"Is This Not the Carpenter?" The Question of the Historicity of the Figure of Jesus (2010 Thompson / Verenna), edited volume
"Is This Not the Carpenter?" The Question of the Historicity of the Figure of Jesus (2010) is a volume edited by Thomas L. Thompson, and Thomas S. Verenna.
Abstract
A publication of the Copenhagen International Seminar.
"For some time, New Testament scholarship, particularly in its conservative and evangelical wings, have avoided direct questions regarding the historicity of Jesus. Many have followed Rudolf Bultmann, who had suggested that "The Jesus Christ who is God's Son, a pre-existent divine being, is at the same time a certain historical person, Jesus of Nazareth..." (1941). This has become a mantra, which, today, is accepted and hardly questioned by most scholars, who, accordingly, have lost sight of the context of the literature of the New Testament, ignoring the theological emulations, allusions, and edifying functions of many of the Gospel narratives, the epistles, pastorals, and the book of Revelation. The presupposition of historicity supports an historical interpretation of the texts and makes alternative explanations for allegories, edifications, eponyms and allusions unnecessary. With the assumption of such figures as Jesus, Paul and the disciples as historical, significant intentions which are implicit to our texts are frequently ignored or misunderstood and whole subtexts are created which might never have existed in the past.--Publisher's description
Editions and translations
Published in London [England]: Equinox, 2010.
Table of contents
Introduction: Thomas L. Thompson and Thomas Verenna
Into the Well of Historical Jesus Scholarship
- 1. Roland Boer (University of Newcastle) – The German Pestilence: Re-assessing Feuerbach, Strauss and Bauer
- 2. Jim West (Quartz Hill School of Theology) – A Very, Very Short Introduction to Minimalism
- 3. Lester L. Grabbe (University of Hull) – “Jesus Who is Called Christ”: References to Jesus Outside Christian Sources
- 4. Niels Peter Lemche (University of Copenhagen) – The Grand Inquisitor and Christ: Why the Church Doesn’t Want Jesus
- 5 Emanuel Pfoh (PhD student) – Jesus and the Mythic Mind: An Epistemological Problem
Paul and Early Christianity: Historical and Exegetical Investigations
- 6. Robert M. Price (Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary) – Does the Christ Myth Theory Require an Early Date for the Pauline Epistles?
- 7. Mogens Müller (University of Copenhagen) – Paul: The Oldest Witness to the Historical Jesus
- 8. Thomas S. Verenna – Born Under the Law: Intertextuality and the Question of the Historicity of the Figure of Jesus in Paul’s Epistles
The Rewritten Bible and the Life of Jesus
- 9. James Crossley (University of Sheffield) – Can John's Gospel Really Be Used to Reconstruct a Life of Jesus? An Assessment of Recent Trends and a Defence of a Traditional View
- 10. Thomas L. Thompson – Psalm 72 and Mark 1:12-13: Mythic Evocation in Narratives of the Good King
- 11. Ingrid Hjelm (University of Copenhagen) “Who is my Neighbor?” Implicit Use of Old Testament Stories and Motifs in Luke’s Gospel
- 12. Joshua Sabih (University of Copenhagen) – Born Isa and Baptized Jesus: The Quranic Narratives about Isa
- 13. K. L. Noll (Brandon University) – Investigating Earliest Christianity Without Jesus