Jesus In Contemporary Exegesis

Michelangelo
The Last Judgement (detail)
The Christ and the Virgin

The exegesis on the contemporary character of Jesus compares the elements of the life of Jesus of Nazareth found in ancient texts, mostly Christians, with the general modern historical knowledge. She submits, therefore, since the ^nineteenth century , the texts of the New Testament to the analysis in order to distinguish what is compatible with the history and what does not.

The beginnings of historical research on the life of Jesus are discussed in the article Quest for the Historical Jesus. Theses challenging the historicity are grouped in section mythiste Thesis (non-historical Jesus).

Gnther Bornkamm Jesus says in the article in the Encyclopdia Universalis: "Despite the historical vulnerability of many stories and lyrics, taken separately, overall historicity of the Gospels is undisputed

Historians have developed a number of criteria for the analysis of historical sources. They should be used jointly and not an absolute value, the history of early Christianity was certainly not an exact science . They are used to systematize the arguments:

• The dissimilarity: It takes into account the originality. It requires a good knowledge of traditional Jewish and early Christianity. Thus, can be attributed to Jesus which is neither one nor the other. This criterion should be used with caution since Jesus is rooted in Judaism and, of course, itself influenced the early Christians.
• The embarrassment ecclesiastical favors the authenticity of what is found in the texts, so it is a challenge for the drafters of the New Testament. For example the word of Jesus on the cross of Mk 15, 34 (see below).
• Multiple attestation: More element is verified by multiple sources and independent of each other, the more seniority is likely, the assumption being hermeneutics "is more ancient, more is true," although a text can be authentic without that its contents are true.
• Consistency: This criterion is obvious, but should not hide that there were different formulations and interpretations of words and deeds of Jesus.
• The historical plausibility. Jesus is part of its geographical and historical context. But do not forget that the Jewish contemporary of Jesus was very diverse.

Name of Jesus

All sources agree that this man called Jesus - or, as the etymology of the most common (Yeshua) in Aramaic , while the New Testament written in Greek, means by ( Iesous) in Greek. Yeshua, a shortened version of Yehoshua, meaning " Yahweh saves, it is the same for the name of Joshua . It was a very common name in the world Jewish of the ^first century. Nothing in the writings of Flavius Josephus , we find mention of several people named Jesus, whose priests of high rank ( Jewish Antiquities , Book XX).

The stories of the birth

There is no sure indication of the exact year of his birth. Matthew and Luke both attest that Jesus was born while Herod the Great was alive ( Mt 2: 1, Luke 1 5), ie ie, if we consider the writings of Flavius Josephus ( Jewish Antiquities , 17, 167, 213), Jewish War , 2, 10), before the spring of 4 BC and, at the earliest in the year 7 BC-C . Luke connects Jesus' birth in the census of Quirinius , which took place in the year 6 AD. AD by Flavius Josephus ( Jewish War 2.117, 7253, Ant. jud. 17,355, 18. 1sqq.), which was regarded as a chronological error. During the reign of Herod, the Judea was not under the direct rule of the Romans, moreover, the practice to register in the city of his ancestors is not a Roman practice known. Luke wishes to place fairly Jesus in the Roman order, as opposed to the revolts that occurred during the census . It was attempted to determine more precisely the date of birth of Jesus by making correlations between the star of the Magi ( Mt 2: 2) and astronomical phenomena, but so illusory as Matthew describes a miraculous star.

Nativity by Charles Le Brun

The stories of childhood, imbued with wonderful, written after 70 - 80 (The Gospel of Mark , the oldest, has no infancy narrative) repeat the midrash of little Moses , including retained by Philo Alexandria in his Life of Moses, who also has a premonitory dream, the use of the Magi, the massacre of infants . Their intention, using the theme, common in ancient Judaism and Hellenism, the supernatural birth, is to show that the coming of Jesus as Savior was from the outset, determined by God. The virgin birth has been mentioned by the Book of Isaiah , which says "the girl is pregnant and bear a son" ( Is 7: 14, quoted in Mt 1 23), the Hebrew word , almah, s applying it in the Bible to a daughter of marriageable age to be married, whether she is or not, although this is unlikely in this specific context , but the Septuagint , biblical text reference the early days of Christianity , understood as a virgin (who had been "betula") thereby resulting in , Parthenos, virgin.

There are two versions of the genealogy of Jesus , the one given by Matthew and that given by Luke that match that of Abraham to David. Matthew tries to convince Jews that Jesus was part of the royal line of David ( Mt 1 1). Luke has a more universalist perspective and traces the lineage to Adam and God ( Lk 3 22).

Matthew and Luke are the only two chapters of the New Testament which clearly state that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Elsewhere in Matthew and Luke, as well as in the rest of the New Testament , Jesus is simply Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus the Nazarene. Even in the stories of his childhood, the authors use the techniques developed to clarify the fact that Jesus was born in Bethlehem instead of Nazareth: Luke says that Caesar Augustus ordered a census throughout the empire , forcing Joseph to register in the city of his ancestors. Matthew says that Herod ordered the Massacre of the Innocents , causing them to escape to the Egypt and their subsequent return to Nazareth. This massacre is not mentioned by Josephus Flavius. The story of Jesus coming to Egypt may correspond to the explanation of Matthew, which presents him as the New Moses. In light of these considerations, Michael Grant concludes: "The usual story that Jesus was born in Bethlehem , which was located in Judea , not Galilee , is very doubtful. His birthplace is more likely Nazareth in Galilee , or possibly another small town in the region. However, he has also been suggested that different reading of the text of Luke indicates in fact an earlier census during the reign of Herod the Great.

As the city is not mentioned by Josephus , and other writers of that time non-Christians, some believe that Nazareth did not exist at that time, and find it more likely that the Greeks actually refer to Jesus as that Nazir (a type of asceticism ). It is also possible that Nazareth was just a small village, archaeological finds suggest that it was occupied until the ^seventh century BC. AD, and he could be "refounded" ⁱⁿ the second century BC. AD

On the assumption that Jesus would not have lived in Nazareth, he may have been associated with the city through the Hebrew word Netzer, "meaning bud or branch, a term associated with the house of David in a passage the Book of Isaiah considered advertiser's Messiah to come ( Isa 11 1 Jer 23 5).

A third hypothesis is based on the word "ntsyry" in Isaiah 49:6 which means "save" or "restore Israel." The fact that Hebrew has no vowels led tradition Masorti voyelliser in many ways to prepare the text. A pun is possible between Nazarene and nazarthain.

Anyway, rooting Galilean Jesus is clearly stated. The first disciples themselves came from Galilee (according to Mt 26 73, they were recognizable by their accent), a remote area of Judaism (she is separated from Judea through Samaria ), rather frowned upon by Judeans, mingled Jews and non-Jews, thus facilitating the subsequent spread of Christianity to the pagan world, but will also create tensions.

The synagogue of Nazareth

The Gospel of Luke mentions Jesus, "as usual", enters the synagogue of Nazareth. On this occasion, Jesus "... stood up to read. "Archaeological excavations have revealed any public building, however, only a very small portion of the former Nazareth was searched. The Nazareth Modern is located on the old site. The important ancient city of Sepphoris (Zippori) is relatively close.

Of synagogues dating from the time of Jesus were found at Gamla , Jerusalem , Herodium , and Masada. The New Testament mentions synagogues in Capernaum and Nazareth , but archaeologists could not confirm their existence. They are not able to find the remains of synagogues mentioned by Flavius Josephus , who are supposed to be at Tiberias , at Dor , or in the prosperous city of Caesarea.

Family background, social and religious

Jesus is traditionally identified as a woodworker, carpenter or joiner (in Greek , tekton), it relies exclusively on a single sentence from the Gospel of Mark ( Mk 6: 3): "Is not this the carpenter and manuscripts indicate "the carpenter's son" in Mark 6, 3.

Jesus appears anyway to be from a modest background and probably very pious, if one believes the stories of childhood, despite their uncertain historicity, and that ancient writers say members family , in which it was not the political side of messianism which was at the forefront . The "brothers of Jesus mentioned in Mark 6 3 are half-brothers, born from a previous marriage of Joseph , traditionally Orthodox based on Protoevangelium of Jacques , or cousins in the traditional Catholic for whom the word "brother" is broadly defined close relatives , according to an ancient Semitic way (they would be the son of another Mary quoted in the Gospels ( Mk 15 40, Mk 16 1, John 19 25) and Cleophas , brother of Joseph ( Eusebius , Hist. eccl., 3, 11, 32)). From a historical standpoint, there is no conclusive evidence on this issue . See the detailed article Near Jesus

The language in which Jesus would have expressed

The New Testament has survived in Greek , although it has been thought that some texts may have had an original Semitic Hebrew or Aramaic , including the Gospel of Matthew according to the testimony of Papias 'Hierapolis : "Matthew brings therefore Hebrew sentences .

Regarding the Greek, we can note that the testimony is Flavius Josephus ( Ant. 20.21.2): "I worked hard to acquire knowledge of the Greeks, and learn the Greek language, although I ' ale was accustomed to speak our own language .... "

The entries of the time can be hypothesized that the Aramaic , spoken widely in time and has been since the return from exile, was not significantly influenced by Greek, unlike the following centuries. Although they are all written in Greek, the only foreign words that the Gospels attribute to Jesus are Aramaic , as in Mk 5 41 7 34. The Gospel of John says Jesus called Simon "Kephas" ( Jn 1: 42), and Paul used the Aramaic name God , "Abba," even when addressing readers hellnophones ( Gal 4: 6 and Romans 8 16). John P. Meier concludes: "Jesus taught regularly and perhaps only in Aramaic, his mastery of Greek is more practical and probably rudimentary . "

According to Maurice Goguel , "The words of Jesus have a very original form, not Greek but Semitic, characterized by the parabola, by using images and, in aphorisms, by a construct that may seem clever but that is entirely spontaneous and which consists in an alternation of short pieces that are repeated, or opposed based . "

The Gospel of Luke recounts that Jesus reads a scroll in the synagogue of Nazareth. Daniel-Rops said that the majority of children of Jews from Judea ^first century have received formal education through a program developed by Simeon ben Shattach (Kthouboth, VIII, 11) , however, the Talmud was written about two hundred years after Jesus' childhood . References to Philo of Alexandria and Flavius Josephus probably not relate only to public readings of the Torah. Anyway, Meier argues that the debates of Jesus on the Scriptures in the synagogues, and other details, suggest that Jesus had the ability to read Hebrew sacred texts: "To summarize: the texts individually in the gospels prove very little about the fact that Jesus scholar. They rather represent a bundle of converging arguments that challenge us to think that was the case. At one point in his childhood or his youth, Jesus learned to read and decipher the Hebrew Scriptures . " Claude Tresmontant tried to prove that Jesus preached in Hebrew and that his words were translated into secondarily Greek and reported in the Gospels as we have received , but has not won the support of other researchers . Jesus was able to use the Hebrew in his discussions with the scribes .

The personal traits, teaching

The Mandylion, the pope's private chapel in the Vatican, is considered the painting of Jesus oldest.

In this connection, thus says Charles Harold Dodd : "Much of this teaching is expressed by short sentences, sharp, biting, often allusive and even enigmatic, weighted with irony and paradox. All these words, transmitted by different routes, have a face instantly recognizable and it is not possible that they are simply the product of a clever condensed by the early Christian preachers. "

And, citing Mt 6 25-29; Lk 12: 22-27, Mk 4 26, 27, Jn 3: 8: "The power of wonder before nature and before that binds man to their common Creator generated by the literary form capable of expressing it. "

And again: "The parables rely on a vast field of experience. Their author is someone who has observed with keen interest and sympathy stripped of sentimentality, but not sometimes humorous, the way human beings behave. "( Mt 5: 23-24; Mt 7 3; Lk 14: 8-11; Lk 15: 1-32).

"He was attracted by those who were spiritually or physically ill, because they need help he could give. By its sympathy and compassion, but also by the force they felt in him, he inspired in his patients a new confidence "( Mk 9: 22-24; Lk 19: 1-10; Jn 8: 2-11).

Thus, it has been attributed to Jesus , like most of holy men throughout history, performing various miracles during his ministry, and these consist primarily of health care and exorcisms which, from a point rationalist view, belong to a psychological explanation, but some of them also show a control over nature and can be interpreted as allegories .

The texts emphasize he taught with authority "( Mk 1: 22; Mt 7 29). They show discussions where it leads the listener to recover itself in question ( Lk 10: 25-37), and take responsibility ( Mk 10: 17-25). Moreover, it emerges cunningly difficulties in which you want to lock him (eg. Mk 12 13-17; Mk 12: 18-27).

Maurice Goguel (1926) explains this dialectical superiority mainly in that it "does not stop outside but goes to essentials, with a deep sense of spiritual realities and the fact that it is penetrated of Scripture " . While Herbert B. Wasser explains that the Gospel of Mark, in particular, shows that Jesus uses all the techniques of self-righteous rhetoric. For Jesus, doing the will of God stems of parentage against him and is in mercy towards our neighbor and not a legalistic attitude ( Mt 9: 11-13), which does not reduce the moral demand. It makes a kind of reversal from the traditional notion of sacred space where man can not approach the deity as a condition of purification. The Gospels show that he was interested in women, children , to all those that society disapproved, including the Roman enemy.

Besides evoking the nature of parables and human life, there are words of Jesus within the imaging apocalyptic , which was commonly used at the time (apart from the Apocalypse of John , the apocalyptic genre that flourished between 150 BC. and 100 AD. includes books attributed to Enoch, Moses, Ezra, etc.. ) as well as Mk 13: 24-26; Mk 14 62. Never, however, they describe the end of time as is customary in apocalyptic literature: it is merely a form of expression.

The main themes of the preaching of Jesus , Messiah, Divine paternity, establishing the Kingdom of God, love of neighbor, already existed in the religion of his people (and himself did not intend to differ ( Mk 7 24 -30; Mt 10: 5-7)), but he has interpreted in a personal way and so he did Judaism "something so extreme that it became in, in a sense, a non- Judaism. " .

Influences and Baptist Essene

Compiling the texts of the synoptic gospels to draw a biography of Jesus is a theological choice and not a scientific approach, that of biblical exegesis. Since the 1960s, under the influence of the School of the history of forms , we study the gospels technically everyone for themselves, to understand how the "Jesus did" was understood by these growing communities narratives ^, .

The Gospels Synoptic indicate that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River and the a href = "% C3% 89vangile_selon_Jean" alt = "Gospel of John"> Gospel of John, if he does not return the Baptist ritual in the water, evokes the descent of the Spirit ( John 1. 32 ) , which is usually an institution that was Essene , were performed.

The fragment 4Q246, Apocryphon of Daniel, describes the "Last King", "Son of the Most High" that could be Antiochus IV Epiphanes , but also the Messiah , "Lord" and "Son of God."

The fragment 4Q174 speaks of his divine sonship and the line of David .

"Poor in spirit", a term found in the Beatitudes , is found in several passages, including the roll of the Hymns of the cave where it means an adherent of the law, the son of light. Are also mentioned in texts Qumranic the return of Elijah and the resurrection of the righteous (4Q251). These reconciliations are unrelated to Jesus unless special interpretation. Indeed, the texts of the gospels make extensive use of quotations from the Old Testament, most often in the form recorded in the Septuagint. Now, among the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in many texts of the Old Testament in various versions, some of which served as a source for the Septuagint .

But the preaching of Jesus , if it was inserted in its cultural context, was addressed to all, contrary to what was happening in the closed society of Qumran , which inaugurated the rites of purification supported. mile Puech said: " The presentation is totally different gospels messianic texts Essenes and Pharisees .

The entrance to Jerusalem

The arrival of Jesus to Jerusalem is traditionally associated with Easter , but the agitation of palm leaves and the cries of Hosanna are not part of the ritual Jewish holiday of Passover. They are rather part of Sukkoth (Feast of Cabannes or Tabernacles ). It is very probable that accidental error is reached, or a deliberate change was made because of any doctrinal constraints.

The Last Days of Jesus

Philippe de Champaigne , Christ died lying on his shroud

According to the Gospels , Jesus went to Jerusalem with his disciples to fulfill his messianic mission. He has been involved in public disorder when he returned the money changers tables and made remarks highly critical of the Temple. The Judea was an imperial province, governed by a prefect in charge of policing, local authorities were represented by the Sanhedrin , headed by the high priest, a position held at the time by Caiaphas , the family of Hanne ( Flavius Josephus , Ant. jud. , 20, pp. 197-198).

Jesus was crucified on the orders of Pontius Pilate , the Roman prefect of Judea. The Gospels say that he yielded to the request of the Jewish religious leaders. Pontius Pilate that Jesus could have regarded as a Messiah , cause public disorder is likely - the crucifixion was the punishment for the crime of rebellion against the authority of Rome . The plaque placed on the cross of Jesus to detail his crimes (cf. Suetonius , Caligula, 32) JESUS said NAZARENVS IVDAEORVM REX ( INRI ), which means either "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" or "Jesus the Nazarene, King of Judea. " However, the disciples were not disturbed, indicating that the Romans were not afraid to risk a major political .

According to Cicero , the crucifixion was "the most cruel punishment and the most horrible" (Action against Verres II, V, 165). The condemned man had to carry the cross beam to which it would be fixed, the patibulum. The crucifixion (in the case of Jesus, it is unlikely crux of a commission in the form of T, but a crux immissa in a Latin cross, because of the sign ) was preceded by the scourging which Josephus says, about a man who had suffered, he had been "torn from lashes to the bone. "(Jewish War, 6, 304). It was practiced outside of the city (cf. Plautus , the braggart soldier, vv. 358-359: "I guess you'll die that way before the gates of the city, arms outstretched on the gallows "). The death occurred by asphyxiation, the position of the arms resulting in exhaustion of respiratory muscles.

According to Jacques Schlosser , appear to have a historical basis: the scene of derision by the military, the requisitioning of Simon of Cyrene , which it says that it is , identification of Golgotha , the recovery by the soldiers personal effects of Jesus, the spear, vinegar, and practices that are documented, and with more hesitation, women's presence and approach of Joseph of Arimathea to prevent cross body does remain exposed during the Jewish holiday. Among the different words mentioned by the Gospels that Jesus would have uttered on the cross, the more likely is the Mk 15: 34: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? "Because it is quoted in Aramaic and has been reported, although it may seem, at first glance, to contradict what is stated in the Christian proclamation.

The texts relate that Joseph of Arimathea , any member of the Sanhedrin , arranged with Pilate for the body of Jesus is taken down from the cross and placed in a tomb. Guignebert Charles thought that the bodies of executed criminals were more probably thrown into a common grave, but was crucified buried carefully Yehohanan named, was found in the ossuary Giv'at ha-Mivtar near Jerusalem. Note that the feet had been nailed by a single nail has passed through the bones of the calcaneus, and legs had been broken .

The Gospels agree in placing the death of Jesus a Sabbath day of preparation. According to John , it's in the afternoon of 14 Nisan (the day began at sunset) "the day of Preparation of Passover" ( Jn 19: 14). In the synoptic Gospels , it would be in the afternoon of 15 since the last meal of Jesus with his disciples is presented as a Passover meal ( Luke 22: 15), but the arrest, the fact that Simon of Cyrene was coming in from that Joseph of Arimathea was able to buy a shroud and spices Women, suggest that this was not a solemn feast day. If the execution has taken place on the 14th Nisan, and given the length of Jesus' public ministry, the three years during which possible date consistent with the eve of the Sabbath ( 27 , 30 , 33 ), it should be kept that of 30 .

Resurrection

There are traditions that seem to have developed independently and without consistency. The story of the Gospel of Mark , which is believed to be the oldest of the Gospels , shows women who have discovered the tomb empty, which seems a fairly strong element of tradition but did not nature of justification, since women could not testify valid under Jewish law and that the empty tomb was not proof, the body may have simply been removed. The story presents itself as bound to a faith in which Christ is the living, not dead, but this discovery may have a materiality, Christian preaching, which includes the Jewish ideas of the resurrection, being inconceivable with the body of Jesus in a tomb .

The first eight verses of chapter 16 reported an angelic appearance (in the Bible , the appearance of an angel, the Greek , "messenger", is how to express a divine revelation), and are not a description of the Resurrection , they are in the vein of the rest, but not the final 9-20, lacking in some manuscripts . It seems that the tradition of the empty tomb (which is not mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament ) will be developed secondarily in the Christian community, as worship, before being finally included in the Gospel account . Moreover, various details in the narratives of the Resurrection are difficult, though not impossible, to reconcile when one moves from one Gospel to another.

What is certain is that the first disciples, after being initially dismayed by the arrest of Jesus (The text of Mk 14 50 does not hesitate to tell the future leaders of the Church they primitive "s' all fled ") and especially by his execution, have been sure he was still alive and had appeared in several of them, Paul , in 1 Cor 15: 1-11, certifying that they are likely to can attest. These apparitions reported in the Gospels in passages that do not depend on each other literally, represent "a particular set of events, unique, unrepeatable and limited to a period" . The history of Christianity begins at this time. But as a theologian Rudolf Bultmann , "faith in the resurrection is nothing other than faith to the cross as an event of salvation" .

The modern exegesis

Unlike traditional exegesis, it does not practice the compilation of the various Gospels to get a vision of Jesus' life. It takes each gospel to determine which character the author of the text, the community or school who want to show the product.

The Anglo-Saxon thus resulting in various theories of the historical Jesus. The order from the list below quantifies the volume of "Jesus traditional" content throughout the critical somehow, it ranges from zero (no Jesus at all) to 100 (Jesus is historically as in the Gospels and the doctrine defined by the councils Christological )

Theory mythiste

She was abandoned by the academic research in 1933 as a result of a book critical of the atheist writer Charles Guignebert . It remains nevertheless in the non universiraire circles fondalentalisme rationalist or atheist.

Indeed, the thesis of the lack of historical Jesus, which appeared in the late ^eighteenth century , remained marginal in the academic historical research is completely dismissed by academic scholars in the early Christianity since the late 1930's . Now outdated , it has continued to be repeated regularly by writers outside the academy, "to some press marked by ideology and not enough scientific knowledge" , including diffusing Internet .

It is divided today into two sub-theses:

• "Jesus has no historical existence at all" that is supported by the philosopher Michel Onfray (based on Prosper Alfaric and Louis Paul Couch ), and some mythistes English as Earl Doherty (Professor of Classics ) on the one hand and by journalists Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy other. The thesis of the latter has evolved: they would fall in the second group mythistes (see below) and now contends that true Christianity was Gnosticism.
• "Jesus is a man unknown to the past" and his personality, whether or not it existed gathers together the myths of the Middle East. This thesis is supported by Alvar Ellegrd and GA Wells (Professor of German).

Jesus the Hellenistic Hero

This theory is supported by Gregory J. Riley. See his book A Jesus Christ many, Labor & Fides.

Jesus the Revolutionary

This theory is supported by Robert Eisenman and SGF Brandon (who was, from 1951 to 1971, Professor of Comparative Religion at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom).

The "theory Zealot" from SGF Brandon , developed in Jesus and the Zealots (1969) based on a thorough study of the Gospel of Mark, but also on all elements of the New Testament which would point to a close proximity of Jesus and his disciples with the current politico-religious in Israel in Jesus' time).

Jesus Lord of Wisdom

This theory is supported by:

• John Dominic Crossan
• Robert Funk
• Burton Mack
• Stephen J. Patterson

Similarly the authors of the Jewish School of the New Testament , the pioneers of comparisons between Midrash and the Gospels, the historians of Jewish-Christian Schism (Daniel Boyarin, Dan Jaffe, etc..) speak of Jesus as they do from Paul of Tarsus or Sages of the Talmud , which tradition assigns various teachings and whose historicity is uncertain.

Jesus inspired

This theory is supported by:

• Marcus Borg
• Stevan Davies
• Geza Vermes

Jesus the prophet of social change

This theory is supported by:

• Richard Horsley
• Hyam Maccoby
• Gerd Theissen

Jesus the apocalyptic prophet

• Bart Ehrman
• Paula Fredriksen
• Gerd Ldemann
• John P. Meier
• EP Sanders

Jesus the Saviour

• Luke Timothy Johnson op
• Robert H. Stein
• NT Wright

References

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