(++) The Quest of the Historical Jesus = Von Reimarus zu Wrede (1910 @1906 Schweitzer / Montgomery, Burkitt), book (English ed.)

Abstract

The Quest of the Historical Jesus: A Critical Study of its Progress from Reimarus to Wrede (1910) is the first English edition of Schweitzer's landmark text challenging the 19th century historians who reduced Jesus to a moralist. Schweitzer’s text marked the termination of the 19th century quest for the historical Jesus, a quest that began with Reimarus and ended with Wrede. Schweitzer defined Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet whom the Roman world crushed. The ethic of Jesus, so significant for 19th century scholars, was only an interim ethic that no longer binds the modern Christian. The meaning of Jesus for us is found not in his historical life, which turned out to be a failure, or in his ethics, which are transitory, but in the Jesus who rises in our hearts, enlivening us to do his will in the world. “Jesus as a concrete historical personality remains a stranger to our time, but His spirit, which lies hidden in His words, is known in simplicity, and its influence is direct” (401). The Quest of the Historical Jesus is famous for its mystical musings and existential insights. Schweitzer concludes with the following oft-quoted lines:

"He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lake-side, He came to those men who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same word: 'Follow thou me!' and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is." The Quest of the Historical Jesus, 401.

- Ronald Ruark, University of Michigan