Chapter 11 Flashcards
First quest for the historical Jesus
19th century movement which sought to interpret the life and miracles of Jesus from a rationalistic perspective
Rationalism
The philosophical perspective which claims that reason is the sole test of truth
Herman Samuel Reimarus
German professor whose essay on the intention of Jesus and his disciples is often viewed as launching the rationalistic first quest for the historical Jesus
Albert Schweitzer
German theologian musician philosopher and physician whose magisterial quest for the historical Jesus criticized the first quest for the historical Jesus for merely reimaging Jesus as a 19th-century rationalist
No quest
20th-century period Associated specifically especially with Rudolph Bultmann and marked by extreme skepticism concerning what can be known about the historical Jesus
Ernst Troeltsch
Set out highly influential philosophical principles which effectively ruled out supernatural intervention in human events
D. F. Strauss
German scholar who claim that gospel events were not merely rationalistic events misconstrued by eyewitnesses as the first quest assumed but rather myths which had developed over the course of time in the early churches
William Wrede
Sought to demonstrate that the Gospels were not biographies or history but rather theologically motivated fictions
Johannes Weiss
Seeking to place Jesus and his first century context Weiss identified Jesus as an apocalyptic Prophet expecting the imminent end of the world
History of religions school
A 19th-century German school of thought which sought to study religion in terms of its evolutionary development from simple polytheistic religions to complex monotheism
Martin Kahler
Rejected the historical Jesus quest as misguided claiming that the only Jesus we can know is the Christ of faith
Jesus of history versus Christ of faith
A distinction sometimes drawn between the historical figure of Jesus and the presently raining Lord of the church worshiped by believers today
New (second) quest
A resurgence in historical Jesus research initiated by students of Rudolph Bultmann in the 1950s it’s origin is usually traced to a 1953 lecture by Ernest Kasemann
Third quest
A name given to the resurgence in the study of the historical Jesus from the 1980s onward characterized by variety of new methodologies and cross disciplinary research
Jesus seminar
A controversial group established by Robert Funk and John Dominic Crossan which met in the 1980s and 1990s and voted on the sayings of Jesus finding very little of historical value in the Gospels
Criteria of authenticity
Various criteria such as dissimilarity coherence and multiple attestation developed by Jesus scholars to test the authenticity of the words and actions of Jesus
Cynic-like philosopher
A poet peasant whose clever sayings and parables challenged the social and religious conventions of his day
John Dominic Crossan
Cofounder of the Jesus seminar and most influential advocate of Jesus as a cynic-like Jewish peasant
Cynics
Countercultural Hellenistic philosophers who rejected the norms of their society and sought to live a simple unencumbered life
Charismatic
Someone considered to be filled with or to act in the power of the Spirit of God
Marcus Borg
Influential member of the Jesus seminar and key advocate of the view that Jesus was a spirit person or Jewish mystic
Social revolutionary
A revolution transforming the community life from the bottom up
Eschatological prophet
Prophet referring to the end times God’s final time of salvation
E. P. Sanders
Key advocate of the view that Jesus was an eschatological prophet in close community with the Judaism of his day
Covenantal no ism
Perspective advocated by E. P. Sanders that first century Judaism was guided not by a works salvation but by a covenant relationship with God establish the grace and maintained by Torah observance
John P Meier
Prolific author of multivolume work a marginal Jew which methodically examines the Jesus tradition for historicity. Meier views Jesus primarily as an eschatological prophet
N. T. Wright
Innovative and influential Jesus scholar who views Jesus as an Eschatological prophet restoring God’s people by leading them out of spiritual exile into a new Exodus deliverance
