The Historical Jesus For Dummies

329 Pages·2007·29.55 MB·English

by  Catherine M. Murphy PhD

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The Historical
Jesus
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
by Catherine M.Murphy,PhD
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The Historical Jesus For Dummies®
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Dedication
This book is lovingly dedicated to my family, to Kate McNichols and
Bess Murphy; to Jen, Andrew, Ian, and Neil Moore; to Eileen, Stephan,
Will, and Aaron Georis; and to Tim, Diane, Zoe, and Erin Murphy.
Author’s Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge the many colleagues who have taught me
about the historical Jesus and first-century Judaism, from my mentors
at the University of Notre Dame to the members of the Catholic Biblical
Association and the Society of Biblical Literature. Their insights and
hard work fill these pages. In particular, I relied on the work of John P.
Meier, Amy-Jill Levine, Fabian E. Udoh, Seth Schwartz, Warren Carter,
Paula Fredriksen, Jonathan Klawans, Thomas F. Matthews, Lloyd
Baugh, Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, and Mary Rose D’Angelo.
Thanks, too, to my colleagues and relatives who were gracious
enough to read this whole book ahead of time and offer suggestions,
especially my “alpha dummy,” Bess Murphy, Kate McNichols, Dr.
Cynthia M. Baker (Santa Clara University), and Dr. Susan A. Calef
(Creighton University). Other colleagues at Santa Clara University
who generously offered help with certain sections include Dr.
Frederick Parrella, Dr. David Pinault, Dr. Tom Beaudoin, Dr. James
Bennett, Dr. David Gray, Dr. J. David Pleins, and Fr. Paul Soukup, SJ.
Special and sincere thanks are also due to the Wiley Publishing team.
I’m especially grateful to Georgette Beatty, whose encouragement
and diligence made the entire editorial process smooth and fun.
Jessica Smith carefully corrected every single word. Her keen
awareness of audience helped make this a much better book. Mike
Baker helped get the project in motion and stood behind it all the
way. Dr. Clayton N. Jefford provided a lot of feedback that helped me
rethink several sections and correct some errors. Finally, thanks to
Alissa Schwipps, who helped shepherd the draft manuscript into
production, and everyone else on the Wiley team who helped with
this book.
Students in my classes at Santa Clara University have shaped the
presentation of this material more than they might realize. I espe-
cially want to single out my research assistant, Kristin Williams,
who helped investigate some of the sidebar topics, and my colleagues
in the Department of Religious Studies and the faculty at large,
whose support for this project and good humor reflect their love
of teaching and scholarship.
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Contents at a Glance
Introduction.......................................................1
Part I: Piecing Together the Jesus Story...............7
Chapter 1:Meeting the Manfrom Nazareth.............................................9
Chapter 2:Comparing the Gospels: A Biblical Biography of Jesus....19
Chapter 3:Pursuing the Historical Jesus in the Gospels....................33
Chapter 4:Sharing in the Quests:
Appreciating Modern Scholars’ Efforts...........................................47
Chapter 5: Checking the Sources for Evidence of Jesus......................61
Part II: Reconstructing the World of Jesus .........79
Chapter 6:Introducing the Great and Powerful Rome........................81
Chapter 7:Taking a Snapshot of Jewish Society in Jesus’s Time.......93
Chapter 8:Feeling Rome’s Influence....................................................113
Part III: Exploring the Life of Jesus the Jew......127
Chapter 9:Examining Jesus’s Family and Early Life..........................129
Chapter 10: Starting a New Movement................................................147
Chapter 11: Teaching Wisdom and Telling Tales................................161
Chapter 12: Working Miracles and Confounding Crowds.................179
Part IV: Witnessing Jesus’s Execution
and Resurrection............................................195
Chapter 13:Scouting the Competition: Jesus’s Opponents..............197
Chapter 14:Examining Jesus’s Crucifixion.........................................213
Chapter 15:The Resurrection: From the
Messiah to the Son of God..............................................................239
Part V: Experiencing Christ in Culture..............257
Chapter 16:A Western Savior Goes Global.........................................259
Chapter 17:From Graffiti to the Guggenheim: Jesus in Art..............273
Chapter 18:The Reel Jesus...................................................................289
Part VI: The Part of Tens.................................301
Chapter 19:Top Ten Historical Controversies about Jesus..............303
Chapter 20:Top Ten Pilgrimage Sites Associated with Jesus...........307
Index: ...........................................................311
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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................1
About This Book.........................................................................1
Conventions Used in This Book................................................2
What You’re Not to Read............................................................4
Foolish Assumptions..................................................................4
How This Book Is Organized......................................................4
Part I: Piecing Together the Jesus Story........................4
Part II: Reconstructing the World of Jesus....................5
Part III: Exploring the Life of Jesus the Jew...................5
Part IV: Witnessing Jesus’s Execution
and Resurrection..........................................................5
Part V: Experiencing Christ in Culture...........................5
Part VI: The Part of Tens..................................................6
Icons Used in This Book.............................................................6
Where to Go from Here..............................................................6
Part I: Piecing Together the Jesus Story................7
Chapter 1:Meeting the Man from Nazareth. . . . . . . . . . . 9
Telling the Good News in the Gospels......................................9
Sorting through the gospel versions............................10
Revealing the gospels’ message....................................10
Charting a Path Back to the Historical Jesus........................11
Adopting a critical distance..........................................12
Telling the difference between faith and fact..............12
Applying a few important rules to the evidence........13
Surveying the Life and Times of Jesus...................................14
Roman rule in Jewish lands...........................................15
Leading a godly movement...........................................15
Going to the cross and rising from the tomb..............16
Traveling through 2,000 Years of Beliefs in Jesus.................17
Debating Jesus’s divinity in late antiquity...................17
Identifying with Jesus’s humanity
in the Middle Ages......................................................17
Subjecting Jesus to scrutiny.........................................18
Connecting with Jesus today........................................18
Chapter 2: Comparing the Gospels: A Biblical
Biography of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Born to Be Different: The Birth and Baptism of Jesus.........19
Away in a manger: The birth story
according to Matthew and Luke...............................20
The baptism of Jesus and beyond................................20
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Drafting Disciples: Joining the Jesus Movement...................22
Calling people up to active duty...................................22
Understanding the backgrounds of Jesus’s followers....22
Teacher and Miracle Man: Jesus Spreads the Word.............23
Teaching with authority.................................................24
Acting with power..........................................................26
Meeting resistance wherever he went.........................28
Journeying to Jerusalem: The Crucifixion
and Resurrection...................................................................29
The Last Supper..............................................................29
The agony and arrest in the garden.............................30
Jesus on trial...................................................................31
Jesus’s execution and burial.........................................32
On the third day: Jesus’s resurrection.........................32
Chapter 3:Pursuing the Historical
Jesus in the Gospels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Setting Your Sights on the Historical Jesus...........................33
Navigating the Roadblocks......................................................35
Roadblock #1: The witnesses don’t agree...................35
Roadblock #2: The witnesses agree too much............36
Roadblock #3: Time has passed...................................38
Roadblock #4: The writers were biased......................39
Roadblock #5: Modern folks are biased, too...............40
Playing Detective: Imagining What Really Happened...........40
Following the clues.........................................................41
Building your case with a couple of tools...................42
Putting it all together.....................................................43
Trekking to another source in
special cases: The mysterious Q.............................45
Chapter 4:Sharing in the Quests: Appreciating
Modern Scholars’ Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Responding to the First Critical Questions about Jesus......47
Gospels galore: Which of the gospels are true?..........48
Divine or not divine: What’s the true nature of Jesus?.....49
The Enlightenment’s Impact on the Perception of Jesus.....50
Applying science to Jesus..............................................51
Going after the gospels: The birth
of deism and reactions to it.......................................51
The First “Liberal” Quest for the Historical Jesus................53
Outlining the principles and practices
of the liberal quest......................................................54
Facing facts: The flawed quest collapses....................55
Responding to the collapse...........................................56
Venturing Out on the Second Quest.......................................56
Applying the rules of historicity...................................57
Reshaping the second quest.........................................57
The Third Quest: Plural Portraits of a Preacher...................59
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Chapter 5:Checking the Sources
for Evidence of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Exposing the Earliest Christian Evidence..............................62
Peeling back the gospel layers: An alphabet
soup of sources...........................................................62
Studying Paul’s epistles.................................................66
Examining other New Testament texts........................67
Recovering Traces in Later Christian Sources......................68
Sayings in the agrapha...................................................68
Heretical and hidden traditions in complete texts.....69
Seeking Out Early Jewish Views of Jesus...............................73
The Dead Sea Scrolls......................................................73
The infamous testimony of Josephus..........................74
Sifting Through Roman Records.............................................75
Following the Physical Evidence.............................................76
The legitimate evidence.................................................77
The not-so-legitimate evidence.....................................77
Part II: Reconstructing the World of Jesus..........79
Chapter 6:Introducing the Great
and Powerful Rome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Witnessing a Succession of Empires before Rome...............81
The Assyrian Empire......................................................82
The Neo-Babylonian Empire..........................................82
The Persian Empire........................................................82
Alexander the Great.......................................................83
The Romans Are Coming! The Romans Are Coming!............83
Entering Jerusalem with Pompey.................................84
Seizing imperial control with Julius Caesar................85
Consolidating the empire with Octavian.....................86
Meeting the Romans Mentioned in the Gospels...................89
Augustus..........................................................................89
Quirinius..........................................................................90
Tiberius............................................................................90
Pontius Pilate and the missus.......................................90
Roman soldiers...............................................................91
Chapter 7:Taking a Snapshot of Jewish Society
in Jesus’s Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Hoping for Their Own Kind of King........................................93
Falling to foreign kings and cultures............................94
Switching to the Seleucids.............................................94
Ruling with the Hasmoneans.........................................95
Living in the time of Herod the Great...........................97
Carving up the kingdom..............................................100
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Believing in God, Temple, and Torah...................................100
Holding fast to one God...............................................101
Worshipping in the Temple.........................................101
Praying at home............................................................104
Observing the Torah....................................................104
Meeting the Major Groups in Jewish Society......................105
The conservative Sadducees......................................106
The liberal Pharisees....................................................106
The strict, apocalyptic Essenes..................................107
The rebellious Zealots..................................................108
The heretical Samaritans.............................................108
Belonging to Social Networks................................................110
Relying on the family....................................................110
Depending on help from fellow Jews.........................112
Protecting strangers and aliens..................................112
Chapter 8:Feeling Rome’s Influence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Governing Jesus’s Homeland.................................................113
Keeping the peace through the force of the army....114
Allying with local aristocrats......................................117
Resisting Rome..............................................................119
Getting a Grip on the Economy.............................................120
Working the land for crops..........................................120
Building ports, trade routes, and village commerce...121
Paying taxes, tolls, and trade duties..........................122
Impacting Jewish Religion with Roman Practice................123
Problematic practices and idolatrous images..........124
Pagan cities....................................................................125
The pick of the high priest..........................................125
The plunder of the Temple treasury..........................126
Purifiers and prophets.................................................126
Part III: Exploring the Life of Jesus the Jew ......127
Chapter 9:Examining Jesus’s Family and Early Life. . . 129
Beginning with Jesus’s Family Background.........................130
Mary, Joseph, and Jesus’s conception.......................130
Jesus’s connection to past generations.....................131
Delving into Jesus’s Birth and Childhood............................135
Jesus’s birthplace and hometown..............................135
The nativity stories......................................................136
The escape to Egypt.....................................................138
Jesus’s upbringing........................................................139
Chronicling Jesus’s Brothers and Sisters.............................139
James, the most prominent brother...........................140
Marginalizing the brothers and sisters in the gospels....140
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Filling the Gaps in Jesus’s Early Life in Later Centuries....143
Developing the doctrine of the Virgin Mary..............143
Describing Jesus’s infancy in Egypt...........................145
Portraying a powerful child.........................................146
Chapter 10:Starting a New Movement. . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Meeting John the Baptist.......................................................147
Rinsing off sins in the river..........................................147
Acting as the messengerof the messiah....................150
Battling the Devil in the Desert.............................................152
Gathering Companions...........................................................153
Naming the Twelve.......................................................154
Admitting the female companions.............................155
Hanging Out with the Wrong Crowd.....................................159
Chapter 11:Teaching Wisdom and Telling Tales . . . . 161
Teaching Wisdom with Jewish Techniques.........................161
Posing parables.............................................................162
Condensing wisdom into sayings...............................164
Rhyming to remember.................................................164
Using familiar images...................................................165
Teaching by example....................................................165
Making use of different techniques
in the gospel of John...............................................166
Jesus’s Central Theme: Introducing the Reign of God.......166
Proclaiming the kingdom of God as an
alternative to Roman rule........................................167
Seeing who’s invited to the kingdom.........................168
Finding out the kingdom’s rules.................................171
Figuring out when the kingdom is coming................175
Covering all the bases in the Lord’s Prayer..............176
Advising Followers How to Remember Him........................176
Establishing a memorial meal.....................................176
Exemplifying service....................................................177
Things Jesus Didn’t Talk About.............................................177
Chapter 12:Working Miracles
and Confounding Crowds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Working Wonders in Jesus’s Day...........................................179
Practicing medicine and magic...................................180
Debating whether Jesus was a magician...................181
Holy Healer! How Jesus Helped Bodies
and Restored Lives.............................................................182
Driving out the Devil....................................................183
Healing the sick.............................................................185
Raising the dead...........................................................189
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Demonstrating Power through Nature.................................189
Providing for the people..............................................190
Controlling the created world.....................................191
Revealing Jesus.............................................................191
Tying Jesus’s Message to the Miracles in the Gospels.......192
Examining Modern Perspectives on Miracles.....................193
Questioning miracles during the Enlightenment......193
Deciding whether Jesus’s miracles are historical....194
Part IV: Witnessing Jesus’s Execution
and Resurrection.............................................195
Chapter 13:Scouting the Competition:
Jesus’s Opponents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Scanning the Power Pyramid in Palestine...........................197
Starting at the Top: The Romans..........................................200
The reasons for Roman crucifixion............................200
The threat Jesus posed................................................200
Near the Center of Power: The Sadducees..........................202
Aristocratic allegiances...............................................202
Conservative religious beliefs.....................................203
Singling out the Scribes..........................................................204
A scribe’s role in the first century..............................204
The gospels’ proverbial pests.....................................205
Up for Debate: The Pharisees................................................206
The Pharisees’ different interpretation
of the Torah...............................................................206
The issues with the gospels’
portrayal of the Pharisees.......................................208
Evading the Herodians...........................................................209
Alienating Relatives, Neighbors, and Disciples...................210
Turning away from family............................................210
Offending the hometown crowd.................................211
Scandalizing the disciples...........................................211
The Ultimate Opponent in the Gospels: Satan....................212
Chapter 14:Examining Jesus’s Crucifixion . . . . . . . . . 213
Crucifixion in the Time of the Romans.................................213
Advertising Rome’s power..........................................214
Developing new ways to inflict agony........................214
The Main Players in Charge When Jesus Was Crucified....215
Provoking the people: Pontius Pilate.........................215
Collaborating with Rome: The Jewish leaders..........216
The Entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem..................................217
Riding in on high expectations...................................217
Attracting attention from leaders...............................218