THE
QUEST FOR THE HISTORICAL JESUS
A Seminar
Spring, 2008
Prof. Frederick J. Murphy
Smith 422
Tel.:
Office, 793-3467 or 793-3404; Home, 854-1004; email: fmurphy@holycross.edu
Skype ID:
cessna152rick.
Web Site:
http://college.holycross.edu/faculty/fmurphy/fjmhome.html
Office Hours:
Mon., 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM; Wed. 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM.
Other
times by appointment
NOTE: Please read this syllabus thoroughly. You are responsible for all the information
here, as well as all information conveyed in class and through e-mail.
GOALS OF THE
SEMINAR
This
course has two main objectives. The
first is to ask what can be known about Jesus of Nazareth and his religious,
cultural, political, and economic environment.
By “Jesus of Nazareth” is meant Jesus as he would have been experienced
by his contemporaries, up to and including his death; this figure is often
called the historical Jesus. (We will
discuss the relevance of the resurrection and of the Christian church, but it
will not be a major focus of the course.)
The second objective is to think about more theoretical issues:
practical and theoretical problems entailed in the quest for the historical Jesus,
philosophical and methodological concerns in any sort of historical enquiry,
the relationship between faith and historical study, and the affect of things
like social location, theological beliefs, and politics on how research is
conducted and what conclusions are reached.
Thorough
familiarity with the primary sources for the historical Jesus (primarily the
canonical gospels, the Gospel of Thomas, and the hypothetical source Q) is
expected. This means not only a
knowledge of what they say, but also awareness of their genre, literary
structure, rhetoric, christology, theology, and possible historical
context. Some of this is dealt with in
the readings, but it is assumed that all members of the seminar have had some
training in New Testament studies, preferably something equivalent to a Holy
Cross course such as “Introduction to the New Testament,” “Gospels,” or “Jesus
and His Contemporaries.” Anyone who has
doubts about their readiness for the course should see me. Books and articles that can help your review,
if necessary, are listed under “Recommended Readings” in this syllabus.
Historical
inquiry rests upon assumptions about the possibility of knowing about the
past. It is also guided by the
historian’s worldview and attitude toward the material. As the seminar progresses we will try to
clarify some of those issues and to observe their affect on how we raise and
answer questions about the historical Jesus.
The search for the historical Jesus also encounters issues specific to
that search, such as the nature of the sources, the development of tradition,
and the role of theology and personal faith in formulating questions and in
arriving at reconstructions. We examine
these questions early in the course.
Central
to the course is the assumption that to be understood properly as a historical
figure, Jesus must be seen within his own historical, political, cultural, and
political context. This means that it is
necessary to have at least a basic understanding of second
We
shall undertake a “hands on” investigation of the sources, weighing arguments
for and against taking the sources or parts of the sources as evidence for
Jesus. We shall deal with specific and
concrete instances of reports of words and deeds of Jesus and his
contemporaries. We shall look closely at
some reconstructions of the historical Jesus both to gauge their plausibility,
and to see to what extent the reconstructions are tied to the interests and
outlooks of the scholars doing the reconstructing. We shall look at the Jewishness of Jesus and
ask how that affects our view of him.
Students will be encouraged to develop their own pictures of the
historical Jesus, being aware of how they use the sources and why, and how much
their own worldview influences the reconstruction.
You
should be warned that this course does
not offer easy answers. It offers
more questions than answers. The idea
that a liberal arts education should teach one to be “patient with ambiguity”
(see Holy Cross mission statement) applies clearly to this course. The course is aimed more at working at
thinking through certain problems to which there are no assured answers than
conveying a body of knowledge. That can
be a frustrating experience, particularly when dealing with religious
topics. That very experience will be
subject to discussion as we proceed. We
should also admit at the outset that the course cannot investigate in detail
every aspect of the current quest for the historical Jesus. The choices I have made about books to read
and issues to examine and methodologies to employ are due to my own views and
basic convictions concerning the historical Jesus, although I try throughout
the course to make you aware of other points of view as well. I will try to make all this clear as we
proceed.
METHOD
We
will read several books and articles that deal the issues discussed above. In reading these materials we have a double
purpose. We want learn about the
historical Jesus and benefit from what the authors tell us about him. We also want to look critically at the materials
themselves. We will evaluate their
strengths and weaknesses, assumptions, and relevance to the topics at
hand. Through this process we also want
to examine our own assumptions and outlook.
A series of questions should always be in mind as we read these
books. What is the author trying to
do? What method(s) does s/he use? How is the method applied? Is it “successful”? Why or why not? Does the study contribute to the understanding
of the historical Jesus? Why or why
not? What are the assumptions of the
author? Do we agree or disagree with
them? Of course, in all of this we will
discover disagreements among seminar members.
Our aim is to use these differences to stimulate fruitful
discussion. All views are welcome and
will be respected.
Most
of the readings demand following complex arguments based on biblical
texts. Constant and careful attention to
the gospels is essential. Read the
secondary material with the gospels open beside you. Look at the gospel text when it is
cited. Make it a habit to check the
author’s points against the text of the gospels. Spend time with the gospels even apart from
the reading of the secondary material.
Compare one version of a story or saying to other possible versions
using the gospel parallels. Come to
class prepared to discuss specific
texts that you have found particularly interesting or enlightening.
Students
are often overwhelmed at the very beginning of this seminar with the amount of
material to be covered and with the complexity of the issues raised. However, once they achieve a general overview
of what we are doing, their confidence level rises quickly. I encourage you to be patient with yourselves
at the beginning of the course and be assured that you will fairly quickly
develop a familiarity with the substance of our study and a proficiency in
discussing it.
FORMAT OF
MEETINGS
Most
of each session will be in the form of discussion of the readings. Each and every member of the seminar is
expected to participate. Participation
consists of engaging in an informed
conversation about the readings and the issues they treat. Such a conversation cannot take place unless
everyone does all the reading and thinks about it before coming to class. As you read, you should take notes,
underline, highlight, or use whatever technique works for you to come to grips
with the readings. You are to analyze
them, trying to understand their arguments, evidence, and viewpoints.
You
are to come to class with your thoughts about each reading ready. Those
thoughts can be in the form of a critique of the reading, questions it raised,
notes on what the reading contributed to your understanding, ideas that were
new and striking to you, and so on. You
should be ready to share those thoughts with the class both at your own
initiative in the course of the ongoing conversation and when called upon
directly by me. You should also have a
number of biblical texts ready to discuss to make your points.
I
am very aware that you are coming from many different backgrounds academically,
and that none of you have studied the historical Jesus in depth. It is a complex topic, and there is much to
know and much about which judgments must be made. You are being plunged into the middle of a
conversation that has been going on for centuries now. We should be willing to share our ignorance
with each other, as well as what we do know.
I encourage “thinking out loud” in class. Take a chance. Do not wait until you “have it all together,”
or are completely sure of your point, before you are willing to speak. This is an ongoing conversation in which a
simple question, even one based on a lack of detailed knowledge of the
scholarly conversation, can be as important a contribution as a lengthy and
learned exposition. At the same time, to
be a real contributor to class, you must read the assignments and be “informed.” I aim to foster an atmosphere of trust and
comfort in the classroom, so that we can communicate openly and in an
unselfconscious way. I sincerely invite
each of you to be a full partner in the conversation.
I
will divide the class into teams, as numbers allow. Each team is to meet once before each class
meeting for a brief discussion of the week’s readings. These small-group meetings are required. The meetings should be held after everyone
has done the readings and taken notes on them.
The purpose of the meetings is to “prime” class discussion by
interacting with each other beforehand and talking about what is significant or
interesting about the week’s assignment.
Each group, and each member of each group, should be ready when called
upon or at its own initiative to share with the class the results of its own
discussion. Each group will be assigned
a section of the readings and will be expected to lead a discussion about that
section.
The
aim of all this is to stimulate informed discussion. Groups should concentrate on criticism of
points in the reading, examination of primary sources (the gospels) in class,
evaluation of arguments, pointing out what needs clarification, discussion of
assumptions, and so on. Have a clear
idea of what you found helpful (and why) and what was not helpful (and why not)
in the week’s readings. Each group
should almost always direct our attention to specific passages in the gospels and particular arguments of the
secondary authors as the focus of discussion.
General ideas should be rooted in interpretation of concrete texts.
Each
group should prepare a handout for the class.
The handout should be short and to the point, directing the seminar’s
attention to those aspects of the readings most fruitful for discussion. Think of it as assembling a series of “bullet”
points for discussion. Class members
should be able to scan the handouts quickly and immediately see what you want
to do with the discussion. Handouts
should usually contain a list of passages most useful for the subject at hand.
A
successful session is not one in which we plow through summaries of the readings,
but one in which all come having digested the readings, and in which we
interact with each other through real interactive conversation about issues
raised by the readings. The point is not
to summarize the readings, although some summary of arguments may be desirable
at times. The point is to have an
informed and open discussion. Each group
should aim for that as it strategizes about what to bring to the attention of the
larger group. It is your job to get the
discussion going and keep it going.
Special
Arrangements. During
the term I will probably need to undergo some medical treatment, which will
mean at times that I cannot be available at all for class time, and at other
times that I cannot be in the classroom physically. I will supplement the class on those days
through a variety of means – primarily guest professors and interactive “video
conferencing” through Skype. I will
explain all of this fully in class.
January and February should not be affected.
REQUIREMENTS
AND EVALUATION
Attendance
at all meetings is REQUIRED. Absences will affect grades. If for some unavoidable reason you must miss
class, inform me beforehand, or, if
that is impossible, very soon afterward.
It is not acceptable to miss class, and then to put off speaking to me about
it until the next class. Participation
in class sessions is required. Participation in the team meetings is required. Every
member of the seminar must read every
assignment and come ready to discuss.
There
are three papers assigned, each ten to twelve pages, and each worth 25% of the
final grade. The nature and dates of the
papers will be discussed in class. The
other 25% of the final grade will be based on class participation. Please note that it is possible to do well on
the papers but not on class work and vice-versa. Grades for participation will be based not
necessarily on how much you speak,
but on the quality of your participation and how it reflects having engaged the
readings. If you want to confer with me
during the term concerning your class performance, please feel free to do so.
I
prefer not to grant extensions on papers.
This syllabus informs you well in advance of when papers are due, so
plan accordingly. If for some unavoidable
reason an extension is necessary, you must get it from me before the paper is due. We
will then agree on a new due date, which will be strict. Late papers will be penalized. I reserve the right not to accept papers beyond the due date.
REQUIRED TEXTS
The HarperCollins Study Bible: Revised Student
Edition. Edited by Harold W. Attridge.
Gospel
Parallels: A Comparison of the Synoptic Gospels.
Dale
Allison. Jesus of
John Dominic
Crossan. Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography.
Luke Timothy
Johnson. The Real Jesus: The Misguided Quest for the Historical Jesus and the
Truth of the Traditional Gospels.
John
Meier. A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus. Volume II.
Murphy, Frederick J. Early Judaism:
The Exile to the Time of Jesus. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2002. Available on Blackboard.
E.P.
Sanders. Jesus and Judaism.
W. Barnes
Tatum. In Quest of Jesus.
You also need
to download the following two texts, which we will use throughout the term:
Q (the lost sayings source): http://www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu/jdtabor/Qluke.html
The Gospel of Thomas: http://www.misericordia.edu/users/davies/thomas/Trans.htm
I will supply many
other texts and readings on Blackboard.
RECOMMENDED
TEXTS
For an
additional review of the basic historical, literary, cultural, and religious
issues in Second Temple Judaism, see Frederick J. Murphy, Early Judaism: The Exile to the Time of Jesus. (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2002). Available in pdf format at http://college.holycross.edu/faculty/fmurphy/Early%20Judaism/Murphy.pdf. Be patient.
It takes a while to load. Also on
Blackboard.
For a review of
the New Testament, see Norman Perrin and Dennis Duling, The New Testament: Proclamation and Parenesis, Myth and History (3rd
edition,
For a
presentation of each of the Gospels, with attention also paid to the historical
Jesus and to extracanonical literature, see Frederick J. Murphy. An Introduction to Jesus and the Gospels
(Nashville: Abingdon, 2005).
For a review of
the Old Testament, see John J. Collins, Introduction
to the Hebrew Bible (
For a study of
why Christianity split from Judaism over time, see James D. G. Dunn, The Partings of the Ways: Between
Christianity and Judaism in Their Significance for the Character of
Christianity (Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1991).
For a quick
overview of the historical Jesus, see John Meier, “Jesus,” in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (Raymond
E. Brown, S.S., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J., and Roland E. Murphy, O. Carm., eds.;
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990; pp. 1316-28). See also the following articles in The Anchor Bible Commentary (Vol. 3, New
York: Doubleday, 1992): Ben F. Meyer, “Jesus Christ,” pp. 773-96; N. T. Wright,
“Jesus, Quest for the Historical,” pp. 796-802; John Riches, “Jesus, Words of,”
pp. 802-804; Marcus Borg, “Jesus, Teaching of,” pp. 804-812; Frederick J.
Murphy, “Jesus the Jew,” in Early Judaism
(see above), and “The Historical Jesus,” in An Introduction (see above).
For an
annotated bibliography of Jesus research see Craig A. Evans, Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1992);
see also the series by Bruce Chilton and Craig Evans (eds.), Studying the Historical Jesus (Leiden:
Brill, 1994); Authenticating the Words of
Jesus (Boston: Brill, 2002); Authenticating
the Activities of Jesus (Boston; Brill, 2002); and the collection of
studies by Craig Evans, Jesus and His
Contemporaries: Comparative Studies (Boston: Brill, 2001).
For a
discussion of the theoretical, philosophical, and theological issues raised
when faith encounters critical historical research see Gregory W. Dawes, The Historical Jesus Question: The Challenge
of History to Religious Authority (Louisville: Westminster John Knox,
2001). The discussion is structured
around key figures in the quest. For a
collection of primary documents of those figures, see Gregory W. Dawes, ed., The Historical Jesus Quest: Landmarks in the
Search for the Jesus of History (
See my website
for links useful for our study.
USE OF COLLEGE COMPUTER NETWORK
I
use the College computer network a great deal for communication. I post course material on my web site, and I
use email extensively to make announcements to the whole class, to contact
individual students, to distribute course materials such as handouts, and to
respond to your questions. (To get to my
web site, go to the Holy Cross home page, then to departments, then to
Religious Studies, then to faculty.) It
is very important that you know how to use the network. If you do not, then take steps to learn it. I
would be glad to help you do so. You are
responsible for checking your email regularly to receive messages and handouts
for the course.
It
would also be very helpful to you if you learned to use the electronic
resources provided by the library for research purposes. Particularly helpful are the electronic
databases and online journals. If you do
not know how to use those, take some time to explore them to see what is
available. Note that using internet sources (not the resources
supplied by the library or my links page) for papers needs to be done with
caution and most sites need to be avoided when writing papers, since it is
often difficult to know their origin and to judge their reliability. The
best general rule is not to use
internet sources, unless you are convinced of their academic quality. If you plan to use such sources, it would be
a good idea to communicate with me about them so that I can take a look at them
myself. I have compiled a links page on
my website to direct you to useful resources, but you will find reliable
sources in our library. In any case, you
should never use just internet
sources. See my “Bibliographical Aids to
Writing Papers on the Bible” on my website.
SYLLABUS
NOTE: The syllabus may change somewhat during the
semester. You are responsible for any
changes announced in class or through e-mail.
January
16
General introduction to the content and
mechanics of the class. Discussion about
our expectations of the class. Why are
we undertaking this study? What do we
expect to get out of it?
As time permits, the following are among other
issues to be discussed at this session: the relationship between historical
study and faith; fundamentalism and historical study of the Bible (we’ll look
at the statement of the Pontifical Biblical Commission on Fundamentalism); use of the gospels as historical evidence; the
two-source theory as a solution to the synoptic problem; the nature of Q and
the Gospel of Thomas; the nature of
historical study; special problems raised by the quest for the historical
Jesus; apocalypticism (see especially Daniel 7); the political and social
situation in Palestine at the time of Jesus.
January
23
Dunn (138 pp.; Blackboard)
Chapter 1: Christianity in the Making (7
pp.)
Chapter 2: Introduction (6 pp.)
Chapter 3: The (Re-)Awakening of
Historical Awareness (8 pp.)
Chapter 4: The Flight from Dogma (39 pp.)
Chapter 5: The Flight from History (29
pp.)
Murphy (79 pp.)
Chapter 1: “Israel before the Second Temple Period” (49 pp.)
Chapter 6: “Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees” (30 pp.)
Please download texts on the Pharisees available on Blackboard.
January
30
Murphy (78 pp.)
Chapter 7: Enter the Romans (34 pp.)
Please download texts on the first century available on Blackboard.
Chapter 8: Jewish
Meier (40 pp.; Volume I; Blackboard)
Chapter 3: Sources: Josephus (14 pp.)
Chapter 8: “In the Beginning… The Origins of Jesus of Nazareth” (26 pp.)
February 6
Murphy (44 pp.)
Chapter 5: “Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls”
Tatum (59 pp.)
Chapter 1: Gospel
Origins (13 pp.)
Chapter 2: Gospel Criticism (17 pp.)
Chapter 3: Gospel Portrayals (29 pp.)
Meier (17 pp.; Volume I; Blackboard)
Chapter 6: “Criteria: How Do We Decide
What Comes from Jesus?” (17 pp.)
February 13
Tatum (37 pp.)
Chapter 8: Titles of Honor (12 pp.)
Chapter 11: Parables (14 pp.)
Chapter 12: Miracles (11 pp.)
Yarbro Collins, Adela. “The Origins of
the Designation Jesus as “Son of Man”.” HTR 80 (1987): 391-407 (17 pp.; Blackboard)
Evans, Craig A. "Messianic Hopes and
Messianic Figures in Late Antiquity." Journal of Greco-Roman
Christianity and Judaism 37 (2006): 9-40.
(32 pp.; Blackboard)
Flint, Peter. “Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls.” In The Historical Jesus in Context. Amy-Jill Levine, Dale C. Allison, Jr., and John Dominic Crosson, eds., 110-131. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006. (22 pp.; Blackboard))
February 20
Sanders (156 pp.)
“Introduction”
Chapter 1: “Jesus and the Temple”
Chapter 2: “New
Chapter 3: “Other Indications of
Restoration Eschatology”
Chapter 4: “The Sayings”
First paper due
Friday, February 22nd, at noon.
Please submit papers in hard copy to my office.
February
27
Sanders (88 pp.)
Chapter 5: “Miracles and Crowds”
Chapter 6: “The Sinners”
Chapter 7: “The Gentiles”
Chapter 8: “The Kingdom: Conclusion”
Chapter 9: “The Law”
Chapter 10: “Opposition and Opponents”
March
5
No Class – Spring Break
March
12
Sanders
Chapter 11: “The Death of Jesus” (24 pp.)
“Conclusion” (22 pp.)
Evans, Craig A. "Opposition to the
Temple: Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls." In Jesus and the Dead Sea
Scrolls, edited by James H. Charlesworth, 235-53. New York: Doubleday,
1992. (18 pp.; Blackboard)
Jonathan Klawans. “Moral and
Ritual Purity.” In The Historical Jesus in Context, edited by Amy-Jill Levine, Dale C.
Allison, Jr., and John Dominic Crossan, 266-284. Princeton: Princeton University, 2006. (19
pp.; Blackboard)
Richard H. Hiers. “Purification of
the Temple: Preparation for the Kingdom of God.” Journal
of Biblical Literature 90 (1971): 82-90.
(9 pp.; Blackboard)
Yarbro Collins, Adela. “Jesus' Action in
Herod's Temple.” In Antiquity and Humanity: Essays on Ancient Religion and
Philosophy, edited by Adela Yarbro Collins and Margaret M. Mitchell, 45-61.
Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001. (17 pp.; Blackboard)
March
19
Allison (138 pp.)
“Some Common Features of Millenarianism”
(pp. 78-94; 17pp.)
“The Eschatology of Jesus: Still Ratlos
after all These Years” (pp. 95-171; 76 pp.)
“Jesus as a Millenarian Ascetic” (pp.
172-216; 45 pp.)
Second paper due Thursday, March 20, at noon. Please submit papers via email or
Blackboard’s Digital Drop Box.
March
26
Meier (140 pp.)
“Introduction” (1-14)
Chapter 12: “John without Jesus: The
Baptist in His Own Rite” (19-63; 45 pp.)
Chapter 13: “Jesus
with and without John” (100-182; 83 pp.)
April
2
Meier (147 pp.)
Chapter 14: “The
Chapter 15: “The
Chapter 16: “The
April
9
Crossan
Entire book (207 pp.)
Prologue: From Christ to Jesus
Chapter 1: A Tale of Two Gods
Chapter 2: The
Chapter 3: A
Chapter 4: In the Beginning Is the Body
Chapter 5: No Staff, No Sandals, and No
Knapsack
Chapter 6: The Dogs beneath the Cross
Chapter 7: How Many Years Was Easter
Sunday?
Epilogue: From Jesus to Christ
April
16
Dunn
Chapter 6:
History, Hermeneutics and Faith (40 pp.; Blackboard)
Chapter
18: Et Resurrexit (56 pp.; Blackboard)
Hellwig,
Monica. “Re-Emergence of the Human, Critical, Public Jesus.” Theological
Studies 50 (1989): 466-80; (Blackboard)
D’Angelo, Mary Rose. “Abba and ‘Father’:
Imperial Theology and the Jesus Traditions.” JBL 111 (1992): 611-30. (Blackboard)
April
23
Johnson (177 pp.)
Whole book: The Real Jesus: The Misguided Quest for the Historical Jesus and the
Truth of the Traditional Gospels
Final paper due on Wednesday, April 30th,
at 5:00 PM. Please submit papers via
email or Blackboard’s Digital Drop Box.