In Search of Jesus
Some scholars seek answers in history and redefine the meaning of his life and deeds
Johnson argues that the four gospels, the letters of Paul and a few "outsider texts" from the first and second centuries provide a credible, if patchy, history of Jesus's life and ministry, including some firsthand accounts. They establish, says Johnson, that Jesus was a Jewish peasant who preached love and selflessness, gained some notoriety and was tested, tried under Pontius Pilate, crucified and buried and later appeared before witnesses who took him for the Messiah and dedicated themselves to spreading his gospel. Beyond that, he says, the historical process is hard-pressed to venture.
Indeed, the general acceptance of the historicity of the gospels among conservative scholars explains why so few of them have joined in the historical-Jesus quest, except to respond to the skepticism that often seems to dominate the scholarly writings. Among those who have entered the debate are British scholars James D.G. Dunn and N.T. Wright, both of whom have published works seeking to buttress the historical accuracy of the gospel portraits of Jesus.
But Johnson argues that most historical-Jesus research misses the biblical boat. While it may be interesting to examine the social, political, anthropological and cultural contexts of Jesus and his time, pinning down the historical Jesus "is hardly the point of Scripture," which is "more concerned with describing the character of Jesus" and his message.
Christianity, says Johnson, is an organic, evolving religion based, above all, on personal leaps and tests of faith. Johnson, who received his Ph.D. at Yale University in 1976, says his own most sacred religious beliefs are confirmed in experience, not in texts. Orphaned at 10, he was separated from his five siblings and entered a Catholic minor seminary at 13. For the next 15 years he lived a monastic life, teaching and preaching until he fell in love with a student who "happened to be a divorced woman with six children." When they married, he left the priesthood and was banned from teaching at Catholic schools.
Though he might easily have soured on the church, Johnson says such struggles have only clarified and strengthened his relationship to Jesus and the church. "For me, the truths of faith are the truths of the heart," he says. That's the sort of religious knowledge that simply can't be challenged on paper.
[Photo quotations]: ROBERT FUNK, JESUS SEMINAR. "Jesus pointed to what he called God's domain. His disciples tended to stare at the pointing finger."
MARCUS BORG, THE MYSTIC. "There is a strong connection between images of Jesus and images of the Christian life."
JOHN MEIER, DOGGED DIGGER. "The historical Jesus is not the real Jesus but only a fragmentary hypothetical reconstruction of him."
JOHN CROSSAN, THE GROUND SHAKER. "Christianity must repeatedly make its best historical judgment about who Jesus was then and what that reconstruction means as Christ now."
LUKE JOHNSON, THE TRADITIONALIST. "The real Jesus for Christian faith is not simply a figure of the past but, very much and above all, a figure of the present."
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