Download - 1997 - William - R.G. Loader - The Historical Jesus Puzzle

8/13/2019 1997 - William - R.G. Loader - The Historical Jesus Puzzle

1/20

THE HISTORICAL JESUS PUZZLE

William R. G. Loader

Revd Dr William Loader is Associate Professor

in New Testament at Murdoch University and

Lecturer in the Perth Theological Hall of theUniting Church in Australia

In this paper I shall address three main questions: Why ask about the historical

Jesus? What new data do we have to warrant more research? and What, if any,

findings can we identify in current research?1

1. Why ask about the historical Jesus?

The first is a serious question. Why enquire about the historical Jesus? One

might counter: Why not? There are many reasons why some would consider the

pursuit as only marginally relevant if not useless. From the perspective of Christian

faith, is it not a living Jesus who concerns us? Does concern with the historical

Jesus not reflect a failure to take resurrection faith seriously? Others might point to

the message of Christs death for us on the cross and his resurrection as the core of

the Christian message. What more can detailed information about Jesus life offer

1 There are a number of very useful reviews of current Jesus scholarship. Among the most

recent I include the following: M. J. Borg,Jesus in Contemporary Scholarship (Valley

Forge, Penn.: Trinity Press International, 1994); J. Carlson, and R. A. Ludwig (eds)Jesus

and Faith. A Conversation on the Work of John Dominic Crossan author of The Historical

Jesus (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1994); R. Crotty, The Jesus Question. The Historical Search

(Blackburn, Vic.: HarperCollinsReligious, 1996); L. T. Johnson, The Real Jesus. the

Misguided Quest for the Historical Jesus and the Truth of the Traditional Gospels(San

Francisco: Harper, 1996); B. Witherington, The Jesus Quest: The Third Search for the

Jew of Nazareth (Downers Grove: IVP, 1995); N. T. Wright, Christian Origins and the

Question of God Vol 2. Jesus and the Victory of God.(Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996) 3-

124.

LOADER: HISTORICAL JESUS 131


2/20


3/20


4/20


5/20


6/20


7/20


8/20


9/20


10/20


11/20


12/20


13/20


14/20


15/20


16/20


17/20


18/20


19/20


20/20