The narratives of the Gospels and the historical Jesus: current debates, prior debates and the goal of historical Jesus research

The article argues that current debates over method in historical Jesus studies reveal two competing ‘models’ for how to use the gospel tradition in order to approach the historical Jesus. These models differ over their treatments of the narrative frameworks of the gospels and, concomitantly, their...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Keith, Chris 1980- (Author)
Format: Electronic/Print Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage [2016]
In: Journal for the study of the New Testament
Year: 2016, Volume: 38, Issue: 4, Pages: 426-455
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Gospels / Jesus Christus / Historicity / Methodology / Collective memory / Form criticism
IxTheo Classification:HC New Testament
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
Parallel Edition:Electronic
Description
Summary:The article argues that current debates over method in historical Jesus studies reveal two competing ‘models’ for how to use the gospel tradition in order to approach the historical Jesus. These models differ over their treatments of the narrative frameworks of the gospels and, concomitantly, their views of the development of the Jesus tradition. A first model, inspired by form criticism and still advocated today, attempts to attain a historical Jesus ‘behind’ the interpretations of early Christians. A second model, inspired by advances in historiography and memory theory, posits a historical Jesus who is ultimately unattainable, but can be hypothesized on the basis of the interpretations of the early Christians, and as part of a larger process of accounting for how and why early Christians came to view Jesus in the ways that they did. Advocating the latter approach to the historical Jesus and responding to previous criticism, this article argues further that these two models are methodologically and epistemologically incompatible. It therefore challenges the suggestion that one can affirm the goals of the second model while maintaining the methods of the first model.
ISSN:0142-064X
Reference:Kritik in "Feasible Researches in Historical Jesus Tradition (2017)"
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the study of the New Testament
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0142064X16637777