Jesus After 2000 Years: What He Really Said and Did

by Gerd Lüdemann

It is widely recognized by New Testament scholars that many of the sayings and actions attributed to Jesus in the gospels cannot be factually traced to him. The gospels, written many decades after the death of Jesus, are composites of hearsay, legends, and theological interpolations, reflecting the hopes and beliefs of the early Christian community more than the actual teachings of the Galilean prophet.Despite these difficulties, Gerd Lüdemann shows in this fascinating analysis of early Christian documents that the tools of historical research can succeed in reaching at least a close approximation of some of the original words and deeds of Jesus. Unique in its comprehensiveness, Jesus After 2000 Years covers the canonical gospels, as well as the more recently discovered Gospel of Thomas and apocryphal Jesus traditions. Lüdemann concludes with a short life of Jesus in which he pieces together in narrative form what can be known about Jesus based on the historical evidence. Also included is an index of all authentic sayings and actions of Jesus. For all those with an interest in Christian origins, this volume is an invaluable resource.

Genres: Christianity

704 pages, Hardcover

First published May 31, 2000

About the author

Gerd Lüdemann is Professor of New Testament at the University of Göttingen, Germany, Director of the Institute of Early Christian Studies, and Founder and Director of the Archive Religionsgeschichtliche Schule at the University of Göttingen. He has also served as Visiting Scholar at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, Tennessee, and as co-chair of the Society of Biblical Literature Seminar on Jewish Christianity. He is a Fellow of the Westar Institute.

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE GERMAN NEW TESTAMENT SCHOLAR EVALUATES ALL THE TEXTS ABOUT JESUS

Gerd Lüdemann (born 1946), is a German scholar who taught New Testament from 1983 to 1999 at the University of Göttingen. After complaints from churches, his Chair of New Testament was renamed the "Chair of History and Literature of Early Christianity"; his research funding was also cut and his teaching was no longer part of the curriculum. He has also written books such as 'What Really Happened to Jesus: A Historical Approach to the Resurrection,' 'Virgin Birth?: The Real Story of Mary and Her Son Jesus,' 'The Great Deception: And What Jesus Really Said and Did,' etc.

He wrote in the Preface to this 2001 book, "This book sets out to fill a gap in theological literature... The historical-critical research into Jesus which has been developed for around 250 years may have become the standard for scholars, but it has hardly been able to command a general consensus... Consequently uninitiated readers get the impression that research is unplanned, full of contradictions, and is going nowhere. This leads them either to sink into resignation or to hold even more firmly to a faith which is above historical questions. Yet neither resignation nor uninformed faith make sense...

"So it seems to me that a historical stocktaking of critical concern with the central person of Christianity, Jesus of Nazareth, which has been the business of scholars... is long overdue... My plan is to offer a new translation of the most important extant traditions about Jesus in the first two centuries and then to investigate their historical credibility, in such a way that educated lay people, too, can follow the argument." (Pg. vi)

He states, "It is very probable that Jesus called a group of twelve during his lifetime. Were we to regard this group as a post-Easter creation, it would be difficult to explain why it disappeared again immediately after its institution... Moreover, the existence of Judas as one of the twelve suggests the historicity of the group of twelve in Jesus' lifetime. For who would have invented the existence of Judas who delivered up Jesus as a member of the group of twelve had this person not been historical?" (Pg. 22)

He observes, "Jesus' success in his home town was slight. We may infer as a historical fact that the designation of Jesus as 'son of Mary' was already used against him in his home town. The phrase is then to be designated as a taunt which puts a finger on a sore spot in Jesus' descent... the father of Jesus is not mentioned at this point because there is doubt about who his real father it. Had Jesus been a physical son of Joseph, the expression 'son of Mary' would never have found its way into an early Christian text. The phrase 'son of Mary' is so shocking that only Mark has the courage to repeat it." (Pg. 40)

He states "How did the 'virgin' have Jesus as a child if Joseph is not the father? Here Jewish polemic speaks clearly and at the latest in the second century relates that Mary had an affair with the Roman soldier Pantera... this seems to be on the right lines. However, we must rule out a sexual transgression on the part of Mary... since in that case Joseph would hardly have taken his fiancée Mary to himself. Moreover we should note that ... her presumed age at the time of the betrothal (between twelve and fourteen) make a sexual adventure highly improbable. Therefore---shocking as this may seem to begin with---we are driven to assume the rape of Mary as a likely explanation of this dark stain on her history and that of her son Jesus." (Pg. 123)

It notes, "Anyone who is in search of the historical Jesus will not find him in the Gospel of John. For the Fourth Gospel has already left far behind what Jesus really said and did... Certainly John contains some historically reliable information about Jesus: for example, that he comes from Nazareth (1:45), that he had disciples and brothers (2:12; 7:3)... But apart from such general information... a critical analysis of the Gospel of John leaves hardly anything for the historical Jesus." (Pg. 416) [NOTE: This chapter was written by Frank Schleritt, not Lüdemann.]

Lüdemann's opinions are obviously controversial, but his arguments are important to study for anyone investigating the historical Jesus... whether one agrees with him or not.

[Kevin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have been on a quest for Bible study both in, and outside the Bible itself. looking for answers to the same tired arguments I see almost daily about the Bibles veracity. Originally I had thought this may be helpful. I was incorrect. In the introduction, I saw that it was a redaction theory book. I should have just passed on it, but, I am trying to widen my knowledge so I persevered.

For something that is looking to find the historical Jesus, It does not go by any conventional means, or does not seem to want to. It goes verse by verse with the author commenting on what he thinks is redactional, tradition, and historical. The historical portion being what the author thinks Jesus actually said. There is nothing included to back any of this up, other than the authors opinion. No notes, bibliography, or suggested reading. I guess I'm just supposed to go along with what this guy is saying. Sorry that's not how history works. Particularly when actual history would point otherwise.

Sadly I did not get much out of the time spent on this volume. There were a couple things that gave me a different perspective on a few verses, nothing ground breaking by any means. I had never read the Gospel of Thomas before, that was interesting but it is Gnostic theology, and I did not think it had much to do with Jesus or Christianity.

Overall, probably a serious waste of my reading time, but, kind of glad I read it anyway.

[Georg Sagittarius · Rating 2 out of 5]

Schein- & AntiCHRIST-NT-Professor: vielbelesener Ketzer+intelligenter Demogoge! WAHRHEIT: j-lorber.de! Gerd Gutemann CHRISTI AUTOBIOGRAPHIEN: Jakob Lorber: "Großes Evangelium Johannes" (=GEJ, 11 Bände)! "Jugend Jesu - Das Jakobus-Evangelium", "3 Tage im Tempel"...!