8/7/2019 Chris to Logy and History 2
1/2
Christology and history: A review essay
Theology Today, Jul 2000 by Keck, Leander E
Inevitably, to move beyond what historical criticism allows as
"even permissible," Schwarz mustrely heavily on the Resurrection.
But this too "is based on circumstantial evidence, on the
appearances of the resurrected one and on the empty tomb"-that
is, both historical data permit
but do not require the inference that Jesus had been
resurrected. Consequently, the Resurrectionis "only partially, and
in a limited sense an event in history." Jewish thought did not
expect the
Resurrection of the messiah, but the disciples interpreted
Jesus' Resurrection as "the beginning of
God's new creation . . . the beginning of the new aeon." During
Jesus' ministry, his authority"was proleptic" but "through his
resurrection it gained final credibility, and the call for
decision
for or against him and his message could then be issued in his
name."
Related Results
Christology: Key Readings in Christian Thought
Matthew's Narrative Christology: Three Stories
Anointed Son: A Trinitarian Spirit Christology, The
The humanity of Christ; christology in Karl Barth's Church
dogmatics
Jesus of Galilee and the crucified people: the contextual
Christology of Jon...
The problem lies not in this understanding of the role of the
Resurrection but in the use to which
it is put-namely, a task assigned to history in christology
overall cannot really be carried out,
given the nature of the sources. On the one hand, beginning with
the Jesus of history accordswith common sense, for, after all, the
Jesus-event occurred before there was a Christian
christology about him (leaving aside for the moment the question
of his own "christology"). So itis understandable that one would
want to develop a christology "from below" rather than "fromabove"
(beginning with the Incarnation of the pre-existent one),
especially since the latter
conviction appeared later (a standard conclusion of historical
criticism). Beginning with the
Jesus of history might be feasible if we had reliable historical
information about him that is
independent of the Christian Gospels. The troublesome fact,
however, is that everything that wecan learn about him depends on
"the ever shifting results of New Testament exegesis."
Moreover, developing a christology "from below" entails a shift
away from the New Testament's
christologies, for they begin "from the end"-from the end of the
old age and the beginning of thenew.
Accordingly, unless one allows the emergence and history of
christology to govern its content, amore appropriate starting point
would be the exegesis of the New Testament texts. The earliest
Christians did, of course, have christologies before these texts
were written, but they too can berecovered only from these texts by
means of historical criticism.
Powell's Jesus as a Figure in History shows how difficult it is
to restate classical christology
"from below," and that Schwarz's claim that "there is a body of
information concerning the lifeand proclamation of Jesus on which
most New Testament scholars virtually agree," is too
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3664/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3664/is_200007/http://findarticles.com/p/search/?qa=Keck,%20Leander%20Ehttp://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_go1683/is_201007/ai_n54716562/?tag=rel.res1http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_go1683/is_201010/ai_n56228770/?tag=rel.res2http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3818/is_201010/ai_n56442177/?tag=rel.res3http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0QLQ/is_2009_Feb/ai_n31558323/?tag=rel.res4http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6404/is_2_70/ai_n31942498/?tag=rel.res5http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6404/is_2_70/ai_n31942498/?tag=rel.res5http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3664/is_200007/http://findarticles.com/p/search/?qa=Keck,%20Leander%20Ehttp://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_go1683/is_201007/ai_n54716562/?tag=rel.res1http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_go1683/is_201010/ai_n56228770/?tag=rel.res2http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3818/is_201010/ai_n56442177/?tag=rel.res3http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0QLQ/is_2009_Feb/ai_n31558323/?tag=rel.res4http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6404/is_2_70/ai_n31942498/?tag=rel.res5http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3664/
