Criteria for Authenticity in Historical-Jesus Research: Previous Discussion and New Proposals

305 Pages·2004·17.241 MB·English

by  Stanley E. Porter

JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
SUPPLEMENT SERIES
191
Executive Editor
Stanley E. Porter
Editorial Board
Elizabeth A. Castelli, Kathleen E. Corly, David Catchpole,
R. Alan Culpepper, James D.G. Dunn, Craig A. Evans, Stephen Fowl,
Robert Fowler, George H. Guthrie, Robert Jewett, Robert W. Wall
Sheffield Academic Press
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The Criteria for Authenticity
in Historical-Jesus Research
Previous Discussion and New Proposals
Stanley E. Porter
Journal for the Study of the New Testament
Supplement Series 191
This monograph is dedicated to my loving mother,
Lorraine De Haan Porter
Copyright © 2000 Sheffield Academic Press
Published by
Sheffield Academic Press Ltd
Mansion House
19KingfieldRoad
Sheffield SI 19AS
England
Typeset by Sheffield Academic Press
and
Printed on acid-free paper in Great Britain
by Bookcraft Ltd
Midsomer Norton, Somerset
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
ISBN 1 84127 089 X
CONTENTS
List of Tables 7
Preface 9
Abbreviations 12
INTRODUCTION 17
Parti
PREVIOUS DISCUSSION
Chapter 1
THE 'THIRD QUEST' FOR THE HISTORICAL JESUS
AND THE CRITERIA FOR AUTHENTICITY 28
Chapter 2
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CRITERIA FOR
AUTHENTICITY AND THE RISE OF FORM
(AND REDACTION) CRITICISM 63
Chapter 3
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CRITERIA
FOR AUTHENTICITY 103
Part II
NEW PROPOSALS
Chapter 4
THE CRITERION OF GREEK LANGUAGE AND ITS CONTEXT 126
Excursus: A Response to Maurice Casey on the
Languages of Jesus 164
6 The Criteria for Authenticity in Historical-Jesus Research
Chapter 5
THE CRITERION OF GREEK TEXTUAL VARIANCE 181
Excursus: Corrections to Two Recent Papers 208
Chapter 6
THE CRITERION OF DISCOURSE FEATURES 210
CONCLUSION 238
Bibliography 243
Index of References 287
Index of Authors 291
LIST OF TABLES
1. Timeline of the Quest for the Historical Jesus 60
2. The Rise of the Criteria and the Development of Form and
Redaction Criticism in 'Quests' for the Historical Jesus 102
3. Mt. 15.21-28 = Mk 7.25-30 196
4. Mt. 22.16-22 = Mk 12.13-17 = Lk. 20.20-26 198
5. Mt. 16.13-20 = Mk 8.27-30 = Lk. 9.18-21 201
6. Mt. 27.11-14 = Mk 15.2-5 = Lk. 23.2-4 = Jn 18.29-38 203
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PREFACE
This book began as a lengthy essay, some of which was delivered at the
Symposium on The Historical Jesus' on 1 April 1999 as part of the
650th anniversary celebration of the founding of Charles University
in Prague. This Symposium was held in conjunction with the celebra-
tion of the founding of the Centre for Biblical Studies by the Come-
nius Protestant Theological Faculty, Charles University, the Institute for
Classical Antiquity, and the Czech Academy of Sciences. A shorter
form of the essay upon which this monograph is based, and which
prompted this more detailed and extended discussion, is to be published
in Petr Pokorny and Jiri Mrazek (eds.), The Historical Jesus in Recent
Discussion (JSNTSup; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, forthcom-
ing). An earlier draft of the excursus of Chapter 4 has also been ac-
cepted for publication in the Bulletin for Biblical Research, and will
appear in volume 10 in 2000. Professor Pokorny has reminded me, as
well as the others who were in attendance at this Symposium, of the
tremendous significance of the fact that such a Centre for Biblical Stud-
ies has been founded in Charles University. What he held before 1989
as only a private dream, and one that he never expected to see realized
in his lifetime (and probably did not dare to breathe to others), has now
been brought to fruition by the Czech Academy of Sciences giving its
formal and tangible support to a centre for the academic study of theol-
ogy. This Centre was inconceivable under the previous, oppressive
regime. I believe that I represent the opinion of all of those involved in
the Symposium, as well as numerous academics elsewhere, in wishing
the Centre tremendous success in the years ahead as it helps to chart the
course of theological discussion and education in the Czech Republic
for the twenty-first century.
I wish to thank Professor Dr Petr Pokorny for the invitation to deliver
the original paper at this stimulating and satisfying Symposium. I wish
also to thank his colleagues in the Protestant Theological Faculty for
their work and effort in the planning of this occasion. This Symposium,