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ISBN: 978-0-8146-8266-1
Who Is Jesus?
An Introduction to Christology
Thomas P. Rausch, s.j.
A Michael Glazier Book
LITURGICAL PRESS
Collegeville, Minnesota
www.litpress.org
A Michael Glazier Book published by Liturgical Press.
Cover design by David Manahan, o.s.b. Illustration: Christ Pantocrator, Encaustic
ikon of the 6th cent. Monastery of Saint Catherine, Sinai.
Scriptures selections are taken from the New American Bible Copyright © 1991, 1986,
1970 by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 3211 Fourth Street, NE, Washington,
DC 20017-1194 and are used by license of copyright owner. All rights reserved. No part
of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form or by any means without
permission in writing from the copyright owner.
© 2003 by Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved. No part
of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, taping, or any retrieval system, without the written
permission of Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321. Printed in the United
States of America.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
ISBN 13: 978-0-8146-5078-3
ISBN 10: 0-8146-5078-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rausch, Thomas P.
Who is Jesus? : an introduction to christology / Thomas J. Rausch.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 0-8146-5078-3 (alk. paper)
1. Jesus Christ—Person and offices. I. Title.
BT203.R38 2003
232—dc21 2003044616
For my students,
past and present
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
Images of Jesus 1
Starting Points for Christology 3
1. The Three Quests for the Historical Jesus 9
The First Quest: Reimarus to Schweitzer 10
The New Quest: Käsemann to Schillebeeckx 13
The Third Quest 15
Conclusion 20
2. Methodological Considerations 23
From Precritical to Critical Christology 23
The Development of the Gospel Tradition 28
Recovering the Historical Jesus 35
Doubtful Criteria 37
Conclusion 38
3. The Jewish Background 41
The Messianic Tradition 42
The Wisdom Tradition 48
The Apocalyptic Tradition 51
First-Century Palestinian Judaism 55
Conclusion 60
v
vi Who Is Jesus?
4. Jesus and His Movement 61
Jesus and John the Baptist 62
The Jesus Movement 68
Conclusion 76
5. The Preaching and Ministry of Jesus 77
The Sayings of Jesus 77
The Parables of Jesus 82
The Kingdom of God 84
A Note on the Miracle Tradition 91
Conclusion 93
6. The Death of Jesus 95
The Offense Behind Jesus’ Death 96
Theological Perspectives 99
How Did Jesus Understand His Death? 103
Conclusion 109
7. God Raised Him from the Dead 111
The Easter Experience 111
The Easter Tradition 113
Reflections on Easter Faith 118
Conclusion 123
8. New Testament Christologies 125
Easter Christologies 127
Son of God Christologies 131
Wisdom Christologies 137
Preexistence Christologies 142
Conclusion 145
9. From the New Testament to Chalcedon 147
Faith and the Dialogue with Culture 147
From the Third Century to Nicaea 152
From Nicaea to Chalcedon 156
Conclusion 163
10. Sin and Salvation 165
Sin and Salvation in Scripture 166
Sin and Salvation in Christian History 171
The Sixteenth Century 178
Conclusion 181
Contents vii
11. A Contemporary Approach to Soteriology 183
The Mystery of Iniquity 184
Jesus Mediates God’s Salvation 186
Is Jesus the Source of Our Salvation? 197
Conclusion 202
Glossary 205
Index of Names 209
Index of Subjects 213
Acknowledgments
This book is not intended to be a general survey of recent works on
Christology. My position is that of a teacher who has tried to survey the
best of contemporary Christology, in order to develop a competent intro-
duction to the discipline. I have drawn on more critical mainstream
scholars as well as Evangelical authors, acknowledging with Ben Wither-
ington that too many mainstream scholars ignore the work of Evangelicals
who use historical critical methodology.1 I would like to acknowledge
some of those scholars whose works I have found particularly helpful.
Edward Schillebeeckx and John P. Meier both have contributed very
careful works on the historical Jesus. Schillebeeckx’s Jesus: An Experiment
in Christology,2 drawing on an incredible range of European scholarship, is
a good source for ascertaining the “critical minimum,” even if he tends to
be something of a hyper-critic. Meier’s much more recent work, A Mar-
ginal Jew, now in three volumes, is not only extremely helpful; it always
makes for excellent reading.3
N. T. Wright, an Evangelical scholar long at Oxford, is now Dean of
Lichfield Cathedral in England. Though he attributes far more to the self-
consciousness of Jesus than many other scholars would do, his work is ex-
tremely helpful.4 He is skeptical of the modern tendency of form critics to
reduce the Gospel tradition to disconnected fragments. His work has the
1 Ben Witherington III, The Jesus Quest: The Third Search for the Jew of Nazareth (Down-
ers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997) 257.
2 Edward Schillebeeckx, Jesus: An Experiment in Christology (New York: Seabury, 1979); see
also his work on soteriology, Christ: The Experience of Jesus as Lord (New York: Seabury, 1980).
3 John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Vol. One; The Roots of the
Problem and the Person (New York: Doubleday, 1991); Vol. Two, Mentor, Message, and Mir-
acles (New York: Doubleday, 1994); Vol. Three, Companions and Competitors (New York:
Doubleday, 2001).
4 N. T. Wright, Vol. One: The New Testament and the People of God (Minneapolis: For-
tress, 1992); Vol. Two: Jesus and the Victory of God (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996).
ix
x Who Is Jesus?
enormous merit of taking the Jewishness of Jesus seriously and of reading
his story against that tradition of Torah and Temple as it was in his day. He
also has contributed a fine introduction to the history of Christology.
Roger Haight’s Jesus: Symbol of God is a massive achievement, one that
all future works will have to deal with.5 While I have difficulties with some
of his interpretations, Haight provides a very helpful overview of the tradi-
tion and has the gift of being able to say things clearly. More importantly,
his efforts to rethink the way we talk about salvation in Christ is a very
important aspect of his work.
Brian O. McDermott’s Word Become Flesh represents a fine effort to
situate Christology against both the doctrinal history of the church and
more contemporary approaches.6
While I am appreciative of contemporary approaches to Christology
from the perspectives of liberation theology, feminist theology, and reli-
gious pluralism, that has not been my principle concern here as it is be-
yond the scope of this book. However, I have tried to take note of scholars
working in these areas and have drawn on their insights. I refer the reader
to the works of Haight and McDermott as well as to Witherington’s book
on the Third Quest for a survey of contemporary approaches.7
I am grateful to my graduate assistant, Ryan Ignatius Pratt, for his care-
ful work in reviewing the manuscript; to Barbara Murphy for her help
with the index; and to Aaron Raverty, o.s.b., for his copyediting. I also want
to express my gratitude to my students over the years who have helped me
to see more deeply into the mystery of Jesus and his continuing relevance
to our lives. It is to my students that I would like to dedicate this book.
Thomas P. Rausch, s.j.
5 Roger Haight, Jesus: Symbol of God (New York: Orbis, 1999).
6 Brian O. McDermott, Word Become Flesh: Dimensions of Christology (Collegeville: The
Liturgical Press, 1993).
7 Witherington, The Jesus Quest.
