Looking for the Jesus of history

In 1906, Albert Schweitzer published his historic work, “The Quest for the Historical Jesus.” He dared to put into print questions that were being asked widely in scholarly circles. No one else spoke out because their questions called into question the Jesus of church and creed. Scholarship was beholden to church hierarchies.

The work of Schweitzer was little noticed by the world as two world wars and a variety of theological movements dominated religious thinking.

In the second half of the 20th century two things happened. First, there was an explosion of Biblical scholars. Second, in America, Biblical scholarship moved out of colleges and seminaries — controlled by the institutional churches — and into state universities. The two went hand in hand. Today, every major university in the United States has a religious studies department that is well staffed by high-quality Bible scholars.

The search for the Jesus of history has taken center stage. The new surge of scholars does not answer to any church hierarchy. They are on a mission to sort truth from untruth and facts from falsehood.

The Bible materials, and the four Gospels in particular, are being examined from every critical perspective. The Gospels are being critiqued from the perspective of anthropologists, sociologists and archaeologists. Literary criticism, form criticism and historical criticism have become everyday tools in the hands of unfettered scholars.

The results are a bit scary for Christians trained to recite the creeds and to follow the words of their religious leaders. A very different Jesus is now moving among us.

Young Christians by tens of thousands are taking classes in the literature of the Bible in state colleges and universities. What they are learning does not square with their Sunday School training and the Sunday sermons that show no knowledge of what is going on in the world of serious Biblical studies.

A dramatic change has taken place. Today, with a great deal of certainty, we can sort out words that Jesus spoke from the words that were put into the mouth of Jesus two and three generations after his death. We know that many of the reports about the life of Jesus are the purest of fiction.

The result is to see the Jesus of history with much more clarity. We now can see him as a social, political and religious reformer, who was killed because he brought hope to the poor and in the process disturbed the religious and political leaders of his own day. As a result of critical scholarship, the Jesus of history is emerging out from under the cloak of church traditions.

The ministry of Jesus was on behalf of the people, mostly very poor, who had been disenfranchised by the social, political and religious elite. His oft-repeated messages are found in his stories (parables) and his sayings (aphorisms). Master the parables and aphorisms of Jesus, and what Jesus was about is very plain. Jesus was very much a man of this world committed to bringing justice to all.

I enjoy the arguments and discussions about the theological Jesus of the creeds. I can even take those discussions seriously, if they are not used to hide the urgency of Christians to act out the teachings of Jesus. Most theological discussions should be ended with laughter. In contrast, the teachings of Jesus demand action. If we refuse to live by his precepts, it is no laughing matter. It is tragedy.

At the time of my ordination 50 years ago, ecumenicity was being touted as the way of the future. Today, ecumenical groups are in shambles, struggling to survive. Here in Alaska, Alaska Christian Conference, the statewide ecumenical organization, simply disappeared. In retrospect, what happened does not surprise me. The proposed church unions of the late 20th century and cooperative Christianity were based on common theological beliefs. The beliefs of various denominations and churches were too entrenched to make ecumenical efforts feasible. Each church entity had so much invested in its own traditions and beliefs that unity was not possible.

Out of our experiences and with a fuller awareness of what Jesus said and taught, is it possible to see being a Christian as what we do rather than the creeds that we recite? Is it possible for us to admit that the Gospel of Jesus is about what we ought to do for God and our fellow human beings rather than what we want God to do for us?

To begin, let’s try “Love your neighbor as though he were a member of your own household.” That’s one I believe Jesus actually said. Seriously.

The Rev. Howard Bess is pastor emeritus of Church of the Covenant, an American Baptist church in Palmer. His e-mail address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.