II: PROFILING JESUS

OF NAZARETH, HIS
WORLD, WORDS
AND DEEDS

E S de Guzman @ SVST
 2.1) SEE:
The Jesus We Know and Believe
DISCUSS IN DYADS
a) List down some descriptions of the
historical Jesus you know and cite the
sources where you learned about it (e.g.
bible, catechism, etc.)
b) In your observations of Filipino Christians,
what is their popular images of Jesus that
are expressed in their religious practices?
Why do you think people desire or are
attracted to these images and practices?
E S de Guzman @ SVST
 2.2) DISCERN:

2.2.1)FRAMEWORKS FOR
RE-DISCOVERING THE
HISTORICAL JESUS
A.) HISTORICAL JESUS – CHRIST OF FAITH

the Jesus who lived, flesh and blood,

in a particular time and space
(“Jesus of history”)

• the Risen Jesus of the New Testament,

• doctrinal formulations of churches,
• popular devotions
(Christ of the kerygma)

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 Historical Jesus – Christ of Faith

pre-Easter Jesus post-easter Jesus

4 BCE to 30 CE 30 CE till today
Figure of the past Figure of the present
Corporeal Spiritual
Finite/mortal Infinite/eternal
Human Divine
Jesus of Nazareth Jesus, the Christ
Historical Jesus Risen Jesus
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Distinctions must be made but they
can never be separated.
(1) The confession “Jesus Christ” of the
post-easter communities points to the
historical Jesus.

“Christos” (Greek) or
“Mashiah ” (Hebrew) =
The Jesus who is bound the anointed one
by history and locality.

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(2) Jesus of Nazareth, with the historical
events that happened to him, was a
person who could evoke the
confession “Jesus, the Christ” in the
post-Easter period.

Indeed, he is the
“Christos” (Greek) or
“Mashiah ” (Hebrew) =
The Jesus who is bound the anointed one
by history and locality.

E S de Guzman @ SVST
(3) Research on historical Jesus will
always be a partial description of the
pre-Easter Jesus.
The historical Jesus is the
historians’ Jesus, the Jesus who
can be recovered by using the
scientific tools of contemporary
historical research. Thus, the
historical Jesus is a
reconstruction only of the pre-
Easter Jesus, for scientific tools
cannot grasp the Risen Jesus,
whose reality cannot be affirmed
without faith, and thus too, the
historians’ Jesus is not the
complete picture of the pre-
Easter Jesus.
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 (4) Images and formulations on the Christ
of faith will always be a partial description
of the Living Jesus, whom we still
encounter in our times.
The Risen Jesus can only
be known with faith. He is
present here and there yet
nowhere in place; present
everywhere yet neither here
nor there; omnipresent yet
always veiled in mystery.
No person can have
exclusive claim of the post-
Easter Jesus.

E S de Guzman @ SVST
 What will happen if we believe only in
one aspect or dimension?

• emphasis on “Christ of faith”

through the divine relationship of
Jesus and God, and how Jesus’
divinity is embodied and expressed
in his humanity (“Christology from
above,” or “high, descending
Christology”)
gnosticism (gnosis – Risks of over-emphasis of
“knowledge”) – like docetism,
docetism (dokein = to “Christ of faith”:
Jesus’
seem)hasor only a divine
the belief soul
that  docetism
and his humanity is only
Jesus is purely divine, hadan
illusion; only those whose soul  gnosticism
no real flesh, he was
is enlightened can know Jesus,
human only in appearance  spiritualism
the reveler of true knowledge;
and notbelittle
gnostics in reality.
and even deny
 privatism of faith
the flesh E S de Guzman @ SVST
 What will happen if we believe only in
one aspect or dimension?
Risks of over-emphasis on
“Jesus of history”:
• reduction of Jesus to an ordinary person; a model
without God’s cause
• academic knowledge of the historical Jesus
becomes inaccessible to most Christians
• the historical Jesus might be the historians’ Jesus

• focus on “historical Jesus” through the

experiential, historical praxis of Jesus, and
explain how God works in and through
Jesus (“Christology from below”, or “low,
ascending Christology”)
E S de Guzman @ SVST
Who then is the Real Jesus?

He is the pre-Easter
Jesus and the Risen
Living Jesus together.
(It is important to keep the tensions. In
doing Christology, it will helpful if the
historico-critical approach is joined by the
other approaches.)
E S de Guzman @ SVST
Two Document or Two Source Theory

between 65 and 75 CE

Mark

Matthew Luke
between 80 and 90 CE between 80 and 90 CE
600 of 661 (90%) of verses 450 or 661 (675) verses
of Mark appear also in of Mark appear also in
Matthew Luke
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 200 verses not found
in Mark appear in both
Matthew and Luke
Mark Q (quelle)

Matthew Luke

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 Mark Q (quelle)

Matthew has Luke has

almost 300 almost 600
verses of his own verses of his own
M L

Matthew Luke
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 Sources on historical Jesus

• Mark, Matthew and Luke = “Synoptic Gospels”

(parallels)
• John = between 90 and 110 CE (even 120 CE)
 Distinct from the synoptics = “spiritual
gospel” (Clement of Alexandria, c. 200 CE)

“One Jesus, Four Gospels”

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“One Jesus, Four Gospels”

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 Summary of 2.2.1

1) The Gospels are testimonies of faith,

not histories or biographies in the
modern sense.
2) The Gospels contain historical
material; but to recover that material
they must be read critically using the
historical-critical method.

E S de Guzman @ SVST
3) The context for Christianity must remain
the faith of the church, expressed in the
Scriptures, creeds and liturgy, for
without that faith the story of Jesus is
incomplete.
4) The Church’s Christological faith must
be grounded on the historical Jesus;
therefore the historical-critical method is
essential for the task of Christology.

E S de Guzman @ SVST
5) The historical Jesus must be
understood from the perspective of the
Jewish religious tradition which
grounded his religious worldview and
grounded his religious imagination.

E S de Guzman @ SVST
 An Outline of Jesus’ Life (E. P. Sanders)
 born c. 4 BCE, near the time of the death of Herod the Great
 spent childhood and early adult years in Nazareth, a Galilean village
 baptized by John the Baptist
 called disciples
 taught in towns, villages and countryside of Galilee (apparently not the
cities, like Sephoris, Tiberias and Scythopolis, which we may however
assume that Jesus was aware of these places)
 preached the kingdom of God, in words and deeds
 went to Jerusalem for Passover
 created a disturbance in the Temple area
 had final meal with the disciples
 arrested and interrogated by Jewish authorities, specifically the high priest
 executed on orders of Roman prefect, Pontius Pilate, by means of
crucifixion (death for slaves and alleged criminals)
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