Synthetic Overview: Jesus' Life and Message          ReligSt  435 
                                                     Robert Kraft 
  
Life of Joshua/Jesus 
  
  Birth and early years are shrouded in mystery:
    Parents = Miriam & Yosef, but from where? what backgrounds and
              lineage? were they married? did Yosef sire Jesus? etc.
    Name -- probably some form of "Yeshua" (Joshua)
    Birthday -- has any reliable information been preserved?
    Location -- how does the "Nazarene" appelation function with
              regard to J's place of origin or childhood? Similarly,
              does the later "Messiah" title encourage traditions 
              about place (Bethlehem) and circumstances (virgin birth) 
              of J's birth? why would early Christians care? etc.
    Native Language -- Aramaic? Hebrew? Greek? all of them??
    Education -- anything formal? how/where/what? 
    Occupation -- how is the "carpenter" tradition to be understood?
 
  Baptism as a "disciple" of John the baptizer is probable. 
 
  Gathered followers of his own, apparently mostly in Galilee, with 
    message probably closely related to that of John the baptizer.
 
  Came into conflict with Roman and Jewish political and religious
    authorities in Palestine/Israel, was executed by Romans (??) as 
    common criminal (for sedition/treason ??) sometime during 
    prefecture of Pontius Pilate (26-36 ce).
 
  Followers believed him to be alive after execution, which attested
    his special status as God's anointed ("messiah") in trying times, 
    as his followers understood their situation. 
 
  Followers remember him as wonder worker (in a credulous world)
    as prophetic sage (like outstanding teachers and leaders) 
    as reactionary to established Jewish cult (destroyer of Temple) 
    as eschatologically oriented preacher and participant.
  
Jesus' Message: some probable general aspects 
  
  Eschatological focus: 
    Note urgency of message -- repent, God's rule impinges, etc.
    Note also the legal charges against him, and the probability
      that he was accepted as a "messianic" figure. 
    TO ATTEMPT TO UNDERSTAND JESUS AS A HISTORICAL FIGURE FROM THE
    VIEWPOINT OF THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS WITHOUT SEEING HIM IN THE   
    PERSPECTIVE OF FIRST CENTURY PALESTINIAN JEWISH ESCHATOLOGY IS
    BOTH ILLEGITIMATE AND FUTILE. This remains one of the major 
    problems for Christian history and selfunderstanding -- to  
    what extent can a Jesus apart from that eschatological  
    setting still be meaningful to another age, or today? Is it 
    possible that the "historical Jesus" was NOT apocalyptically
    oriented, despite the picture provided by the Synoptic Gospels? 
    (See discussions about the "Jesus Seminar" and its
    proposals in recent times.)
 
  Socio-Ethical teachings:
    Oriented largely to eschatological outlook -- kingdom living. 
    Idealistic -- real fulfilment of Torah as God intended it.
    Thematically similar to known Jewish concerns of that time: 
      e.g. "golden rule" (see Tobit 4.15; Hillel traditions)
           on divorce (see traditions of Shammai vs Hillel) 
           on riches (see Essenes, Therapeutae) 
           on righteousness (see Qumran literature, etc.).

  Religio-Cultic Attitudes (largely difficult to ascertain):
    Apparently a positive attitude to Torah as he interpreted it; 
    Mildly critical of some current approaches to such matters
      as sabbath observance, ritual washing, and food laws; 
    Remembered especially for some sort of attack on the Temple 
      and at least some of its institutions;
    Virtually nothing on sacrifice, calendar (beyond sabbath),
      circumcision -- general impression of conformity; 
    Pictured as pro-baptism and originator of eucharistic meal, 
      although such claims are difficult to evaluate. 
  
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Synthetic Overview: Methodological Considerations    ReligSt  435 
                                                     Robert Kraft   
  
Searching for the Events/Sayings Underlying the Jesus Traditions
  
Must deal with INDIVIDUAL ITEMS that make up the larger traditions; 
    little reliance can be placed on connections between items in 
    the preserved gospel accounts or their intermediate sources.
  Critical-historical focus is not primarily when or where or in
    what situation Jesus may have done or said something, 
    but WHETHER Jesus might have done or said it. 
  It is crucial to determine what kinds of questions are legitimate 
    at each stage of the investigation; it is unlikely that the 
    materials provide data for reconstructing the development of
    Jesus selfconsciousness, for examining the consistency of 
    Jesus' views, etc.
  
Must have as much awareness as possible about the FORMATIVE PERIOD
    of Christian origins from which the earliest traditions are 
    derived (ca 30-150 ce), including:
  Judaism in Palestine/Israel and in the world at large;
  "Christian" concerns and developments in the period;  
  the Greco-Roman world at large, in its various aspects. 
  A "spiral/circular" sort of approach is often unavoidable in
    this type of investigation -- some of our knowledge about 
    Judaism comes from early Christian sources which in turn are
    interpreted in the light of our knowledge of Judaism, etc.
  
Must recognize the SELECTIVITY of early Christian tradition (and
    possibly even of Jesus himself) in determining what issues  
    are dealt with and passed along to others:  
  "Sitz im Leben" means the environmental/sociological setting or 
    context of the transmitters -- what were the interests/problems 
    present at any given time that determined both the selection
    of (or perhaps creation of) and presentation of topics now
    present in the surviving tradition? 
  
Must recognize and compensate for problems of LANGUAGE
    transformation in the preservation of the early materials:  
  Many early traditions must have been transmitted in Semitic 
    speaking environments (Hebrew and Aramaic); 
  Jesus and his earliest followers probably spoke a Semitic dialect 
    as primary language (probably Aramaic, maybe Hebrew); 
  Our preserved sources are almost entirely in the Greek language.
    To translate is, to some extent, to interpret -- and if one 
    must work from English or some other modern language, an
    additional stage of translational intervention is involved! 

  
METHOD: What, then, is more likely to be authentically derived
    from Jesus? 
  That which cannot be explained as reflecting the interests  
    and concerns of the world(s) in which the traditions were 
    formulated and transmitted (Judaism and Christianity in the 
    hellenistic worlds), and thus would be difficult for early
    Christians to create -- this is sometimes called the
    "criterion of dissimilarity." 
  That which makes relatively good sense in Semitic language
    forms -- recognizing at the same time that this criterion can 
    only get one back to the Semitic speaking early Christian 
    communities and not necessarily to Jesus himself; 
  That which is attested in a relatively wide range of traditions 
    that do not all seem to derive from the same community
    interests or foci.
  
This is a "minimalist" approach. AS THE PROBABILITY OF OTHER
EXPLANATIONS DECREASES, ONE'S CONFIDENCE IN THE PRESERVED TRADITION 
UNDER EXAMINATION GAINS RELATIVELY MORE SECURITY. But for most of 
the preserved material, it is not possible to make strong probability 
judgments (either positive or negative) because it is commonplace 
in the period in which the traditions were developed/formulated 
and collected/standardized. 
  
                                                      12/89