The Peril of Modernizing Jesus [Paperback]

Henry J. Cadbury (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock Publishers (February 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556351453
• ISBN-13: 978-1556351457
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,723,457 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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3.0 out of 5 stars Anachronism is the peril in interpreting the Jesus of the Gospels, November 20, 2011

By 

William S. Downer (Chico, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The peril of modernizing Jesus. (Hardcover)

I was challenged by an article I read by Krister Stendahl stating that Cadbury's book was "a good summary of one of the most important insights of biblical studies in the 2oth century." There in Stendahl's "THE APOSTLE PAUL AND THE INTROSPECTIVE CONSCIENCE OF THE WEST" he uses this peril of anachronistic thinking to develop a large presupposition of his book namely being that modern man has not remained the same throughout the ages. There WAS a difference between St Paul and a later Augustine and Cadbury's book was one of the insights from which Stendahl wrote his book "PAUL AMONG THE JEWS AND GENTILES" (where the above article is found).

This review is from the 1937 edition of Cadbury's book "THE PERIL OF MODERNIZING JESUS." (216 pages) Here he presents 7 chapters based on lectures he gave at Kings Chapel, Boston in 1935. His purpose is to correct the biased way modern man views Jesus or to quote Cadbury "to see Jesus as he was we need to neutralize the bias of our eyes" (v)

Cadbury focused on the Gospel narratives rather than Paul by "correcting the modern way" of examining ancient texts. For he says that our "scientific age" while boasting in its superior knowledge only pales in comparison to "anachronism (which) is a more unpardonable sin" (90). In fact to say Jesus holds to "modern philosophies" is "the grossest anachronism" (112) and as such "Jesus' mind stands in radical contrast to the mentality of our age" (67). What we must do is attempt an understanding of Jesus' age, his religion and milieu.

Essentially then, Cadbury's book is a quest for the Historical Jesus (45). But to "demodernize" Jesus "leaves us an historical figure and an historical scene vague and incomplete...alien and irrelevant to the great issues of modern life." (190) So how do we make the Gospels relevant to modern man? Cadbury suggests, unlike previous quests for the Jesus of history, the necessity of realizing that the historical person of Jesus is an "object of religious faith" while adding that "history illustrates faith and faith interprets history."(192-193) The gap will always be there but ancient texts must be read so as to see ancient man experiencing life much differently than we moderns do.

Stendahl was right. We must separate our modern presuppositions of interpreting a Paul or Jesus without taking into consideration their environment, religious experience and cosmic world view. And this is all because according to Cadbury "our age differs more from Jesus' age in ways of thinking than in ways of living" (4)