The Historical Jesus and the Kerygmatic Christ by Carl E. Braaten; Roy A.

Harrisville
Review by: Joseph C. Weber
Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 83, No. 3 (Sep., 1964), pp. 322-324
Published by: The Society of Biblical Literature
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JOURNAL
OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE
JOURNAL
OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE
and resurrection of
Jesus.
A detailed
analysis
of the Easter texts shows him that "the
Resurrection was not a radical
transformation,
a radical break with the
past
of
Jesus
of
Nazareth,
but God's vindication and confirmation of this Jesus." These
dry
bones of
Anderson's
argument
are knit
together
and fleshed out with an
impressive display
of
scholarly
lore. Anderson's criticisms of the views of others are often
perceptive
and
incisive and
always fair,
sometimes
painfully
so.
We
may
limit ourselves to two observations:
(1)
First of
all,
the discussion in the
second half of the
book,
where Anderson deals with the
gospel texts,
moves too much
at the level of
secondary
sources. At one
point
this has led the author into an obvious
error. On
p. 249,
in
discussing
Peter's confession of
Jesus
as the
Christ,
Anderson writes:
"In Mark the confession of Peter is followed
by
a stern rebuke from
Jesus:
'Get behind
me Satan!...' " Anderson thinks that "Matthew has transferred
Jesus'
rebuke of
Peter to a different context." But the rebuke in
question
has the same context in both
gospels.
A second observation concerns the
scope
of such a
study.
It is not
enough
to
go
back to
Kahler,
as Anderson does. One must
go
back at least to
Lessing,
if not to
Reimarus and the
English Deists,
if he is to understand how the
problem
of Christian
origins originated
and has
developed
to its
present stage.
It is to the credit of Anderson that he
persistently
asks the
right question.
The
recurring question,
which runs like a
major
theme
through
this
book, may
be
simply
phrased
as follows: What
place
is to be
given
to the historical
Jesus
in Christian
theology?
Jesus and Christian
Origins
is a valuable contribution to the
contemporary
discussion
of this
problem.
But it
may
be asked in
return,
whether this is a
question
which can be
satisfactorily
answered
dialectically,
on
largely
a
priori
grounds;
and whether the whole
discussion,
which has
engaged
Anderson's efforts thus
far, ought
not to be
proceeding
at an
essentially
different level and within the
larger
context of the full
history
of the
problem
concerned.
WILLIAM R. FARMER
PERKINS SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY
The Historical Jesus and the
Kerygmatic
Christ,
by
Carl E. Braaten and
Roy
A. Harris-
ville. Nashville:
Abingdon,
1964.
Pp.
250. $5.
Professors Braaten and Harrisville have
again
made available a collection of
essays,
comparable
to their earlier
Kerygma
and
History (1962).
The
present
volume is con-
cerned with the
contemporary
discussion of the
relationship
between the historical
Jesus
and the Christian
kerygma.
Six of the nine contributions have been translated
from the German. The title and two articles are taken from Der historische Jesus und
der
kerygmatische Christus, (1960).
The most
important
translation
gives
the lecture
by
Bultmann before the Heidel-
berg Academy
of Sciences in 1960 in which he
presents
in clear and
precise
formula-
tions his
position
in
regard
to the
significance
of the historical
Jesus.
In the course
of a discussion of the various scholars
dealing
with the
question
of the
continuity
be-
tween
Jesus
and the
kerygma,
Bultmann makes it clear that he does not
deny
a
and resurrection of
Jesus.
A detailed
analysis
of the Easter texts shows him that "the
Resurrection was not a radical
transformation,
a radical break with the
past
of
Jesus
of
Nazareth,
but God's vindication and confirmation of this Jesus." These
dry
bones of
Anderson's
argument
are knit
together
and fleshed out with an
impressive display
of
scholarly
lore. Anderson's criticisms of the views of others are often
perceptive
and
incisive and
always fair,
sometimes
painfully
so.
We
may
limit ourselves to two observations:
(1)
First of
all,
the discussion in the
second half of the
book,
where Anderson deals with the
gospel texts,
moves too much
at the level of
secondary
sources. At one
point
this has led the author into an obvious
error. On
p. 249,
in
discussing
Peter's confession of
Jesus
as the
Christ,
Anderson writes:
"In Mark the confession of Peter is followed
by
a stern rebuke from
Jesus:
'Get behind
me Satan!...' " Anderson thinks that "Matthew has transferred
Jesus'
rebuke of
Peter to a different context." But the rebuke in
question
has the same context in both
gospels.
A second observation concerns the
scope
of such a
study.
It is not
enough
to
go
back to
Kahler,
as Anderson does. One must
go
back at least to
Lessing,
if not to
Reimarus and the
English Deists,
if he is to understand how the
problem
of Christian
origins originated
and has
developed
to its
present stage.
It is to the credit of Anderson that he
persistently
asks the
right question.
The
recurring question,
which runs like a
major
theme
through
this
book, may
be
simply
phrased
as follows: What
place
is to be
given
to the historical
Jesus
in Christian
theology?
Jesus and Christian
Origins
is a valuable contribution to the
contemporary
discussion
of this
problem.
But it
may
be asked in
return,
whether this is a
question
which can be
satisfactorily
answered
dialectically,
on
largely
a
priori
grounds;
and whether the whole
discussion,
which has
engaged
Anderson's efforts thus
far, ought
not to be
proceeding
at an
essentially
different level and within the
larger
context of the full
history
of the
problem
concerned.
WILLIAM R. FARMER
PERKINS SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY
The Historical Jesus and the
Kerygmatic
Christ,
by
Carl E. Braaten and
Roy
A. Harris-
ville. Nashville:
Abingdon,
1964.
Pp.
250. $5.
Professors Braaten and Harrisville have
again
made available a collection of
essays,
comparable
to their earlier
Kerygma
and
History (1962).
The
present
volume is con-
cerned with the
contemporary
discussion of the
relationship
between the historical
Jesus
and the Christian
kerygma.
Six of the nine contributions have been translated
from the German. The title and two articles are taken from Der historische Jesus und
der
kerygmatische Christus, (1960).
The most
important
translation
gives
the lecture
by
Bultmann before the Heidel-
berg Academy
of Sciences in 1960 in which he
presents
in clear and
precise
formula-
tions his
position
in
regard
to the
significance
of the historical
Jesus.
In the course
of a discussion of the various scholars
dealing
with the
question
of the
continuity
be-
tween
Jesus
and the
kerygma,
Bultmann makes it clear that he does not
deny
a
322 322
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BOOK REVIEWS
historical
(historisch) continuity
between
Jesus
and the
kerygma
as historical
Contemporary
Insights
phenomena.
Bultmann
maintains,
how-
ever,
that the affirmation of historical THE
continuity
does not answer the
question
CORINTHIAN
of a material
(sachlich) continuity.
The
distinction between historisch and sachlich, CHURCH
which also
appears
in his
Theologie
des
A
BIBLICAL
Neuen Testaments,
p. 186,
is vital for an
understanding
of Bultmann's
thinking.
APPROACH
Unfortunately,
we are
given only
the TO
URBAN CULTURE
English
translation of "historical" and
"material" without an indication of the By
William Baird. Dr.
Baird
German
origin.
Sachlich is difficult to
presents an exegesis of I Corin-
thians in an attempt to equate
translate,
but
simply
to read "material" the
n e
the fundamental moral and ethical
is
misleading. Perhaps
"essential" would
issues
which Paul faced with those
be a more
adequate
translation.
that confront the church
today.
In another contribution Hans Conzel- Written from a background of
mann sums
up
the situation of the Life-
thorough research. 224 pages. $4.75
of-Jesus
research with
helpful clarity
and
Order from
your Bookstore
then calls for a clarification of method-
ology. Closely
related is a short discussion a
bit
ngdol
n
preSS
by
Herbert Braun of
Qumran's
relevance 17S YARS OWFtY
SINCE 1709
for the
problem
of the historical
Jesus.
There is a
longer
contribution
by
Hans-
Werner Bartsch in which he
attempts
to establish the
paradigmatic
relevance of
Jesus'
life for the
kerygma,
thus
cautiously taking
a
step beyond
Bultmann.
The translators have included a
monograph by
Heinrich Ott in which he
attempts
to eliminate the
ontological
basis of Bultmann's
concept
of Historie. Ott's
discussion,
based on
Heidegger,
is
provocative
but not
convincing
because he
rejects
that dimen-
sion of
reality
accessible to an
objective
historical method
simply by dismissing
a
caricature of historicism. We
may agree
that the historical-critical method does not
grasp
the full
reality
of
history. Nevertheless,
there is a dimension of
objective giveness
which cannot be
ignored by asserting
the
phenomeno-logical approach
to
reality
as
"picture"
as Ott does.
Probably
Ott himself would not now wish to defend this
par-
ticular formulation of his
position.
The contributions of the editors
themselves,
one on Martin Kahler and one on
American lives of
Jesus,
are both
helpful
introductions to these two areas of interest.
Both, however,
suffer because of their
necessary
shortness. The
brevity
of Harris-
ville's
essay
on American lives of
Jesus
makes his conclusions
appear
to be
sweeping
generalizations.
The last selection is a
polemic against James
M. Robinson's A New
Quest of
the
Historical Jesus.
Unfortunately
after
Harvey
and
Ogden
wrote this
attack,
Robinson
published
a German version of his book in which he modified and clarified his
posi-
323
This content downloaded from 181.118.153.57 on Thu, 8 May 2014 21:27:03 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
JOURNAL
OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE
JOURNAL
OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE
tion.
Therefore,
on
many pages Harvey
and
Ogden
have
complicated
footnotes
telling
us that what we have
just
read does not
really apply any
more! A
major impetus
of
their
argument against
Robinson is to
deny any change
in Bultmann's
position
and
to affirm an over-all
unity
in Bultmann's
writings
in
regard
to
Jesus. However,
when
these authors claim that Bultmann's
position
in Jesus and the Word has in no
way
been
modified,
one must
simply suggest
that
they
read the first
essay
in the
present
volume, especially p.
30.
Certainly
the contents of this collection are not of
equal
worth. It is
question-
able whether some of them will attain "a certain
permanence,"
the criterion of selec-
tion used
by
the editors. The editors can
hardly
assert such a value for the
pages
written
by
Elthelbert Stauffer in which he
provides nothing
more than a
popularized
caricature
of his own
position.
The translation is smooth and
generally
accurate. The editors could have been
more meticulous about some details. For
example,
in the Ott
essay
the
quotation
from
Heidegger
on
p.
153 has references to
page
numbers but not to
Holzwege,
the
volume in which
Heidegger's
article is found. Exact references are
very important
for
anyone
who wishes to find his
way through
the maze of German articles that have
English
translations. With the
continuing publication
of such volumes there is in-
creasing
confusion in
regard
to what has been translated and where it is to be found.
The
present
volume does not
correspond any
more to its German
counterpart
than
does,
e.
g., Kerygma
and
Myth
II. In
spite
of what
may
seem to some to be an arbi-
trariness in the selection of the
contents,
the book will be
very
valuable on the Ameri-
can scene in
providing
a
larger
basis for an international discussion of a
very important
theological problem.
JOSEPH
C. WEBER
TEMPLE
UNIVERSITY,
PHILADELPHIA
The Patriarchs
of Israel, by John
Marshall Holt. Nashville: Vanderbilt Univ.
Press,
1964.
Pp. vii+239. $5.95.
The
layman,
who wants to know current
scholarly opinion
about the
personalities
and historical circumstances of the
"patriarchal period"
in Israel's
history,
will read
with
profit
this
informative, nontechnical,
honest
survey, complete
with
bibliography
and index. The author wants to know "how close to life"
(p. 13)
the stories in
Genesis,
chs.
12-50, really are,
and he seeks to answer his
question
with the aid of
archeology.
He calls his
work,
in
fact,
"a
study
of
parallels
between Biblical
passages
and archaeo-
logical
data"
(p. 23),
and maintains that
archeology
can demonstrate what is
typical
and characteristic of an
age,
thus
providing
historical context for
understanding specific
biblical events and details
(p. 215). Indeed,
his
archeological
enthusiasm leads him to
exclaim,
"... the
archaeologist
has so
thoroughly
done his
job
that... one... has
available about as
thorough
a
knowledge
of the
everyday
life of the
people
who lived
at those ..
places
as he does of those who live
just
across one or two international
borders
today" (p. 13).
Even if such a statement were
true, archeologists scarcely
tion.
Therefore,
on
many pages Harvey
and
Ogden
have
complicated
footnotes
telling
us that what we have
just
read does not
really apply any
more! A
major impetus
of
their
argument against
Robinson is to
deny any change
in Bultmann's
position
and
to affirm an over-all
unity
in Bultmann's
writings
in
regard
to
Jesus. However,
when
these authors claim that Bultmann's
position
in Jesus and the Word has in no
way
been
modified,
one must
simply suggest
that
they
read the first
essay
in the
present
volume, especially p.
30.
Certainly
the contents of this collection are not of
equal
worth. It is
question-
able whether some of them will attain "a certain
permanence,"
the criterion of selec-
tion used
by
the editors. The editors can
hardly
assert such a value for the
pages
written
by
Elthelbert Stauffer in which he
provides nothing
more than a
popularized
caricature
of his own
position.
The translation is smooth and
generally
accurate. The editors could have been
more meticulous about some details. For
example,
in the Ott
essay
the
quotation
from
Heidegger
on
p.
153 has references to
page
numbers but not to
Holzwege,
the
volume in which
Heidegger's
article is found. Exact references are
very important
for
anyone
who wishes to find his
way through
the maze of German articles that have
English
translations. With the
continuing publication
of such volumes there is in-
creasing
confusion in
regard
to what has been translated and where it is to be found.
The
present
volume does not
correspond any
more to its German
counterpart
than
does,
e.
g., Kerygma
and
Myth
II. In
spite
of what
may
seem to some to be an arbi-
trariness in the selection of the
contents,
the book will be
very
valuable on the Ameri-
can scene in
providing
a
larger
basis for an international discussion of a
very important
theological problem.
JOSEPH
C. WEBER
TEMPLE
UNIVERSITY,
PHILADELPHIA
The Patriarchs
of Israel, by John
Marshall Holt. Nashville: Vanderbilt Univ.
Press,
1964.
Pp. vii+239. $5.95.
The
layman,
who wants to know current
scholarly opinion
about the
personalities
and historical circumstances of the
"patriarchal period"
in Israel's
history,
will read
with
profit
this
informative, nontechnical,
honest
survey, complete
with
bibliography
and index. The author wants to know "how close to life"
(p. 13)
the stories in
Genesis,
chs.
12-50, really are,
and he seeks to answer his
question
with the aid of
archeology.
He calls his
work,
in
fact,
"a
study
of
parallels
between Biblical
passages
and archaeo-
logical
data"
(p. 23),
and maintains that
archeology
can demonstrate what is
typical
and characteristic of an
age,
thus
providing
historical context for
understanding specific
biblical events and details
(p. 215). Indeed,
his
archeological
enthusiasm leads him to
exclaim,
"... the
archaeologist
has so
thoroughly
done his
job
that... one... has
available about as
thorough
a
knowledge
of the
everyday
life of the
people
who lived
at those ..
places
as he does of those who live
just
across one or two international
borders
today" (p. 13).
Even if such a statement were
true, archeologists scarcely
324 324
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