Who is Jesus?

by Leander E. Keck

Keck clarifies the difference between the way Jesus is presented in the gospels and the way critical historians portray him. He then looks at Jesus as a first-century Jew, conscious of the difficulty and importance of recovering Jesus' particular form of Jewishness. He then considers how Jesus' mission was energised by his grasp of the kingdom of God, contending that Jesus clearly expressed a conviction that God's definitive reign was impending and would transform the lives of those who responded affirmatively to his message. He goes on to probe the meaning of the crucifixion of Jesus, in light of the biblical understanding of God's holiness, a theme largely neglected today. He concludes by looking at Jesus' role in the moral life of the Christian community.

Genres: Religion, Biblical Studies

220 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Steven H]

AN INTERESTING STUDY BY A MAJOR NEW TESTAMENT SCHOLAR

Leander Keck begins this book (written in 2000) by stating in his Preface, "While I have eschewed providing even a sketch of Jesus' life and times, answering the question Who Is Jesus? requires attending, at least briefly, to what can and cannot be known historically about Jesus of Nazareth. The result is something of a hybrid, neither history nor Christology proper but rather theological reflection on history--on those aspects of the Jesus of history that are central to his continuing significance."

He observes that "The canons of critical historiography require Jesus to be studied as one would study any other historical figure. Accordingly, historians bracket out of consideration any reference to divine actions or the miraculous associated with them. These canons do, of course, permit one to acknowledge that BELIEVING that divine action occurred was an event in history and that this belief was a factor, even a decisive one, in subsequent history."

He makes pertinent observations such as: "Although Jesus did not form a movement during his lifetime, he evidently did invite some people to 'follow' him; in addition, there are good reasons for thinking that he also had a circle of special persons who came to be known simply as 'the Twelve.'" "In the Jesus tradition, this confidence is expressed explicitly in those sayings that begin with the word that customarily ended prayer: Amen, commonly translated 'truly.' ... No one else in the New Testament, or in early Jewish literature known to us, speaks this way." "Whether Jesus regarded himself as messiah remains unclear because the evidence is ambiguous."

He concludes on the note, "those who respond positively to Jesus voluntarily suffer for the sake of the kingdom, whether 'on account of it,' in order to grasp it and be changed by it, or to advance it. Somehow they have been persuaded that the kingdom is worth the pain, and so they endure hardships, hostilities from siblings and peers, persecution by police and executioners--in this century no less than in those that preceded it."

This book will be of interest to anyone interested in the historical Jesus, or early Christianity.

[Ginny]

Series of essays, so far very interesting. We'll see if the Scriptures line up with what the essays say. Enjoying it so far.