Jesus Christ in History and Scripture : A Poetic and Sectarian Perspective

by McKnight, Edgar V.

• ISBN13: 9780865546776
• ISBN10: 0865546770
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-09-01
• Publisher: Mercer Univ Pr

Summary

Jesus Christ in History and Scripture highlights two related bases for the current revolution in Jesus studies: (1) a critically-chastened world view that is satisfied with provisional results and (2) a creative (or "poetic") use of the sources of study of Jesus.

The first part of the book shows that "precritical, " "critical, " and "postcritical" epochs and attitudes (all alive today) support different sorts of knowledge concerning Jesus (historical reconstructions; historic memory and appropriations; imaginative, poetic, and artistic creations; and theological formulations) and that the Gospels themselves Support different sorts of knowledge and approaches. The Gospels were composed by Christians who combined historical information and historic memory in imaginative ways to present a Jesus who was relevant to their congregations as he was to the earliest disciples. The creative contribution that readers of the Gospels make in their reconstructions of Jesus is a recapitulation of the creative activities of the earliest evangelists.

The central section of t

Author Biography

Edgar V. McKnight is research professor and William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus of Religion at Furman University.

Table of Contents

Prologue. A Poetic and Sectarian Perspective	vii
Who Is Jesus Christ Today?	1	(26)
Historical and Historic Knowledge of Jesus	3	(11)
The Jesus of History and the Christ of Faith	14	(8)
The Imaginative Construal of Jesus	22	(4)
Conclusion	26	(1)
The Gospels and Historical Sources	27	(30)
Sources for a Study of Jesus	28	(15)
Source Criticism	43	(4)
Form Criticism	47	(5)
Source and Form Criticism and the Study of Jesus	52	(5)
The Gospels and Religious Literature	57	(30)
Redaction Criticism	57	(19)
Literary Criticism of the Gospels	76	(2)
The Gospels and Literary Conventions and Strategies	78	(6)
Redaction and Literary Criticism and Lives of Jesus	84	(3)
Philosophical Constraints for Jesus Study	87	(36)
Classical and Medieval Views of Reality	88	(1)
The Influence of Descartes and Locke	89	(6)
The Enlightenment in France	95	(1)
The Enlightenment in Great Britain	96	(5)
The Enlightenment in Germany	101	(10)
The Modern and Postmodern Worlds	111	(6)
Postmodernism and Benign Skepticism	117	(6)
Hermeneutical Possibilities in Jesus Studies	123	(48)
Hermeneutics and Literary Questions of Knowledge and Truth	125	(6)
Friedrich Schleiermacher	131	(4)
Wilhelm Dilthey	135	(5)
Martin Heidegger	140	(2)
Rudolf Bultmann and the New Hermeneutic	142	(6)
Hans-Georg Gadamer	148	(4)
Paul Ricoeur	152	(5)
The Contemporary Theoretical Context	157	(5)
Reader-Oriented Literary Approaches	162	(5)
Conclusion	167	(4)
The Precritical Horizon and the Original Quest	171	(40)
The Precritical Horizon for Jesus Study	171	(8)
Reimarus and Lessing	179	(4)
Kant, Schleiermacher, and Strauss	183	(5)
The Liberal Quest of New Testament Scholars	188	(3)
Liberal Christologies	191	(12)
Albert Schweitzer	203	(8)
From Bultmann to Crossan and Wright	211	(44)
The Jesus Books of Dibelius and Bultmann	212	(3)
The Post-Bultmannian Quest and the Contemporary Scene	215	(9)
The Jesus Seminar and Dominic Crossan	224	(11)
Third Questers and N. T. (Tom) Wright	235	(6)
The Church and the Critical Study of Jesus	241	(14)
The Significance of Literary Criticism for New Testament Hermeneutics: Bultmann Revisited	255	(18)
Rudolf Bultmann's Theological and Existential Approach to New Testament Hermeneutics	256	(3)
Bultmann's Neglect of Literary Resources	259	(4)
The New Literary Situation as Evidenced in the Work of Robert Jaub and Wolfgang Iser	263	(4)
The Question of God	267	(4)
Values of Literary Approaches for Hermeneutics	271	(2)
A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing: Feminist and Sectarian Hermeneutics	273	(20)
Autobiographical: Entry into the Literary World	274	(2)
Postmodern Literary Study from Hermeneutical Perspectives	276	(4)
The Radical Reformation and Contemporary Feminists	280	(12)
Conclusion	292	(1)
How to Read and How Not to Read the Bible: Lessons from the Munster Anabaptists	293	(26)
Munster and the Anabaptist Vision	294	(3)
The Free, Direct, and Interactive Reading of the Anabaptists	297	(3)
Excesses and Churchly Validation	300	(9)
Historical Criticism and a Circle of Circles	309	(10)
Conclusion. How ``Must'' and/or How ``May'' We Interpret Jesus?	319	(4)
Index	323