The Historical Jesus?: Necessity and Limits of an Inquiry (2008 Nodet / Crowley), book (English ed.)
The Historical Jesus?: Necessity and Limits of an Inquiry (2008) is the English edition of Histoire de Jésus? Nécessité et limites d'une enquête (2003 Nodet), book. Translated from the French by J. Edward Crowley.
Abstract
"A very active member of the École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem that has done so much to introduce historical criticism into the believer's reading of the Scriptures, Étienne Nodet proposes here a beautiful history book. Certainly, in putting forward to the general public an accessible synthesis of scholarly and dense works carried out successfully in these recent years, he spares the reader the ponderousness of a critical apparatus and consigns to Appendix I the citation of his principal ancient sources. He invites the reader to a fascinating effort of the intelligence and of the heart that constitutes the profession of a historian: documentation, appraisal of documents, examining witnesses, comparisons, inductions and deductions; even textual criticism is sometimes called upon: for example, he is one of those who postulates the existence of a "Western Text" of the New Testament, and draws interesting hypotheses from its comparison with the standard text of the critical editions. In a second appendix, not found in the original French work, he presents a new translation of Josephus' War of the Jews for hints of authentic non-Christian evidence about Jesus and John the Baptist ... Beginning with the Gospel accounts of the infancy of Jesus, the author opens up for us the main features of the life of Jesus in a reading that oscillates between the questioning of the historical reference and the penetrating understanding of their verbal expression. Finally, there is the very suggestive sketch of the figure of James, "the brother of the Lord" and the head of the early Jerusalem church."--Publisher description.
Editions
Published in New York, NY: T&T Clark, 2008 (Jewish and Christian Texts, 3).
Contents
Structure of the Eucharist -- Song and sin -- Scripture and word of God -- The sacred library -- Galilee -- Two paradoxes -- Synoptic Gospels -- The fulfillment of the Scriptures -- The accounts of the infancy of Jesus -- Baptism of Jesus -- The passion -- Public life of Jesus.