DONALD J. GOERGEN, O.P. THE MISSION AND MINISTRY OF JESUS
A THEOLOGY OF JESUS SERIES VOLUME 18
God Belongs to the People
The inseparability of God and the people is central to an understanding of who Jesus was and what he was about. Underlying Jesus' preaching was his very own experience of God. With a prophetic and sapiential Spirit, Jesus defined the character of true religion and proclaimed his understanding of the God of his ancestors. God is not only YHWH, the One Who Is, but 'immanû'el, the One Who is With Us. What is at stake in the mission and ministry of Jesus is our very definition, image, and understanding of God.
Orthopraxis was also central to who Jesus was and who his disciples were. What is at stake here is the possibility of making Jesus' God incarnate in our world by letting God's love take on flesh. Thus a theology of Jesus underlines the importance both of human reality and orthopraxis, the gospel way of life. Religion is for human beings, and followers of the God of Jesus must witness to the praxis of this in their lives. Edward Schillebeeckx writes; "Jesus' message is passed on only where his life-praxis is followed . . . Jesus made what he spoke about a direct and practical reality in the way he turned toward others. He did not, for example, say to Zacchaeus, 'God loves you,' . . . On the contrary, he went home with him and by praxis made God's love for Zacchaeus a living reality."[1]
The time has come for us to pull together our picture of the mission and ministry of the earthly Jesus. There are some things about which we can be more certain than others, and some things which are more suggestive than definitive. Yet a picture does emerge.
Jesus was a Galilean Jew. The roots of his spirituality and mission lay more amid Mosaic and wilderness motifs than amid Davidic and messianic ones. In the beginning of his ministry, he was associated with John, although his movement became less ascetical, less focused on baptism, less sectarian than John's. Jesus was a prophet in a period of Jewish history when prophecy was no longer prevalent, a prophet somewhat like John and not unlike the prophets of old, radically God-conscious and socially conscious.
The starting point for understanding Jesus was God, his darling Abba. Although one cannot historiographically document the following statement, one of the more accurate things to be said about Jesus is that he struggled to love his God with his whole heart, his whole soul, and all his strength: a true and practicing Jew of the Shema who had gone to the heart of the Torah which ever served as a guide for his life and a source of strength. God was like a father and mother, an abba and imma to him, and he may have experienced God in this personal fashion and learned to pray in this provocative way during an ordeal in the wilderness, although when and where can only be suggested, not verified.
If the starting point for understanding Jesus is God, as was true of the prophets of old, so likewise is it faith. Perhaps nothing more foundational can be said. He lived by faith and trust in a God whom he personally knew as the one who was with him. He did not seek after signs and wonders; he did not put God to the test. The foundation of his preaching (and it would seem as if he saw preaching as his primary ministry and responsibility, Mark 1:38) was (the reign of) God.
Jesus was a man of God, a prophet, God's son. But he was also a man for others. Prayer and ministry were like inhaling and exhaling for him. One can not ask the question which was more important. His social conscience was part and parcel of his prophetic consciousness. Messianism was not his concern (he may have seen it as a diabolical distraction for his people!), nor the latter day apocalypticism (which did have a negative effect on a generation that longed to live more for signs than by faith). He healed, but did not seek notoriety for his healings; God's power and compassion simply came out of him.
For Jesus was as much as anything a prophet of compassion, compassionate as Abba/Imma was compassionate. If God was the foundation of Jesus' prophetic preaching, God's compassion was the foundation of his experientially based wisdom and teaching. God belongs to the people; God is for the people; God is the one who is with the people. And it is in accord with such an awareness and conviction that Jesus attempted to conform his own life: the compassionate one. This was the hallmark of his vision and his hope for Israel.
Jesus' "eschatology" was not so much a preoccupation with the end times as it was a preoccupation with his times and a preoccupation with his God. His "ethics" was not so much a new Law as it was an understanding of the Law as a gift of his faithful, compassionate, and generous God to the people of Israel. Love of God and love of neighbor, including enemies, were the whole of the Law.
Jesus was not self-preoccupied, and his message had very little to say about himself. His image of God and his interpretations of the Law created opposition as well as gathered crowds and more consciously committed disciples. But Jesus at least gradually anticipated the danger that lay in store for himself, as well as a crisis that lay ahead for his people. How he loved his people! His heart went out to them. Yet their salvation did not lie in separation from the unclean or in racial purity. It lay with being compassionate, in an imitation of Abba/Imma.
Jesus was open to Gentile as well as to Jew, to Samaritans, to women, to wealthy and traitorous tax collectors, to the poor, the hungry, the leprous, the Roman, the outcast without social status, to Pharisee as well as the unobservant and uneducated. Where there was faith, he could bring healing. If there was no hope, he would preach God. Where there was goodness and love, he would push his people one step further and teach them from out of the depths of a deeper Source.
Jesus belonged to the people. And he did so because he belonged to God. The only sign he gave us was the sign of Jonah, a sign of the compassion of our God.
Suggested Readings The following is neither an exhaustive bibliography nor a list of sources cited, but rather what it says -- a list of suggestions for further reading, combining some introductory and some specialized works. Additional bibliography on particular questions can readily be found in the notes, and most of the works cited in the notes as well as the references below contain ample bibliography themselves.
I have subdivided this list of readings into five categories which at times overlap, but consider the subdivisions still to be of more help than one lengthy alphabetical listing. All of the references in the fourth division on the teaching of Jesus could have been included in the third division on Jesus research, but I have chosen to separate them. I ordinarily refrain from listing a reference more than once. Within each category, I list the entries alphabetically, but for a particular author I list them chronologically. At times I have included annotations that may be of further help.
I. Geography, History, Literature, and Theology of Ancient Israel and Judah
Ackroyd, Peter R. Exile and Restoration, a Study of Hebrew Thought of the Sixth Century B. C. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1968.
Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. New York: Macmillan Co., 1968.
Anderson, Bernhard. Understanding the Old Testament. Third Edition. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1975. An excellent introductory work.
Anderson, Francis, and David Noel Freedman. Hosea. The Anchor Bible, Vol. 24. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Co., 1980.
Anderson, G. W., editor. Tradition and Interpretation, Essays by Members of the Society for Old Testament Study. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1979. A collection of essays by distinguished scholars covering the current state of Old Testament studies.
Baly, Denis. The Geography of the Bible. New and Revised Edition. New York: Harper and Row, 1974. A complete revision of the 1957 edition.
Bright, John. A History of Israel. Third Edition. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1981. The best single history of Israel and Judah during the Old Testament period.
___________. Jeremiah. The Anchor Bible, vol. 21. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Co., 1965.
Brueggemann, Walter. In Man We Trust. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1972. Contains keen insights into the sapiential tradition.
___________. The Prophetic Imagination. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1978.
Childs, Brevard S. Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979. One of many introductions to the Old Testament. Its contribution is a respect for the canonical and scriptural character of the Bible as religious literature as well as for the need for critical research. Manifests the desire of some to move to a "post-critical era" in biblical research.
Crenshaw, James L. Old Testament Wisdom. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1981. An introduction by a scholar recognized as one of the most competent in the field of Old Testament wisdom.
_____________, editor. Studies in Ancient Israelite Wisdom. New York: KTAV Pub., 1976. The best single collection of essays by distinguished scholars on the topic of wisdom literature.
Eichrodt, Walter. Theology of the Old Testament. Trans. J.A. Baker. The Old Testament Library, 2 vols. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1961-67.
Grollenberg, Luc H. Atlas of the Bible. New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1957.
Hayes, John H., and J. Maxwell Miller, editors. Israelite and Judaean History. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1977.
Heschel, Abraham. The Prophets. New York: Harper and Row, 1962. Reprint (2 vols.). New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1971.
Kaiser, Otto. Isaiah 1-12. Second edition. Old Testament Library. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1983. And Isaiah 13-19. Westminster Press, 1974.
Knight, Douglas A., and Gene M. Tucker, editors. The Hebrew Bible and Its Modern Interpreters. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, and Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1985. A collection of excellent essays by fifteen distinguished scholars covering the field of Hebrew Bible studies. The first volume in the triology, The Bible and Its Modern Interpreters. Initiated by the Society of Biblical Literature, the essays are reviews of the current state of scholarship in the varied sub-disciplines.
May, Herbert G., editor. Oxford Bible Atlas. Second edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.
Murphy-O'Connor, Jerome. The Holy Land, An Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980. The best currently available scholarly guide for Jerusalem and the Holy Land. A revised edition to appear soon.
Noth, Martin. The History of Israel. Trans. Stanley Godman. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1958.
von Rad, Gerhard. Old Testament Theology. Trans. D.M. G. Stalker. 2 vols. New York: Harper and Row, 1962-1965.
___________. The Message of the Prophets. Trans. D. M. G. Stalker. New York: Harper and Row, 1968. A revised version of material from the second volume of Old Testament Theology.
___________. Wisdom in Israel. Trans. James D. Martin. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1978.
Rylaarsdam, C. Revelation in Jewish Wisdom Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1946.
Scott, R.B.Y. The Relevance of the Prophets. Revised Edition. New York: Macmillan Co., 1971.
___________. The Way of Wisdom in the Old Testament. New York: Macmillan Co., 1971.
Spriggs, D.G. Two Old Testament Theologies. Studies in Biblical Theology, second series. Naperville, Ill.: A.R. Allenson, 1974.
Whybray, R.N. The Intellectual Tradition in the Old Testament. New York: de Gruyter, 1974.
Wright, G.E., and F.W. Filson, editors. The Westminster Historical Atlas to the Bible. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1956.
II. Early Judaism and Christian Origins
Barr, James. "Jewish Apocalyptic in Recent Scholarly Study." Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 58 (1975): 9-35.
Becker, Joachim. Messianic Expectation in the Old Testament. Trans. David E. Green. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980.
Charles, Robert Henry. Eschatology, The Doctrine of a Future Life in Israel, Judaism and Christianity. New York: Schocken Books, 1970. First published in 1899, with a second edition in 1913 which has been reprinted. Charles has been a noted master of Jewish apocalyptic literature. Given developments in this field as well as the discoveries in the Judean Desert since Charles' death, the work is now dated in particular areas, yet still an excellent introduction to the study of Jewish eschatology, especially as it pertains to the teaching on resurrection and future life.
Collins, John J. "Towards the Morphology of a Genre. "Semeia 14 (1979): 1-20. A study of apocalyptic.
___________. The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to the Jewish Matrix of Christianity. New York: Crossroad, 1984.
Derrett, J. Duncan M. Jesus' Audience, the Social and Psychological Environment în Which He Worked. London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1973. An introductory work with an excellent annotated bibliography.
Fitzmyer, J.A. "The Languages of Palestine in the First Century A.D." Catholic Biblical Quarterly 32 (1970): 501-31. Reprinted in A Wandering Aramean, Collected Aramaic Essays, 29-56. Missoula, Montana: Scholars Press, 1979.
Foerster, Werner. From the Exile to Christ -- A Historical Introduction to Palestinian Judaism. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1964.
Freyne, Sean. The World of the New Testament. The New Testament Message. Wilmington, Del.: Michael Glazier, 1980. A good introductory survey.
___________. Galilee from Alexander the Great to Hadrian, 323 B. C. E. t o 135 C. E., a Study of Second Temple Judaism. Wilmington, Del. and Notre Dame. Ind.: Michael Glazier and University of Notre Dame, co-publishers, 1980. A more advanced and specialized study, significant because there is less available in the area of Galilean studies.
Grant, Frederick C. The Economic Background of the Gospels. London: Oxford University Press, 1926.
___________. Ancient Judaism and the New Testament. New York: Macmillan Co., 1959.
Grant, Michael. Herod the Great. London: Weidenfield and Nicholson, 1971.
Hanson, Paul D. The Dawn of Apocalyptic. Phildelphia: Fortress Press, 1979. A consideration of the historical and sociological roots of apocalypticism.
Hengel, Martin. Judaism and Hellenism, Studies in their Encounter in Palestine during the Early Hellenistic Period. Trans. John Bowden. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974. A detailed study of the hellenization of Judaism.
___________. Jews, Greeks and Barbarians. Trans. John Bowden. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980. An introductory and more recent study of the hellenization of pre-Christian Judaism by an expert in the field.
Hoehner, Harold W. Herod Antipas. Cambridge: University Press, 1972.
Jeremias, Joachim. Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus, An Investigation into Economic and Social Conditions during the New Testament Period. Trans. F. H. and C. H. Cane. London: SCM Press, 1969. Recognized as an authoritative study of the socio-economic situation in Jerusalem.
Jones, Arnold H. M. The Herods of Judaea. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1938.
Josephus, Flavius. Complete Works. Trans. William Whiston. New Edition. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1960. One of the major historical sources for Early Judaism. Flavius Josephus was born in Judea c. 37-38 C. E. His first major work, completed c. 80 C.E., The Wars of the Jews, covers the Maccabean period, Herod the Great, Archelaus, the Roman procurators, and the great revolt of 66-70 C.E. His second major work, The Antiquities of the Jews, completed c. 93 C.E., gives an account of Jewish history until 66 C.E.
Kraft, Robert A., and George W.E. Nickelsburg, editors. Early Judaism and Its Modern Interpreters. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, and Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, forthcoming. A significant collection of excellent essays covering the field of Early Judaism. The second volume in the trilogy, The Bible and Its Modern Interpreters. Initiated by the Society of Biblical Literature.
McNamara, Martin. Targum and Testament, Aramaic Paraphrases of the Hebrew Bible: A Light on the New Testament. Shannon, Ireland: Irish University Press, 1972.
___________. Intertestamental Literature. Old Testament Message, vol. 23. Wilmington, Del.: Michael Glazier, Inc., 1983. A good introduction with a helpful annotated bibliography
___________. Palestinian Judaism and the New Testament. Wilmington, Del.: Michael Glazier, 1983. An excellent introductory study.
Miller, Merrill P. "Targum, Midrash, and the Use of the Old Testament in the New Testament." Journal for the Study of Judaism 2 (1971): 29-82.
Moore, George Foot. Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era, The Age of the Tannaim. 2 vols. New York: Schocken Books, (1927) 1971. Still one of the better studies on Judaism.
Mowinckel, Sigmund. He That Cometh, The Messiah Concept in the Old Testament and Later Judaism. Trans. G. W. Anderson. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1954. Perhaps the best single volume on the development of the messiah concept.
Neusner, Jacob. From Politics to Piety, the Emergence of Pharisaic Judaism. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973.
___________. First Century Judaism in Crisis. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1975. The story of Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai and Jamnia.
Nickelsburg, George W.E. Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981. Excellent introduction to intertestamental or post-biblical Jewish literature.
Perowne, Stewart. The Life and Times of Herod the Great. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1959.
Plöger, Otto. Theocracy and Eschatology. Trans. S. Rudman. Richmond: John Knox Press, 1968.
Rowley, H.H. The Relevance of Apocalyptic. New York: Harper and Row, 1955.
Russell, David Syme. The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic, 200 B.C. -- A.D. 100. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1964.
___________. Between the Testaments. Revised Edition. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1965.
___________. Apocalyptic, Ancient and Modern. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1978.
Sandmel, Samuel. Herod, Profile of a Tyrant. New York: J.B. Lippincott, 1967.
___________. Judaism and Christian Beginnings. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.
Schurer, Emil. The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, (175 B. C. -- A. D.135). 2 vols. A new English version revised and edited by Geza Vermes, Fergus Millar, Matthew Black, and Pamela Vermes. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1973-1979. A monumental resource for the history and institutions of Early Judaism. A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus, ed. Nahum Glatzer (New York: Schocken Books, 1961) is an abridged edition of vol. 1 of Schurer's work, based on an earlier edition.
Sherwin-White, A.N. Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963.
Tarn, W. W. Hellenistic Civilization. Third Edition. New York: The New American Library (1952) 1975. Provides an historical outline in chapter one and a consideration of the relationship between Hellenism and the Jews in chapter six.
Tcherikover, Victor. Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews. Trans. S. Applebaum. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1959.
de Vaux, Roland. Ancient Israel. 2 vols. New York: McGraw Hill, 1961. Remains a significant source for the study of the social and religious institutions of Israel.
Vermes, Geza, The Dead Sea Scrolls, Qumran in Perspective. Cleveland: World Pub. Co., 1978. A highly recommended introduction by a recognized Jewish scholar.
Viviano, Benedict T. Study as Worship, Aboth and the New Testament. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1978.
Wilkinson, John. Jerusalem as Jesus Knew It, Archaeology as Evidence. London: Thames and Hudson, 1978.
Yadin, Yigael. Masada, Herod's Fortress and the Zealots' Last Stand. Trans. Moshe Pearlman. New York: Random House, 1966. An excellent study of how archaeology works.
III. Jesus Research and New Testament Studies
Aulen, Gustaf. Jesus in Contemporary Historical Research. Trans. Ingalill H. Hjelm. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1976.
Ben-Chorin, Shalom. "The Image of Jesus in Modern Judaism." Trans. Arlene Swidler. Journal of Ecumenical Studies 11 (1974): 401-30. An excellent and thorough survey of Jesus research within Jewish studies through 1974.
Borsch, Frederick Houk. The Son of Man in Myth and History. New Testament Library. London: SCM Press, 1967. See note 23, chapter six.
Buber, Martin. Two Types of Faith. Trans. Norman P. Goldhawk. New York: Harper and Row, 1951. An interpretation of Jesus by a great modern interpreter of Judaism.
Bultmann, Rudolf. The History of the Synoptic Tradition. Revised Edition. Trans. John Marsh. New York: Harper and Row, (1921/1958) 1963.
___________. "New Testament and Mythology." In Kerygma and Myth, A Theological Debate, ed. Hans Werner Bartsch, rev. trans. Reginald Fuller, 1-44. New York: Harper and Row, (1941/ 1953) 1961. Bultmann's initial statement on demvthologizing.
___________. Jesus Christ and Mythology. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1958. A later discussion of demythologizing. Lectures given in 1951 in the United States.
___________. "The Primitive Christian Kerygma and the Historical Jesus." In The Historical Jesus and the Kerygmatic Christ, ed. and trans. C.E. Braaten and R. A. Harris ville, 15-42. Nashville: Abingdon Press, (1960, 1962)1964. A definitive statement of Bultmann's position on the relationship between the historical Jesus and the Christ of faith.
Casey, Maurice. Son of Man, the Interpretation and Influence of Daniel 7. London: SPCK, 1979. Highly recommended as a discussion of the non-apocalyptic, Aramaic character of the "son of humanity" expression.
Collins, Raymond F. Introduction to the New Testament. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Co., 1983. An excellent, recent introduction, which gives attention to critical exegesis as well as some specifically Catholic questions. Contains a significant bibliography.
Conzelmann, Hans. Jesus. Trans. J. Raymond Lord. Ed. John Reumann. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1973. A translation of the classic article, "Jesus Christus,"from Die Religion in Geschichte and Gegenwart.
Cullman, Oscar. The Christology of the New Testament. Revised Edition. Trans. Shirley C. Guthrie and Charles A. M. Hall. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1963. A pioneering and still significant study.
Davies, W.D., and D. Daube, editors. The Background of the New Testament and Its Eschatology. Cambridge: University Press, 1956.
Daube, David. The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism. New York: Arno Press, (1956) 1973.
Dibelius, Martin. Jesus. Trans. C.B. Hedrick and F.C. Grant. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1949.
Dodd, C. H. "Jesus as Teacher and Prophet," in Mysterium Christi, eds. G.K.A. Bell and D. Adolf Deissmann, 53-66. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1970.
___________. The Founder of Christianity. New York: Macmillan Co., 1970. Dodd still provides balanced and perceptive insights.
Dunn, James D.G. Christology in the Making, A New Testament Inquiry into the Origins of the Doctrine of the Incarnation. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1980. For a brief summary of the history of the quest for Jesus' self-understanding, see 22-26. For a qualification on Jeremias' research on Jesus' use of abba, see 26-29.
Dupont, Jacques. Les tentations de Jésus au desert. Studia Neotestamentica 4. Bruges: Desclee de Brouwer, 1968.
Edwards, Richard A. A Theology of Q. Eschatology, Prophecy, and Wisdom. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1976.
Epp, Eldon Jay, and George W. MacRae. The New Testament and Its Modern Interpreters. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, and Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, forthcoming. A collection of essays covering the field of New Testament Studies. The third volume in the trilogy, The Bible and Its Modern Interpreters. Initiated by the Society of Biblical Literature.
Fitzmyer, Joseph. A Christological Catechism, New Testament Answers. New York: Paulist Press, 1981.
___________. An Introductory Bibliography for the Study of Scripture. Revised edition. Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1981.
Flusser, David. Jesus. Trans. Ronald Walls. New York: Herder and Herder, 1969.
Fuchs, Ernst. "The Quest of the Historical Jesus." In his Studies of the Historical Jesus. Trans. A. Scobie, 11-31. London: SCM, 1964.
Fuller, Reginald. The Mission and Achievement of Jesus. Studies in Biblical Theology, 12. London: SCM, 1954.
___________. The Foundations of New Testament Christology. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1965. A very readable exposition of the issues involved in New Testament Christology.
Gerhardsson, Birger. The Testing of God's Son: An Analysis of an Early Christian Midrash. Trans. John Toy Lund. Sweden: CW K Gleerup, 1966.
Hahn, Ferdinand. The Titles of Jesus in Christology, Their History in Early Christianity. Trans. Harold Knight and George Ogg. London: Lutterworth Press, 1969. A post-Bultmannian exposition.
Hengel, Martin. The Charismatic Leader and His Followers. Trans. James Greig. New York: Crossroad, 1981.
___________. The Son of God. Trans. John Bowden. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1976.
Higgins, A.J.B. The Son of Man in the Teaching of Jesus. London: Cambridge University Press, 1980. Part one contains a good summary of recent discussion. See note 24, chapter six.
Hooker, Morna. The Son of Man in Mark. Montreal: McGill University Press, 1967.
Hull, John M. Hellenistic Magic and the Synoptic Tradition. Naperville, Ill.: Alec R. Allenson, 1974. A good survey of the relationship between Jesus, the Gospels,and the magical traditions.
Kahler, Martin. The So-Called Historical Jesus and the Historic Biblical Christ. Trans. and ed. Carl Braaten. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, (1896) 1964.
Kasemann, Ernst. "The Problem of the Historical Jesus." In his Essays on New Testament Themes, trans. W.J. Montague, 15-47. London: SCM, 1964.
Leivestad, Ragnar. "Exit the Apocalyptic Son of Man." New Testament Studies 18 (1971-72):243-67. A succinct statement of the perspective that "son of humanity" is not an apocalyptic title.
Lindars, Barnabas. "Re-enter the Apocalyptic Son of Man." New Testament Studies 22 (1975): 52-72.
___________. Jesus Son of Man, a Fresh Examination of the Son of Man Sayings în the Gospels in the Light of Recent Research. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1983. See note 28, chapter six.
Mauser, Ulrich W. Christ in the Wilderness. London: SCM Press, 1936.
Nolan, Albert. Jesus Before Christianity. Maryknoll: Orbis Press, 1978.
Reumann, John. Jesus in the Church's Gospels. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1968.
Robinson, James. A New Quest of the Historical Jesus. London: SCM, 1968. A clear statement of the issues and principles involved in the twentieth century quest.
Sandmel, Samuel. A Jewish Understanding of the New Testament. Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1957.
Schillebeeckx, Edward. Jesus, An Experiment in Christology. Trans. Hubert Hoskins. New York: Seabury, 1979. A monumental survey and creative interpretation of New Testament scholarship. Also see his Christ, The Experience of Jesus as Lord, trans. John Bowden (New York: Seabury, 1980), 826-32, for a discussion on the process of identifying Jesus.
Schottroff, Willy, and Wolfgang Stegeman, editors. God of the Lowly: Socio-Historical Interpretation of the Bible. Trans. M.J. O'Connell. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1984.
Schweitzer, Albert. The Quest of the Historical Jesus. Trans. W. Montgomery, with a preface by F.C. Burkitt. New York: Macmillan Co., (1906) 1961. The classic survey of the nineteenth century quest along with Schweitzer's conclusions following upon the survey. A turning point in Life of Jesus research.
Segundo, Juan Luis. The Historical Jesus of the Synoptics. Trans. John Drury. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1985.
Smith, Morton. Jesus the Magician. New York: Harper and Row, 1978.
Strauss, David Friedrich. The Life of Jesus Critically Examined. Trans. George Eliot, and ed. P.C. Hodgson. Lives of Jesus Series. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, (1835) 1972.
Taylor, Vincent. The Names of Jesus. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1953.
Theissen, Gerd. Sociology of Early Palestinian Christianity. Trans. John Bowden. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1978. Earliest Christianity, the Jesus movement, is best understood as a renewal movement within Judaism that was distinct from the renewal programs of the Essenes, Pharisees, and the resistance movement.
Thompson, William M. The Jesus Debate, A Survey and Synthesis. New York: Paulist Press, 1985.
Tidball, Derek. The Social Context of the New Testament, A Sociological Analysis. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub., 1984.
Tödt, H.E. The Son of Man in the Synoptic Tradition. Trans. Dorothea Barton. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1965. See note 21, chapter six.
Vermes, Geza. "The Use of Bar Ndsh/Bar Nasha in Jewish Aramaic." In Post-Biblical Jewish Studies, 147-65. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1975. First published as an appendix to Matthew Black's Aramaic Approach to the Gospels and Acts, Third edition, 310-30. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967. A significant step in the new direction of interpretation of the "son of humanity."
___________. Jesus the Jew, A Historian's Reading of the Gospels. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1973. A valuable Jewish contribution to the study of Jesus.
Weiss, Johannes. Jesus' Proclamation of the Kingdom of God. Trans. R.H. Hiers and D.L. Holland. Lives of Jesus Series. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, (1892) 1971.
Wink, Walter. John the Baptist in the Gospel Tradition. Cambridge: University Press, 1968.
Wrede, William. The Messianic Secret. Trans. J. Greig. Greenwood, S.C.: Attic Press, (1901) 1971.
IV. The Teaching of Jesus
Boff, Leonardo. The Lord's Prayer, The Prayer of Integral Liberation. Trans. Theodore Morrow. New York: Orbis Books, 1983.
Borg, Marcus J. Conflict, Holiness and Politics in the Teachings of Jesus. New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1984. Conflict is the context for understanding the teaching of Jesus, a conflict precipitated by Jesus' opposition to Israel's quest for holiness and the substitution of an alternative program for the renewal of Judaism based on mercy.
Boucher, Madeleine. The Mysterious Parable: A Literary Study. Washington, D.C.: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1977.
___________. The Parables. New Testament Message, 7. Wilmington, Del.: Michael Glazier, 1981. An introductory exposition.
Breech, James. The Silence of Jesus, the Authentic Voice of the Historical Man. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983.
Brown, Raymond. "The Pater Noster as an Eschatological Prayer." In New Testament Essays, 217-253. Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Co., 1965.
Bultmann, Rudolf. Jesus and the Word. Trans. Louise Pettibone Smith and Erminie Huntress Lantero. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, (1926/1934) 1958. Bultmann's interpretation of the teaching of Jesus in historical context.
Chilton, Bruce D. A Galilean Rabbi and his Bible, Jesus' Use of the Intrepreted Scripture of his Time. Wilmington, Del.: Michael Glazier, 1984. Even more important than rabbinic Judaism or sectarian and pseudepigraphical writings for understanding the early Judaism as well as teaching and preaching of Jesus is that of targum research.
Crossan, John Dominic. In Parables: The Challenge of the Historical Jesus. New York: Harper and Row, 1973.
___________. In Fragments: The Aphorisms of Jesus. New York: Harper and Row, 1984.
Dalman, Gustaf. The Words of Jesus. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1902.
Davies, W.D. The Setting of the Sermon on the Mount. Cambridge: University Press, 1964. Also available in an abridged form as The Sermon on the Mount, Cambridge University Press, 1966.
Dodd, C. H. The Parables of the Kingdom. Revised edition. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, (1935) 1961. A pioneering work in parable research.
Funk, Robert W. Language, Hermeneutic, and Word of God. New York: Harper and Row, 1966.
Jeremias, Joachim. The Parables of Jesus. Revised edition. Trans. S. H. Hooke. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1963. A starting point for contemporary parable research, available in an abridged version as Rediscovering the Parables (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1966).
___________. The Prayers of Jesus. Studies in Biblical Theology, Second Series, 6. Naperville, Ill.: Alec R. Allenson, 1967.
___________. New Testament Theology, The Proclamation of Jesus. Trans. John Bowden. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971. A very balanced approach to the teaching of Jesus by a consummate scholar.
Jewett, Robert. Jesus Against the Rapture, Seven Unexpected Prophecies. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1979. The authentic teaching of Jesus is a contrast to apocalypticism, old and new.
Lambrecht, Jan. Once More Astonished, The Parables of Jesus. New York: Crossroad, 1981.
La Verdiere, Eugene. When We Pray, Meditation on the Lord's Prayer. Notre Dame: Ave Marie Press, 1983. Both exegetical and meditative.
Linnemann, Eta. Jesus of the Parables. Trans. John Sturdy. New York: Harper and Row, 1966. Published in England under the title The Parables of Jesus.
Lohmeyer, Ernst. Our Father, an Introduction to the Lord's Prayer. Trans. John Bowden. New York: Harper and Row, 1965.
Manson, T. W. The Sayings of Jesus. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979. First published as Part 2 of The Mission and Message of Jesus, 1937, and then re-issued as a separate volume, 1949.
Montefiore, Claude G. Some Elements of the Religious Teaching of Jesus. London: Macmillan and Co., 1910. A reconstruction of Jesus' teaching by an eminent Jewish theologian representative of liberal Judaism.
Perkins, Pheme. Love Commands in the New Testament. New York: Paulist Press, 1982.
Perrin, Norman. The Kingdom of God in the Teaching of Jesus. London: S CM, 1963. An excellent and concise survey of the modern discussion.
___________. Rediscovering the Teaching of Jesus. New York: Harper and Row, 1967. Contains an excellent annotated bibiography, 209-15.
___________. Jesus and the Language of the Kingdom. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1976. The best available summary of the history of modern parable interpretation. Also helpful for its annotated bibliography, 209-15.
Petuchowski, Jakob J., and Michael Brocke, editors. The Lord's Prayer and Jewish Liturgy. New York: Seabury Press, 1978.
Rist, Martin. "Jesus and Eschatology." In Transitions in Biblical Scholarship, ed. J.C. Rylaarsdam, 193-215. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968.
Robinson, John A.T. Jesus and His Coming. Nashville: Abingdon, 1957.
Via, Dan Otto, Jr. The Parables: Their Literary and Existential Dimensions. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1967.
Wilder, Amos N. Early Christian Rhetoric, The Language of the Gospel. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1971. A literary study of the parable.
V. On the Dialogue between Judaism and Christianity,
as Pertinent to Jesus ResearchBen-Chorin, Shalom. See entry above under Jesus Research and New Testament Studies.
Borowitz, Eugene B. Contemporary Christologies, A Jewish Response. New York: Paulist Press, 1980.
Cargas, Harry James, editor. When God and Man Failed, Non-Jewish Views of the Holocaust. New York: Macmillan Pub. Co., 1981. A significant anthology of non-Jewish Holocaust literature, containing a valuable bibliography.
Hagner, Donald A. The Jewish Reclamation of Jesus, an Analysis and Critique of Modern Jewish Study of Jesus. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1984.
McGarry, Michael B. Christology after Auschwitz. New York: Paulist Press, 1977. A survey of formal church statements and theological opinions by a Catholic theologian.
Mussner, Franz. Tractate on the Jews, The Significance of Judaism for Christian Faith. Trans. Leonard Swindler. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984. A challenging Catholic theological reflection on Judaism.
Pawlikowski. John T. Christ in the Light of the Christian-Jewish Dialogue. Studies on Judaism and Christianity. New York: Paulist Press, 1982.
Sandmel, Samuel. We Jews and Jesus. New York: Oxford University Press, (1965) 1973. A Jewish author who has made many contributions to the study of Judaism and Christianity.
Thoma, Clemens. A Christian Theology of Judaism. Trans. Helga Crones. Studies in Judaism and Christianity. New York: Paulist Press, 1980. Another important contemporary Catholic theology of Judaism.
Here follows an Index of Selected Topics which is not relevant to a pageless HTML document. Rather, see the PDF version.
Next follows an Index of Authors which is not relevant to a pageless HTML document. See the PDF version.
Finally, there is an Index of Biblical Citations.
1 Edward Schillebeeckx, "The Right of Every Christian to Speak in the Light of Evangelical Experience 'In the Midst of Brothers and Sisters,"' in Preaching and the Non-Ordained, ed. Nadine Foley (Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press, 1983), 34.