read, therefore, as a “common thread” running through the book; they facilitate the reading of the handbook under an overarching hermeneutical perspective. xv

Preface Needless to say, the Jesus Handbook can and should also adduce information about individual issues and contents of Jesus research, about historical backgrounds, archaeological details, and much more. It is, therefore, so designed that all individual contributions can be read separately in order to take cognizance of prevailing themes and the current state of research. In this way the Jesus Handbook offers insight into the contemporary developments and findings of Jesus research and likewise organizes them in a paradigm that considers historiographical and hermeneutical insights. We would like to express our gratitude and great appreciation to Lena Nogossek for her hard work on the handbook. She was involved in the planning of the concept from the very beginning, she did an excellent job in preparing the manuscript, and she made its completion a matter of her heart. Without her tireless and engaged, relentless, and patient work on the manuscript all the way to the last details of the index, this book would never have come about. Therefore, she is due our first, grand, and heartfelt thanks. From the very beginning, it was the purpose to produce a book that presents the debate about Jesus on the current state of international research. Therefore, we want to thank our colleagues who have contributed to this handbook. All of them got involved in the concept with their specific knowledge and competence. Their collaboration made it possible for an idea to become a book. Further, gratitude is extended to the collaborators in Berlin who have served to bring this handbook to fruition. Collaborators at the professorial chair for Exegesis and Theology of the New Testament and New Testament Apocrypha copyedited the manuscript multiple times, tracked down inconsistencies, and helped resolve problems of detail, which surface in the development of such a complex undertaking. To be mentioned are Konrad Schwarz, Clarissa Paul, Florian Lengle, and Katharina Simunovic. Albrecht Beutel, editor of the Handbuch Series at Mohr Siebeck, and Henning Ziebritzki, business manager of the press, agreed after a short consideration with the idea of a Jesus handbook, which for them at first glance seemed to be something odd (does a “Jesus handbook” belong in a series of “theological handbooks”?), and then supported the undertaking wholeheartedly—not least of all Albrecht Beutel, with his own important contribution to the handbook, and Henning Ziebritzki, in his professional, friendly, and judicious way, which we have experienced from him for a long time and which shapes the press that he has managed. In the production department of this press, Ilse König supervised the handbook. She is also to be gratefully thanked for her expeditious and reliable cooperation. Christine Jacobi and Jens Schröter Berlin, May 2017 xvi

Translator’s Preface

To speak of a specific translator disguises the multifaceted contributors to the production of this English version of Jesus Handbuch. Each of the forty-eight authors corrected and revised an original draft of her or his article(s). Jens Schröter exercised constant oversight. In addition, other bilingual specialists were consulted. Among them, two should be singled out. Dr. Christine Schnusenberg of Chicago made significant contributions to the English version of Martin Ohst’s article “The Earthly Jesus in the Piety and Theology of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Reformation.” She also helped in the negotiation of rough spots here and there. Hermut Löhr’s assistant Carla Weitensteiner worked on the revision of his two articles, “Jesus’s Communal Meals” and “Jesus’s Last Supper.” Trevor Thompson of Eerdmans Publishing Company invited me to undertake this project and gave solid support along the way. Tom Raabe gave careful attention to the accuracy and style of the entire manuscript. I express my gratitude for all who joined in this mutual task. As in all compositions, whether it is my original work or a translation, the work is always a process of discovery. Even though I published two articles on the historical Jesus in the 1990s, the state of research in the twenty-first century reflected in the articles of this handbook made my daily task of translation over the past two years and seven months a venture in new discoveries. I am persuaded that such new discoveries await many readers in the English-speaking world who use this translation. Robert L. Brawley

xvii

Abbreviations

AAWGPH ABD ABRL ADPV AGJU AJEC AKThG AnBib ANRW ASNU ATANT BAR BBB BE BETL BEvT BFCT BG BGBE BHT Bib BibInt BibInt BK BR BThS BTSP BTZ

xviii

Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenchaften in Göttingen, Philologisch-Historische Klasse Anchor Bible Dictionary (ed. Freedman) Anchor Bible Reference Library Abhandlungen des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des Urchristentums Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity Arbeiten zur Kirchen- und Theologiegeschichte Analecta Biblica Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt Acta Seminarii Neotestamentici Upsaliensis Abhandlungen zur Theologie des Alten und Neuen Testaments Biblical Archaeology Review Bonner biblische Beiträge Biblische Enzyklopädie Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium Beiträge zur evangelischen Theologie Beiträge zur Förderung christlicher Theologie Berlin Gnostic Papyrus Beiträge zur Geschichte der biblischen Exegese Beiträge zur historischen Theologie Biblica Biblical Interpretation Biblical Interpretation Series Bibel und Kirche Biblical Research Biblisch-theologische Studien Biblischtheologische Schwerpunkte Berliner Theologische Zeitschrift

Abbreviations BU BWA(N)T BZ BzA BZNW CBQ CIIP ConBNT CP CRINT DiKi DNP DSD EBR ECC EHS EKKNT EPRO EThSt ETL EuA EvQ EvT ExpTim FAT FB FGLP FRLANT FTS GCS GNS GNT GTA HBO HBS Historia HNT HThKNT

Biblische Untersuchungen Beiträge zur Wissenschaft vom Alten (und Neuen) Testament Biblische Zeitschrift Beiträge zur Altertumskunde Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft Catholic Biblical Quarterly Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae et Palaestinae Coniectanea Biblica: New Testament Series Classical Philology Compendium Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum Dialog der Kirchen Der neue Pauly: Enzyklopädie der Antike (ed. Cancik and Schneider) Dead Sea Discoveries Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (ed. Klauck et al.) Eerdmans Critical Commentary Europäische Hochschulschriften Evangelisch-katholischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament Etudes préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l’empire romain Erfurter theologische Studien Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses Erbe und Auftrag Evangelical Quarterly Evangelische Theologie Expository Times Forschungen zum Alten Testament Forschung zur Bibel Forschungen zur Geschichte und Lehre des Protestantismus Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments Frankfurter Theologische Studien Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten [drei] Jahrhunderte Good News Studies Grundrisse zum Neuen Testament Göttinger theologischer Arbeiten Hallesche Beiträge zur Orientwissenschaft Herders biblische Studien Historia: Zeitschrift für alte Geschichte Handbuch zum Neuen Testament Herders Theologischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament

xix

Abbreviations HThKNTSup HTR HTS HUT IEJ IG IKaZ Int IRT ISACR JBL JBQ JBT JECS JJS JQR JR JSHJ JSJ JSJS JSNT JSNTSup JSOTSup JSS JTS JudChr KAV KBANT KEK KIG KStTh LASBF LASR LD LNTS MJT MMNTS

Supplements to Herders Theologischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament Harvard Theological Review Harvard Theological Studies Hermeneutische Untersuchungen zur Theologie Israel Exploration Journal Inscriptiones Graecae. Editio Minor Internationale katholische Zeitschrift Interpretation Issues in Religion and Theology Interdisciplinary Studies in Ancient Culture and Religion Journal of Biblical Literature Jewish Bible Quarterly Jahrbuch für biblische Theologie Journal of Early Christian Studies Journal of Jewish Studies Jewish Quarterly Review Journal of Religion Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism Journal for the Study of the New Testament Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series Journal of Semitic Studies Journal of Theological Studies Judaica et Christiana Kommentar zu den Apostolischen Vätern Kommentare und Beiträge zum Alten und Neuen Testament Kritisch-exegetischer Kommentar über das Neue Testament (Meyer-Kommentar) Die Kirche in ihrer Geschichte Kohlhammer Studienbücher Theologie Liber Annuus Studii Biblici Franciscani Luthers Schriftprinzip in seiner Bedeutung für die Ökumene Lectio Divina Library of New Testament Studies Marburger Jahrbuch Theologie McMaster New Testament Studies

Abbreviations MThA MThSt MTZ NEchtB Neot NHC NHMS NIGTC NovT NovTSup NTAbh NTD NTOA NTS NTTS ÖBS OCA OECT ORA OTS PaThSt PG PGM P. Oxy. P. Ryl. PTHe QD RAC RB RGG RHR RNT SANT SBAB SBB SBEC SBL SBLEJL SBLMS SBLSP

Münsteraner theologische Abhandlungen Marburger theologische Studien Münchener theologische Zeitschrift Neue Echter Bibel Neotestamentica Nag Hammadi codices Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies New International Greek Testament Commentary Novum Testamentum Supplements to Novum Testamentum Neutestamentliche Abhandlungen Das Neue Testament Deutsch Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus New Testament Studies New Testament Tools and Studies Österreichische biblische Studien Orientalia Christiana Analecta Oxford Early Christian Texts Orientalische Religionen in der Antike Old Testament Studies Paderborn theologische Studien Patrologia Graeca Papyri Graecae Magicae Papyrus Oxyrhynchus Papyrus Rylands Praktische Theologie heute Quaestiones Disputatae Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum (ed. Klauser et al.) Revue biblique Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart Revue de l’histoire des religions Regensburger Neues Testament Studien zum Alten und Neuen Testament Stuttgarter biblische Aufsatzbände Stuttgarter biblische Beiträge Studies in the Bible and Early Christianity Society of Biblical Literature Society of Biblical Literature Early Judaism and Its Literature Society of Biblical Literature Monograph Series Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers

xxi

Abbreviations SBLSS SBS SBT SBTS SemeiaSt SESJ SGTK SHT SIJD SJ SJLA SMHR SNT SNTSMS SNTSU SPA SpKA STAC STDJ StSam STW SUNT SuR SVigChr TANZ TB TBei TdT TEH ThBer THKNT TQ TRE TRu TSAJ TSK TThSt TTZ TU

xxii

Society of Biblical Literature Symposium Series Stuttgarter Bibelstudien Studies in Biblical Theology Sources for Biblical and Theological Study Semeia Studies Suomen Eksegeettisen Seuran Julkaisuja Studien zur Geschichte des Mönchtums Studies in Historical Theology Schriften des Institutum Judaicum Delitzschianum Studia Judaica Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity Spätmittelalter, Humanismus, Reformation Studien zum Neuen Testament Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series Studien zum Neuen Testament und seiner Umwelt Studien der Patristischen Arbeitsgemeinschaft Spalding Kritische Ausgabe Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah Studia Samaritana Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Wissenschaft Studien zur Umwelt des Neuen Testaments Spätmittelalter und Reformation Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae Texte und Arbeiten zum neutestamentlichen Zeitalter Theologische Bücherei: Neudrucke und Berichte aus dem 20. Jahrhundert Theologische Beiträge Themen der Theologie Theologische Existenz heute Theologische Berichte Theologischer Handkommentar zum Neuen Testament Theologische Quartalschrift Theologische Realenzyklopädie (ed. Krause and Müller) Theologische Rundschau Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum Theologische Studien und Kritiken Trierer theologische Studien Trierer theologische Zeitschrift Texte und Untersuchungen

Abbreviations TynBul UNT UTB VF VT WA WD WdF WMANT WUNT ZAW ZDMG ZDT ZNT ZNW ZPE ZTK

Tyndale Bulletin Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament Uni Taschenbücher Verkündigung und Forschung Vetus Testamentum Weimarer Ausgabe (Luther’s works) Wort und Dienst Wege der Forschung Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testament Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft Zeitschrift für dialektische Theologie Zeitschrift für Neues Testament Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik Zeitschrift für Theologie und Kirche

xxiii

A. Introduction

I. About This Handbook In the series of handbooks of important figures in the history of Christianity, The Jesus Handbook has a special place. This is primarily because Jesus of Nazareth cannot be viewed in the history of Christianity in the same way as Paul, Augustine, Martin Luther, Karl Barth, or other important figures to whom handbooks are dedicated. With Jesus of Nazareth, the focus of this handbook is on the person who is in the center of Christian faith and whose work and fate in Christian theology and piety have been interpreted in many and diverse ways from the very beginning. The origin of Christian faith is the confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Lord, and the Son of God. This confession, which is based on the conviction that Jesus was raised from the dead and exalted to God, at the same time forms the basis for interpretations of his earthly ministry and his fate. Christian testimonies depict Jesus’s way of life accordingly under the presupposition that it, including his suffering and death, was determined by God and was destined to be pursued precisely in this way. Another difference from other handbooks is that, because Jesus did not leave behind any literary attestations, reconstructions of his ministry and fate are exclusively based on testimonies about him. For The Jesus Handbook, this means that although its structure does not deviate fundamentally from those of the other handbooks in this series, it has its own characteristics. A review of the history of research on Jesus (part B) is followed by an overview of the historical material (part C), whereas the next part is devoted to the contents of Jesus’s life and ministry (part D). The final part deals with early traces of the reception of Jesus’s work (part E). The usual division of the handbooks, that is, “Orientation,” “Person,” “Work and Activity,” has accordingly been modified. Thus, a separate section is devoted to the hermeneutical and methodological implications of the quest for the life, activity, and meaning of Jesus Christ (part B). In this the historiographical character of the handbook is articulated, in which the hermeneutical premises of Jesus research will be pointed out. For this 1

A. Introduction purpose, it is necessary to take into consideration the epistemological, hermeneutical, and intellectual constellations within which this question was dealt with in different epochs. The first part of the handbook is concerned accordingly with the history of research on Jesus from perceptions of his person in antiquity up until present-day discussions about “the remembered Jesus.” Thereby, it shall be demonstrated that contemporary Jesus research is based on the methodological presuppositions of critical historiography, which are at the same time the basis for the relationship of history and faith in the modern era. The historical material is presented in the next part (C). It will become clear that the interpretation of the remains of the past that are still accessible in the present is never a “neutral” endeavor. Instead, the historical material relevant for a reconstruction of the activity and fate of Jesus has been and always will be apprehended and interpreted under specific conditions. In the respective part of the handbook, the diverse sources for current Jesus research will be presented. Based on this, part D deals with facets of the “biography” of Jesus insofar as they can be ascertained from the sources. Those stages of his biography about which hardly any traditions or only legendary traditions exist—such as his birth and the time before his public activity—can be dealt with only indirectly by illuminating the relevant historical context for the time and region of Jesus. With regard to Jesus’s activity in Galilee and the surrounding regions as well as in Jerusalem and nearby places—including his trial and crucifixion—the character of early Christian texts that has been mentioned above must be taken into consideration. Finally, part E deals with early traces of the impact and reception of Jesus. It will become clear that already in earliest Christianity basic interpretations of his person were formulated on the basis of Easter faith with the help of specific designations (the so-called christological titles) and confessions. Furthermore, effects of Jesus on the formation of early Christian communities will be highlighted. Finally, interpretations in early extracanonical texts as well as in visual representations will be dealt with. According to the character of a handbook as the work of numerous authors, no unified portrait of Jesus emerges. Rather, depending on the assessment of the possibility of drawing conclusions about Jesus’s activity from the available material, different points of view will be emphasized. On the one hand, this reflects the wide range of current Jesus research; on the other hand, it becomes clear that the interpretation of historical material provides a spectrum of possible interpretations. Against this background, The Jesus Handbook wants to provide interpretations of the sources that are based on historical-critical research, and at the same time is aware of the provisional character and limits of historical interpretations. 2

II. The Earthly Jesus and the Christ of Confession: Contours of the Jesus Quest The authors who have contributed to the handbook are, therefore, committed to the methodological principles of historical-critical Jesus research independently from their religious and confessional affiliation. Contributors include Jewish and Christian authors; among the latter are colleagues with a Roman Catholic as well as a Protestant background. This highlights that historicalcritical Jesus research is not tied to religious or confessional requirements but is characterized by common methodological and hermeneutical premises. The view regarding early Christian sources and the person of Jesus that is presupposed throughout the handbook differs from approaches that do not share the presuppositions of critical historiography—or share them only with reservation—and instead confer on biblical texts a special status as inspired Scripture. More recently, such a view has been prominently presented in the trilogy on Jesus of Nazareth by Joseph Ratzinger. Ratzinger recognizes that the historical-critical method is important for the quest of Jesus but sees its limits in that it cannot infer the meaning of the biblical texts for today. In principle, one can agree with this assessment. Indeed, it cannot be regarded as the task of historical-critical interpretation to shed light on the relevance of historical material for the present. However, Ratzinger relativizes the historical-critical method by “canonical exegesis,” the doctrine of the fourfold sense of Scripture and the inspiration of Scripture. Thereby he discards the critical potential of historical-critical interpretation of the Bible. This procedure differs fundamentally from one that interprets the biblical text in common with all other historical material in accordance with historical criticism and establishes its significance for the present by means of hermeneutical reflections and in light of its reception history. The latter approach has to be reflected with regard to its epistemological and hermeneutical premises in order to highlight its contours. This should become somewhat clearer in the following sections.

II. The Earthly Jesus and the Christ of Confession: Contours of the Jesus Quest The Jesus quest has been expressed since its beginnings as a contrast between two perspectives that can already be found in the New Testament and have impacted the quest of Jesus in variable constellations until today. To put it somewhat simply, the question is whether the person of Jesus and his earthly activity are interpreted from the perspective of Christian faith or not. The distinction between the two is not to be equated with the contrast between the earthly Jesus and the Christ of faith, since the earthly Jesus has a constitutive meaning for the Christ of faith. The key point is instead whether the confession that Jesus is the Christ and Son of God and the resulting dynamic of divine and human nature 3

A. Introduction of Jesus Christ are taken into account or whether the meaning of Jesus is limited to his earthly activity. In early Christian sources, the conviction that Jesus participates in the divine realm in the same way as in earthly reality is expressed in various ways. Some texts emphasize the importance of Jesus Christ as the Son of God who was sent by God into the world, crucified, raised, and exalted to the right hand of God. Others pay more attention to his earthly activity. The Gospels portray his appearance in Galilee and surrounding regions as well as events in Jerusalem and its environs that finally led to his arrest and crucifixion. Accordingly, the question about the relationship between Jesus’s earthly activity and his divine origin is posed by early Christian writings with all clarity—and answered in a certain way. First and above all, what was provocative about this was the assertion that in spite of and precisely in view of his disgraceful death on the cross, he appeared on earth with divine authority, and in his activity God’s authority could be recognized. The irritation triggered by this conviction is reflected, for example, in the question about who Jesus really was, since he performed with power hitherto unknown (cf. Mark 1:27). It also led to misunderstandings about his—from a Christian viewpoint—“true,” namely, “divine,” origin, for example, when his Galilean origin is referred to as something that would contradict the claim that he is the Messiah (John 7:41–42). Early Christian writings also report that Jesus’s mighty deeds were attributed by his opponents to “Beelzebul,” the ruler of the demons (Mark 3:22), and his death on the cross was regarded as proof that he could not be of divine origin (Justin, Dial. 32.1; 89.2; Origen, Cels. 1.54; 2.31). In view of the ambiguity of the activity of the earthly Jesus, early Christian texts accentuate that a special cognition process is necessary to recognize the risen and exalted Christ in the earthly Jesus, and vice versa. The encounter of the risen Christ with the disciples from Emmaus (Luke 24:13–35) traces the way from a pre-Easter view of Jesus to a view determined by faith in the risen and exalted one. The Gospel of John repeatedly emphasizes that the way of the earthly Jesus can be properly understood only from a post-Easter perspective (John 2:22; 12:16; 14:25–26; 20:9). The confession of Jesus Christ—who participates at the same time in the divine and earthly reality; who is God’s preexistent Son and the “reflection” of God, the divine “logos” or the “image” of God (Heb. 1:2–3; John 1:1–2; Col. 1:15); who at the same time died for the sins of humanity; who was in the likeness of God and humbled himself to the point of death (Phil. 2:6–8)—is therefore controversial from the time of its inception. In the changing historical, cultural, and epistemological premises, it is, therefore, again and again in need of justification. The two perspectives on Jesus—with or without Christian confession—have not only been set over against one another in modern times but can also be found in 4

III. The Jesus Quest in the Age of Critical Historiography interpretations of the activity of Jesus since their beginnings. In early Christianity the perception of Jesus as a mere human being was brought forward primarily by critics of Christianity, whereas the Christian sources themselves provide a guide for understanding the relationship between the earthly Jesus and the risen Christ; that is, they see in him the one who as an earthly human being came on the scene on behalf of and in the authority of God. This constellation changed in later times.

III. The Jesus Quest in the Age of Critical Historiography In modern times the relationship of the divine and human nature of Jesus Christ has been questioned under the influence of Enlightenment philosophy and critical historiography. The critique was now formulated by Christian scholars themselves, who, under condition of an independent, critical mind-set, subjected the Christian confession to the standards of critical reason. Consequently, the authors of the Gospels were considered “merely human historians” (Gotthold Ephraim Lessing). The confession of Jesus as the risen redeemer who was exalted to God was regarded as irreconcilable with his earthly activity and ethical teaching, by which he wanted to call people to repent (Hermann Samuel Reimarus). As a consequence, there arose the quest of the “historical Jesus,” who had to be distinguished from the “Christ of faith” or the “kerygmatic Christ.” At times, the historical Jesus was even polemically contrasted with the kerygmatic Christ. This juxtaposition has been formative for Jesus research since then. It occurs again and again in varying configurations, whereby the emphasis can be placed on either the historical findings or the Christian confession. Jesus research of the modern era can be described as the attempt to relate the earthly “historical” dimension of Jesus’s activity under the epistemological presuppositions of critical theology to the confession of him as the earthly representative of God. The Christian confession can be considered as a “myth” imprinted on the historical material (David Friedrich Strauss), so that it would be possible to know something about the earthly Jesus only by disregarding this confession (a position often taken since Reimarus). This confession, however, can also be considered as the only reasonable access to Jesus, since the meaning of the “historic biblical Christ” (Martin Kähler) can only be grasped through the Christian confession, not without it or in contrast to it. Current Jesus research stands in this tension between historical discovery and its interpretation on the basis of the Christian confession or without it. On this basis, critical historiography that arose in the nineteenth century led to an intensive pursuit of Jesus’s activity as a Jewish Galilean. Alongside the methodological presupposition of the critical analysis of historical material, the 5

A. Introduction solution to the “Synoptic problem” widely (although not unanimously) accepted today became a basic tool in historical-critical Jesus research. According to this solution, Mark’s Gospel is the oldest one, and Matthew and Luke supposedly composed their gospels independently of each other by using, in addition to Mark, a second source, often called the “sayings source” or “sayings gospel” (or simply “Q” for German Quelle) because it supposedly contains mainly sayings and parables of Jesus. The Gospel of John, by contrast, was regarded as largely irrelevant for the quest of the historical Jesus. This point of view has stood the test, with certain clarifications and modifications, up until present research on Jesus. It is also often presumed in the portrayals of Jesus in the “third quest for the historical Jesus.” Another characteristic of current Jesus research is that the material basis was significantly expanded by including Christian and non-Christian texts besides the New Testament Gospels as well as nonliterary evidence, for example, archaeological and numismatic findings. The historiographical character of Jesus research thereby made it necessary to reflect on the epistemological and hermeneutical presuppositions of historical-critical reconstructions of Jesus. This aspect has increasingly come into view in recent years. For this, the designations “remembered Jesus” and “memory of Jesus” have been coined. They are employed in Jesus research (and beyond) in different ways, which will be explained in more detail later in this handbook. The aim of this introduction, however, is to expound the significance of this approach for Jesus research.

IV. The “Remembered Jesus”—on the Relevance of a Paradigm of Current Jesus Research While the aim of critical theology was to confront the Christian confession with critical reason or the historical-critical analysis of the sources, the concept of “memory” draws attention to the fact that critical reason and critical historiography themselves are based on epistemological premises, which are committed to Enlightenment philosophy and the access to the past based on them. With the concept of “memory of Jesus,” historiographical insights are taken up, according to which history originates by means of selective, interpretive appropriation of the past. The interpretation of the historical material, therefore, always has a provisional, revisable character. In contrast to a historicist understanding of history as series of past events, the interpretive appropriation of the historical material from the perspective of the actual present is emphasized. This facet of the consideration of history is directly connected to the development of critical historiography in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. For instance, it can be detected in Friedrich Schiller’s inaugural lecture of 1789 entitled “Was heiβt und zu welchem Ende studiert man Universalgeschichte?” (“What Does 6

IV. The “Remembered Jesus”—on the Relevance of a Paradigm of Current Jesus Research Universal History Mean and to What End Do We Study It?”). Schiller emphasizes that while the “philosophical mind” is able to create a totality of world history from the fragments of tradition, the “common learning” only serves to “satisfy its pedantic thirst for fame” and is not in any position for creating larger coherencies. In his lectures on the task of historical work, which he gave between 1857 and 1882–1883 in Jena and Berlin, Johann Gustav Droysen declared the creation of historical correlations from historical material as the task of the historian. The reflection on the correspondence of critical evaluation of historical material and the interpretation of it by which the historian creates a historical narrative as representation of the past has thus been an indispensable part of historicalcritical historiography since its foundation in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The historical-critical analysis does not look for the “real historical fact” but instead presents the material from which the historian creates a picture of the past from his or her point of view (Droysen). In recent times these methodological considerations have been taken up again. It has been emphasized that the remains of the past have a “veto power” to the extent that they permit only certain interpretations (Reinhart Koselleck), and as dead material (papyrus, stone, coins, etc.) they become “living sources” only by means of the interpretive, creative activity of the historian (Johannes Fried). We can conclude from these insights that history is not simply identical to the past but arises by means of the interpretive appropriation of the historical material from the perspective of the actual present. The concept of memory, based on historical methodology as just outlined, does not refer to individual processes of memory, conceived of in physiological thought, but to “collective memory,” through which persons and events of the past are integrated into the history and thereby become meaningful for the actual present. “Memory” understood in this way points to the fact that the past is always explored with a particular agenda and is made productive for the interpretation of one’s own present. Thereby, unimportant things can be forgotten, while what is significant and constitutive for the self-perception of a community becomes a formative tradition that is recorded in texts, represented in rituals, and integrated into history in various forms of “memorials.” Examples of this can be found in the history of Israel as well as in other ancient and modern societies. The memory of Jesus—recorded in narratives, represented in the performance of Christian rituals such as the Eucharist, brought to view in visual portrayals—can be conceived of from this perspective as well. The approach characterized by the concept of memory is thus a historiographichermeneutical intensification of historical-critical Jesus research. It presupposes the historical-critical evaluation of the sources and is aware that it is bound to the traces of the past. Moreover, it shows that representation of Jesus takes place likewise in responsibility toward the past and the present and is based on the 7

A. Introduction foundational tradition of early Christianity. With regard to the preoccupation with Jesus, this means that historical-critical portraits of him based on the selection and interpretation of the historical material must for their part be reflected on historically and hermeneutically. This glance at these developments shows that Jesus research is closely related to the respective constellations of theology and history of thought, and has itself a significant influence on them. The Jesus Handbook stands in this complex history of the preoccupation with Jesus of Nazareth. It reflects the history of reception of the person of Jesus in various phases of the history of Christianity and is concerned with the facets of his activity and fate, as they can be ascertained from the sources that have been preserved. In particular, the handbook perceives of itself in the context of historical-critical research as it has evolved since the eighteenth century, first in Europe and then also in North America. The perspectives on the person of Jesus developed here exhibit a multifaceted spectrum. Nevertheless, they can be subsumed under a common paradigm. The basic characteristic of this is to interpret the historical testimonies about Jesus by means of historical criticism and to offer the results to scholarly discourse. Consequently, Jesus research characterized in this way with respect to its hermeneutical and methodological premises is committed to critical historiography that for its part received essential impulses from biblical studies. The specific challenge of Jesus research thereby is to make comprehensible the relationship between the “historical Jesus” (that is, portrayals of the activity and fate of Jesus on the basis of historical-critical evaluation of sources) and the confession of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and exalted Lord.

V. Historical Material as a Foundation for the Reconstruction of the Deeds and Fate of Jesus Jesus himself left behind no written testimonies. His activity and fate therefore can be reconstructed only from sources about him. Alongside the early Christian sources, also to be counted are the few non-Christian witnesses that mention Jesus. Also considered are materials that shed light on Jesus’s historical context. In addition to Jewish writings from the Hellenistic-Roman period, this includes archaeological, epigraphic, and numismatic evidence. The historical circumstances in a broader sense are the political, religious, and social constellations of the Mediterranean world of Hellenistic-Roman times, and in a narrower sense the history of Judaism of this period. In particular, the historical situation of Galilee as the area of Jesus’s activity especially comes into focus, as does that of Judea and Jerusalem. Jesus’s activity must be sketched into the historical con8

V. Historical Material as a Foundation stellations of these regions. In The Jesus Handbook, the historical testimonies of these regions are dealt with in particular to illuminate the historical context of Jesus’s ministry. Thereby, current archaeological research as well as the political and religious situation of the regions are taken into account. The Synoptic Gospels are regarded on good grounds as the most important testimonies for a reconstruction of the activity and fate of Jesus. Nevertheless, research on these writings has made it increasingly clear that they are primarily literary witnesses that portray Jesus’s earthly way of life on the basis of Easter faith. Thus, in recounting the way of the earthly Jesus, they claim to present the abiding significance of the risen, living Christ. Their portrayals of Jesus are therefore oriented on the “vestiges of the past”—on historical information about places of Jesus’s activity, characteristic features of his appearance, people in his environment, and so forth. This information was partly available to them in tradition shaped by (generic) forms that was adapted according to the linguistic style of the gospel writers and incorporated into their respective narratives. In this way, they have portrayed Jesus as the one who appeared on earth with the authority of God and established God’s kingdom on earth. At the same time, they sketched his activities in the context of Judaism in the Hellenistic-Roman era—more precisely, in the Jewish world of Galilee and Judea in the first decades of the first century. Insofar as the Gospels contain historical information and traditions, they can be considered as sources for the “historical Jesus.” At the same time, they are part of the reception history of Jesus, since they presuppose the interpretation of his activity on the basis of Easter faith and present their narratives on this basis. This double character is particularly reflected in historical-critical research on the Synoptic Gospels. The view still held in the nineteenth century that these writings (especially the Gospel of Mark as the oldest gospel) could be interpreted as historical biographies of Jesus was replaced by the insight that they are theological narratives that reworked older traditions from a compositional and theological point of view and integrated them into their respective narratives. These distinct perspectives on the Synoptic Gospels and the assessment of their historicity and their use in historical-critical reconstructions of Jesus’s activity will be discussed in detail in parts B and C of the handbook. The Synoptic Gospels will be surveyed—in common with further New Testament writings and other writings outside the New Testament—primarily with respect to what extent they can be adduced as sources for the life and work of Jesus. This provides the foundation for the third and most extensive part of the handbook, which deals with individual contents of the life and work of Jesus from a historical-critical perspective. For this, as mentioned above, the political, social, and religious contours of the time and region of his appearance, archaeological knowledge about the places of his activity, aspects of his provenance and religious 9

A. Introduction influence, characteristics of his public activity, his relationship with various social and religious groups in his environment, and finally his arrest and execution by the collaboration of Jewish authorities and Roman officials in Jerusalem need to be considered. In the contributions of this part, it becomes clear that the precise placement of Jesus in his political, social, cultural, and religious context plays a central role in current Jesus research. This is an essential distinction from the previous phase of research. Whereas the so-called new quest of the historical Jesus, which emerged around the middle of the twentieth century as a reaction to Rudolf Bultmann’s dictum that the quest of the historical Jesus could not be answered historically and was theologically unproductive, was interested above all in the theological question about the relationship of Jesus’s activity with the origin of Christian faith, the “third quest for the historical Jesus” that arose in the 1980s understands the quest of Jesus primarily as a historiographical task. The historical contextualization of the life and activity of Jesus therefore leads to a fruitful dialogue with adjacent disciplines and an extensive consideration of nonbiblical materials. This interdisciplinary orientation of current Jesus research is also reflected in The Jesus Handbook.

VI. Early Impacts of Jesus A historical-critical reconstruction of the activity and fate of Jesus cannot disregard the early evidence of his impacts. These are first of all manifested in the confession of his resurrection and in narratives of appearances of the risen One that have led to the formation of early testimonies of faith. The wide range of receptions of Jesus’s activity and fate was also reflected in extracanonical texts and early visual portrayals. Part E therefore pursues the traces of Jesus’s activity into the fourth century. These include the formation of specific social structures; the emergence of convictions and beliefs that are based on the person of Jesus and his special relationship to God; the development of Christian ethics as well as the production of texts, among them also those that did not make it into the canon of the New Testament; and iconographic artifacts. Whereas the historical traces of Jesus’s activity are sometimes abandoned and his meaning is expressed within new historical and epistemological paradigms, these witnesses can nevertheless be understood as the impacts and effects of his person. The distinction between a “historical reconstruction” and a subsequent “effect” of Jesus is thus supplemented by means of the perception of multiple processes of reception. These also place the earliest witnesses in the hermeneutical paradigm of a “reception history of Jesus” and highlight that each reconstruction of the historical person of Jesus is an interpretation of the historical material under the conditions of its time, and for its part stands in a history of interpretation of the oldest testimonies. 10

VII. Literature for Basic Orientation In the contributions of The Jesus Handbook, the respective themes on the current state of Jesus research are presented. Individual aspects can be combined to form an overall picture of Jesus—or multiple images of Jesus. However, these images of the historical person of Jesus are not to be equated with the reality behind the text, because they rest on a process of critical evaluation of sources that is due to the conditions and possibilities of cognition of our own time. Moreover, an overall picture that includes the individual aspects of Jesus’s activity is based on “historical imagination” (Collingwood), since history is not found in the sources themselves but is instead developed by means of a narrative that is oriented on the sources, and represents the remains of the past in the present. These representations are determined by current knowledge of sources and epistemological interests and can be corrected or superseded—for example, by new discoveries of sources or by changing social and political constellations. Viewed in this way, there is no categorical difference between portrayals of Jesus in the Gospels, which express the meaning of Jesus in the horizon of their time and at the same time are tied to the traces of the past, and the approaches to Jesus that are presented in this handbook under premises of other epistemological presuppositions.

VII. Literature for Basic Orientation Baumotte, Manfred, and Stephan Wehowsky, eds. 1984. Die Frage nach dem historischen Jesus. Texte aus drei Jahrhunderten, Reader Theologie. Basiswissen— Querschnitte—Perspektiven. Gütersloh. Relevant texts on historical-critical Jesus research from Reimarus to the 1980s, with brief introductions. Bock, Darrell L., and Robert Webb, eds. 2009. Key Events in the Life of the Historical Jesus: A Collaborative Exploration of Context and Coherence. WUNT 247. Tübingen. Historical and sociological analyses of twelve “key events” in the life of the historical Jesus, from the baptism by John to the empty tomb and the appearances, with an introductory and an appraisal chapter. Charlesworth, James H., ed. 2006. Jesus and Archaeology. Grand Rapids. Contributions on the significance of archaeology for Jesus research. Chilton, Bruce, and Craig A. Evans, eds. 1994. Studying the Historical Jesus: Evaluations of the State of Current Research. NTTS 19. Leiden. Collection of contributions on diverse aspects of Jesus research and Jesus tradition from Englishspeaking scholarship. Fiensy, David A., and James R. Strange, eds. 2014–2015. Galilee in the Late Second Temple and Mishnaic Periods. Vol. 1, Life, Culture, and Society. Vol. 2, The Archaeological Record from Cities, Towns, and Villages. Minneapolis. Presentation

A. Introduction of current historical, sociological, economical, and archaeological research on Galilee by numerous experts in the respective fields. Holmén, Tom, and Stanley E. Porter, eds. 2011. Handbook for the Study of the Historical Jesus. Vols. 1–4. Leiden and Boston. Collection of contributions on methodological, historical, and reception history of Jesus research of varying quality. Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus. Leiden (since 2003). Second series since 2009. Published three times annually with international contribution to Jesus research. Jüdische Schriften aus hellenistisch-römischer Zeit. Gütersloh (since 1973). German translations of relevant literature with introductions. Kelber, Werner H., and Samuel Byrskog, eds. 2009. Jesus in Memory: Traditions in Oral and Scribal Perspectives. Waco, TX. Contributions on the “memory approach” in Jesus research in connection to and discussion with Birger Gerhardsson, Helmut Ristow, and Karl Matthiae, eds. ²1961. Der historische Jesus und der kerygmatische Christus: Beiträge zum Christusverständnis in Forschung und Verkündigung. Berlin. Significant contributions from the discussion on the “new quest of Jesus” around the middle of the twentieth century. Schröter, Jens, and Ralph Brucker, eds. 2002. Der historische Jesus: Tendenzen und Perspektiven der gegenwärtigen Forschung. BZNW 114. Berlin. Collection of contributions on Jesus research from the beginning of the twenty-first century. Zager, Werner, ed. 2014. Jesusforschung in vier Jahrhunderten. Texte von den Anfängen historischer Kritik bis zur “dritten Frage” nach dem historischen Jesus. de Gruyter Texte. Berlin and Boston. Collection of significant contributions on Jesus research up until the beginning of the twenty-first century, with introductions.

Jens Schröter and Christine Jacobi