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WHO WAS THE
"HISTORICAL" JESUS??
MY VIEW
D. G. Beshore
Senior, California Lutheran University
31 October 1992
© Copyright 1992
PERSONAL BACKGROUND
Why didn't Jesus write a book in the Bible? This has been my unanswered question since Jesus entered my life last February 1992. Shortly after Jesus entered my life, I also developed an interest in his real life (historically) on earth and the circumstances that influenced his life and death. If he truly thought he was the Messiah and God, then he surely would have written something to be included in the Bible as was done by the prophets before him. In several respects this course has helped me find the answer to this question. My pastor is helping me in other respects. This course has appealed to my sense of critical examination of the facts of Jesus life because of my education in the cause-and-effect material worlds of science and engineering (I have 2 college degrees in chemical engineering and am 2 courses away from a computer science degree at California Lutheran). This course has also revealed to me the essence of Jesus' life on earth, what he was trying to teach us, and the answer to my original question as to why there is no "Book of Jesus" in the Bible.
My views of Jesus before this course were heavily influenced by most of the films I had seen and reviewed in this class--I have not been a critical reader of the Bible. Ironically, my prior belief in Jesus and the Christian church were muddled by the contradictions I had found in the Bible throughout my childhood and adulthood. I have not understood these contradictions, until now. Ironically, now through an understanding that the source of those contradictions was actually in the Bible and not in my interpretations has focused my understanding of Jesus' life and his mission. I also have developed the conviction that the real Jesus is known by those who first believe, then conduct serious research and study, and finally draw inspired conclusions. This process is continuous and exciting, lasting a lifetime --I look forward to new knowledge about him.
THE GOSPELS - IN PERSPECTIVE
Simply stated, the Gospels are a translation of the original Greek manuscripts which were written 40 to 70 years after the crucifixion of Jesus - i.e. around 70 to 100 C.E. (Common Era, formerly known as A.D). English versions of the Bible (King James, Revised Standard, New Revised Standard) were therefore subjected to the interpretations of the Greek to English translators. The letters of Paul are actually earlier writings, written in 50 to 60 C.E. The various documents and fragments eventually worked their way through the first and second centuries, as shown in Figure 1.
The Gospels were written by early congregations and churches who had different backgrounds and audiences for their writings. Contrary to popular opinion, the Bible was not entirely or solely written by God, Jesus, or in the case of the Gospels by single individuals. Also the source of the writings in the Gospels vary. It is generally agreed that the earliest of the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) was Mark. Matthew and Luke used Mark along with the sayings of the Q source (those common to both Matthew and Luke, not present in Mark). John's Gospel was written independently of the synoptic Gospels and chiefly deals with the romantic visions and not the true historical Jesus. The Book of John was used to develop faith in the resurrected Jesus and not as historical record of the Jesus who lived on earth.
Most of what we know and are taught about Jesus is through the written Gospels and the letters of Paul. As we have learned in this course, the quest for the pre-Easter (historical) Jesus began in the 1800s in Germany and continues to this day. The debates on the events and deeds of Jesus and what they meant in his historical time have and will lead to new insights on the facts regarding Jesus life.
The critical examination of the pericopes and events depicted in these films has increased my faith and knowledge of who Jesus really was. Several views have been depicted of the real Jesus as we studied several scholarly texts and classic Jesus films. Some of the films had performed careful Biblical research and attempted to thread together the life of Jesus based on the four Gospels. Most of the films (particularly the 1960s "Gladiator" films) had fictionalized some of the missing details of Jesus life.
THE JESUS WHO LIVED -- MY CURRENT BELIEF
My conclusion through all of this study is that Jesus would be very surprised at what has been written about him in the Gospels. The views of "Who Jesus was" can be categorized as being either pre-Easter and post-Easter opinions and characterizations. Most churches teach about the post-Easter Jesus and the Christian faith because the actual events of his life cannot be easily reconstructed from any one or all of the Gospels. Some have attempted to define Jesus according to linkage of "prophecy fulfilled" between the New Testament and the Old Testament. Knowing that many of the authors of the New Testament were well versed in the teachings of the Old Testament, it's certain that nearly verbatim passages (Son of Man, etc.) that exist in the Old and New Testaments were the result of pious influences of the early Christian and Gnostic churches.
Jesus, who lived on earth, was a social/religious reformer and spiritual leader. He had the Divine charisma that attracted followers (chiefly social outcasts and the poor). He lead peaceful demonstrations (that sometimes lead to riots, unpredictably) and conducted supernatural healings, exorcisms, and apparently resuscitations of dead people. Today we know that resuscitations of the dead is not scientifically possible, so these events are questionable in their authenticity. However, I think he was capable, while he was on earth, of performing miracles in peoples lives who were eager to listen and observe. I agree with Borg (Jesus The New Vision, 1986) that Jesus was talking about a different time for the end of the world and as such was not an eschatological prophet (An eschatological prophet was one who predicted the end of the world and final judgment in his time).
THE FILM THAT MOST IMPRESSED ME
I enjoyed all the films presented in this class. Some of the longer ones I will see again. However, the film that most impressed me during this class was unexpectedly Jesus Christ Superstar. I say that it was unexpected because in the entire list shown in the course synopsis I thought I would have favored a more romantic depiction of Jesus. I had never seen this film until this course. During its debut in 1973 I was entering the US Air Force and had no interest in it probably because of its title and anti-war context. The film depicted the life of a man on earth who was controversial, had a "mixed-bag" of followers and believers, was betrayed by his followers, and confronted the establishment with a "freedom" message - revolutionary in his social time and Jewish religion context. The Jesus in this film was not presented as a miracle worker or divine being--I did not realize this until critically examining the film the next week. I think the film presented a sophisticated and dramatic treatment of the life of Jesus through its original musical score, raw on-location images with backdrops of the ruins in Israel.
Jesus Christ Superstar had a special message from the Lord to me, the same message the second time this year - "everything's alright". The day after I saw the film I bought the soundtrack in order to listen again to Mary Magdelene's song about "everything's alright", as she spoke to Jesus in the cave so he could sleep well that night. This scene and message divinely moved me much in the same way the day that Jesus entered my life in February. As I told my pastor later that week, it was the second weigh point (sea navigation term) in my spiritual development. The spiritual world of Jesus still exists in the hearts and minds of living human beings. The Kingdom of God is here now as Jesus had explained nearly 2000 years ago. We must prepare for it everyday so that we can enjoy it tomorrow.
CONCLUSIONS - THE ANSWER TO JESUS' WRITINGS
I propose, contrary to the early and late scholars on the historical Jesus, that certain passages in the Gospels were actually written by Jesus. In essence, he did start writing passages that eventually made their way into the Gospels. Thus, his "book" of Jesus can be found throughout the four Gospels and perhaps in the material used by Paul. It is important to note that in my limited readings and viewing of films in this course, Jesus is never portrayed as being a writer of his teachings. All the films are quite biased in this respect, probably because it would raise the issue of "Where is the Book?". Such a theory would certainly have large appeal to most followers and the Christian church. Therefore why has it not been proposed? -- maybe because of ignorance in the way the Bible and the Gospels were developed and canonized by the Catholic Church.
In the films and in church sermons Jesus is always depicted as a great orator and giving the message only in the oral tradition. I think this has been fundamentally flawed -knowing Jesus could read and write based on his early readings and interpretations of the "Law" of the Torah, written in Hebrew, in synagogues. He spoke in Aramaic and probably wrote in both Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. There are several reasons to think that Jesus may have written his message, albeit secretly, and still not leave a "book":
1) the New Testament was not written until decades after his death, as noted above
2) he did not admit nor recognize that he was the Christ and Messiah-in his time; i.e. to his followers and people of his time he was not known as Jesus the Christ, but Jesus the Nazarene.
3) his mission on earth was not long enough for him to collect his writings for publication
4) publication writing was dangerous during his lifetime because of Roman persecutions
5) the oral tradition was the safest form of preaching: especially if the message was about reformation and revitalization of the Jewish traditions.
However, it is clear that certain passages in the Bible could not have been witnessed by anyone other than Jesus, such as Jesus' passion story prior to his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. Laymon (Interpreters One Volume Commentary, p1130-1131) has suggested that this story was one of the earliest inventions of the church and that the oral tradition of the rabbinic period of Jesus times simply prevented Jesus or his disciples from writing. Alternately, it seems that a plausible explanation is that these passages were written by Jesus himself and handed to one or more of his disciples (Peter and/or Thomas?). The original Jesus' writings could also be the original source of the Q source "sayings" and the "secret sayings" in the Coptic Gospel of Thomas. It seems possible that the reason for the disciples, especially Peter, not claiming to have known Jesus after his arrest, may have been part of Jesus' plan to insure that his message and writings would survive his death. It entirely possible that the disciples would have died along with Jesus if the their names had been known. The Last Supper could have therefore been not only a sharing of the body and blood of Jesus but also a last meeting to carry out the plan (parts of which may have been in Jesus own hand) in the event of his death.
The compilation of writings about and by Jesus occurred many years after his death and were handed down to the early churches. Because of the process of compilations of compilations it is very difficult to determine the exact passages that Jesus could have written. Some elements of Jesus life may exist in the Gnostic Gospels and other noncanonical writings but these are just as difficult to decipher the essence of the historical Jesus as some passages in the New Testament. The film depictions of Jesus have been good attempts at reconstructing his life - but did not answer the question of Jesus "the writer". Unexpectedly, I preferred the film with an anti-war protest flavor and unglorified account of his life. His life's characterization, if truly known, would be beyond any graphical and textual depictions imaginable in our time.