Authors Gerd Theissen and Annette Merz wrote in the Foreword of this 1996 book, “This comprehensive guide sets out to present the way in which scholars study Jesus---not only the results they arrive at but also the process by which they acquire their knowledge… Scholars do not say, ‘That’s the way it was,’ but, ‘It could have been like that on the basis of the sources.’ So we discuss all the relevant sources… not just the Christian texts which mention Jesus but also the non-Christian ones… on each important theme we have provided a brief survey of research… in the book there are frequent methodological and hermeneutical reflections… Our book sets out to communicate the different degrees of our knowledge of problems as clearly as possible… We have deliberately written a comprehensive guide suitable for study either in small groups or by individuals.” (Pg. vii-viii)
They note, “What is perhaps most irritating is the knowledge that… we know only a small section of the range of traditions about Jesus which existed e.g. in the year 150 CE… the selection that we have today … has been governed … by church-political processes like the canonization of the Synoptic Gospels and John and the deliberate elimination of ‘apocryphal’ Gospels… Only in a few very fortunate instances have the Jesus traditions of Christian groups which were regarded as heretical by the church … been preserved in such completeness that they can be of significant use in the historical reconstruction of the life and preaching of Jesus (above all the Gospel of Thomas).” (Pg. 60)
They acknowledge, “The contemporary non-Christian sources are largely silent about Jesus. Even where we would expect a note about Jesus, we do not find any report about him. Philo of Alexandria… a contemporary of Jesus, reports on Pilate… There is nothing about Jesus. Justus of Tiberius, a contemporary of Flavius Josephus, composed a ‘Chronicle of the Jewish Kings’ and a ‘History of the Jewish War.’ … he does not mention Jesus either… “ (Pg. 93)
They point out, “Miracle stories are concentrated in antiquity on a few figures; not every itinerant preached attracted miracle traditions. In the New Testament period we know of Hanina ben Dosa (c. 70 CE), Elizer ben Hyrcanus (c. 90 CE) and the exorcist Eleazar… Finally, mention should be made of Apollonius of Tyana (c. 4-96 CE), of whom nine great miracles are narrated. More miracle traditions are concentrated on Jesus than on any other individual in antiquity.” (Pg. 113)
They acknowledge, “In Luke… the birth of Jesus under Herod (Lk 1:5) is made parallel to the census of Quirinius (2.1 f.) causes some difficulties. According to Luke’s account, the emperor Augustus ordered a first empire-wide census shortly before Jesus’ birth, at the time when Quirinius was governor of Syria. These two pieces of information cannot be harmonized: Nothing is known from non-Christian sources of an empire-wide levy of taxation under Augustus… Quirinius was governor of Syria only from 6 CE onwards. So the information that Jesus was both born under his rule AND under Herod involves a gap of at least ten years!... Quirinius made what was evidently the first Roman census in the course of the incorporation of Judaea into the province of Syria… One can reckon that Luke deliberately and falsely harmonized two chronological details which were not compatible… One can construct hypotheses to make it possible for the information in Luke to be essentially accurate, i.e. by maintaining that there was a Roman census in the Judaea of Herod the Great in which Quirinius played a role…” (Pg. 153-154)
They observe, “All four Gospels agree in saying that Jesus died on a Friday. However, it is disputed whether this Friday was the day of rest of the Passover feast (14 Nisan) as the Gospel of John presupposes… or whether the Friday of Jesus’ death fell on the first day of the Passover feast (15 Nisan), as the Synoptics report… [A. Jaubert] attempted to demonstrate that the apparent contradictions … are to be attributed to the use of different calendars… the differences between John and the Synoptics cannot be reconciled. It is hardly possible to make a decision, but the argument for the Johannine chronology are weightier.” (Pg. 157-159)
They suggest, “the authenticity of the sayings relating to a date is rightly disputed. They promise the advent of the kingdom of God … still in the lifetime of the hearers…. Initially it was said that everything would be fulfilled in this generation (Mk 13:30). Then the coming of the Son of Man was promised before the mission to Israel had ended. Finally. There were still a few of the first generation left [Mk 9:1]… Anyone who attributes the stimulus towards composing such sayings about a date to Jesus himself is thus arguing that the sayings caused perplexity in primitive Christianity, since they had not been fulfilled. They could only have been preserved because they were associated with the authority of Jesus.” (Pg. 255)
Of Luke 17:21, they comment, “The translation and meaning … are disputed. Is it to be understood in a spiritual sense… Or is [it] to be understood spatially, ‘in your midst’? That is the most widespread translation… But as a rule [‘entos’] means ‘within.’ That is shown by the only parallel in the New testament … in Matt 23:26… In addition to the spiritual and local sense Luke also knows a dynamic interpretation in the sense of ‘the kingdom of God is at your disposal.’ … For the future interpretation, the kingdom of God is suddenly in your midst, is quite improbable. The suddenness of the coming of God is introduced by the following context. The saying remains a riddle.” (Pg. 260-261)
They say of Jesus’ education, “The HOME was an educational institution of decisive significance. Here elementary religious education took place … It must remain open whether Jesus went to an ELEMENTARY SCHOOL to learn to read and write… it is impossible to say whether in the early first century an insignificant village like Nazareth had its own school… However, there is literary evidence of a SYNAGOGUE in Nazareth… As such it possessed at least one Torah scroll, and… most likely a scroll of Isaiah [Lk 4:17], a Psalter and translations (Targums)… A series of indications makes it very probable that Jesus could at least read… We can only guess at how Jesus acquired further knowledge… Perhaps Jesus came to know the form and content of Jewish and Greek education as an itinerant craftsman in the synagogues and squares of the larger cities.” (Pg. 355-356)
They argue, “An intrinsic improbability tells against the identification of the last supper as a Passover meal. The Passover is celebrated annually. Had Jesus celebrated his farewell mean as a Passover meal, it would have led to the origin of an emphatically annual meal. But all Christians celebrated the Lord’s supper… every week… The interpretation in terms of a Passover arises only as a result of the context in which the words of institution stand in the Synoptic Gospels. The external improbability of an identification of the last supper and Passover meal is grounded in chronology: in our view the Johannine chronology has the better arguments on its side.” (PG. 426)
They explain about the basis for the Sanhedrin proceedings, “From Jer 26:1-19 on there is evidence that criticism of the temple was a crime punishable by death… could not the prophecy about the temple about the temple explain a death penalty is it is assessed as false prophecy and leading people astray?... The second point in the accusation given in Mark 14:61 f. is Jesus’ claim to be Messiah. However, apart from the passage there is no indication that a claim to be Messiah was a crime according to Jewish law or even amounted to blasphemy…. According to Mark 14:63 Jesus is condemned for ‘blasphemy.’ Even if Mishnaic law defines blasphemy as pronunciation of the name of Yahweh, in New Testament times the concept had a wider significance: it means… claiming a statue which only God has… While a claim to be Messiah was not intrinsically blasphemous, a claim to divine dignity was.” (Pg. 462-464)
They point out that the closing sentence of Mark’s Gospel is “an irresolvable paradox---for how could the evangelist have known about the events at the tomb except from the women, who allegedly said noting to anyone?” (Pg. 494) They add later, “the empty tomb cannot be either demonstrated or refuted with historical-critical methods. We must reckon with two possibilities. The resurrection faith called forth by Easter appearances led to a search for the tomb of Jesus… The New Testament tradition about the empty tomb then attached itself to this tomb. However, possibly people did know about Jesus’ tomb… The women found this tomb empty on Easter morning. They kept quiet, because they did not want to be accused of grave robbery… By contrast, most historical reconstructions which regard the story of the empty tomb as an unhistorical legend feel compelled to attack both the existence of an empty tomb and the burial of Jesus. For had it been known where Jesus was buried, it is hard to imagine how the Easter message could have been preached in Jerusalem without reference to this tomb.” (Pg. 502)
They conclude, “The quest for the historical Jesus was regarded as a failed undertaking by liberal theology. This book makes an interim stocktaking in a new orientation of theology which has come about in the second half of the twentieth century. It seeks to provide information about who Jesus was. And it also wants to make possible to him an access which is not distorted by authoritarian demands.” (Pg. 563) They add, “Historically and theologically, Jesus belongs in Judaism…Thus today he belongs to two religions… Their common theme is life in dialogue with the one and only God and ethical responsibility for the world and society. A Christianity which … is concerned with both these things can remain true to itself only if it remains true to its Jewish roots, if it perceives its social responsibility, and if it understands the Jesus tradition as a chance to keep beginning the dialogue with God all over again.” (Pg. 572)
This is an excellent summary of historical Jesus research, and will be of great interest to those studying the subject.
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