Relligion assigment

REL 2040: Great Books: The Bible and Western Culture

Fall 2013

Dr. Peter Bekins

The Historical Jesus

The four gospels were written several decades after the events that they narrate. Comparison of the four

clearly indicates the presence of doublets and even independent traditions about Jesus. It is also clear

that each of the gospel writers were presenting a view of Jesus that answered the questions of the

community to whom they were writing, and they felt free to expand or even reshape both the stories

about Jesus and even his own words and teachings. Properly speaking, therefore, in the gospel of Mark

we meet Mark’s Jesus, in the gospel of Luke we meet Luke’s Jesus, etc.

Historical Jesus research seeks to apply historical-critical tools to the gospel accounts in order to

reconstruct the life and message of Jesus. In this paper, you will write a critical analysis that summarizes

and evaluates one view of the Historical Jesus. Pick a scholar from the list below for your topic. Be sure

to summarize your scholar’s view with evidence from their own writings and critically analyze their

argument. Do you find the theory likely, plausible, or unlikely? For full instructions and grading rubric see

“REL2040-EssayInstructions” on Pilot.

1. Geza Vermes: “Jesus Man of the Spirit”

2. E.P. Sanders: “Jesus the Apocalyptic Prophet”

3. John Dominic Crossan: “Jesus the Wisdom Sage”

4. Richard Horsley: “Jesus the Prophet of Social Change”

5. N.T. Wright: “Jesus the Savior”

You may use two websites to begin your research:

<http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/theories.html>

for summaries of each scholar and links to their writings/resources.

<http://www.ntgateway.com/historical-jesus/general-resources/>

for help finding general resources.