Apocalyptic Prophet: Bart Ehrman
Bart Ehrman published Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium in 1999. This work stands today as a landmark study because it considers all of the Jesus material—that is, all of his parables, warnings, prognostications, teachings about the kingdom of God, healing episodes, fishing episodes, and feeding episodes. Ehrman does not utilize the methodology of the Jesus Seminar (that is, attempting to judge the authenticity of material that may or may not “sound” like something Jesus would or would not have said).
As with the primary contributors to the Jesus Seminar, Ehrman is free of denominational or creedal ties and affiliations. He writes from the perspective of sound New Testament scholarship, carefully tracing the lexical roots of the Jesus material, and his bibliography is instructive for all New Testament endeavors.
Ehrman is emphatically not in the supernaturalist camp, nor is he in the rationalist-naturalist sphere of influence. He does not identify with Strauss’s views concerning the mythus, or what I have called legendary myth. Further, he does not agree with Funk and Hoover regarding Jesus’ alleged breaking away from the teachings of John the Baptist and his apocalyptic message.
In Ehrman’s view, there is no other viable explanation for Jesus’ teachings and interventions than as an apocalyptic prophet who believed in the imminent coming of the end times.
The historical Jesus did not teach about his own divinity or pass on to his disciples the doctrines that later came to be embodied in the Nicene Creed. His concerns were those of a first-century Jewish apocalypticist. Jesus anticipated that the end of the age was coming within his own generation. God would soon send a cosmic judge from heaven to right all the wrongs of this world, to overthrow the wicked and oppressive powers that opposed both God and his people, to bring in a perfect kingdom in which there would be no more hatred, war, disease, calamity, despair, sin, or death. People needed to repent in view of this coming day of judgment, for it was almost here . . . It’s no wonder that a figurative [naturalistic, rationalistic, legendary myth] construal of Jesus’ words became so popular so soon and achieved such dominance for so long. If Jesus were to be taken literally—that is, if he really meant that the Son of Man was to arrive in the lifetime of his disciples—he was obviously wrong.23
If Ehrman is correct in his analysis, and I personally believe he is closer to the truth than most scholars are willing to admit, then we can probably infer that Jesus was but one of many would-be prophets and apocalyptics of his day. It was not unusual for vagabonds and other homeless men to become wandering prophets, forthtellers of a future judgment and eschaton. While there can be little doubt about the reality of a strong legendary mythology enveloping the person of Jesus, the essential driving thrust of Jesus’ core message remains rooted in his first-century conviction that the day of judgment was soon to be a reality, and the kingdom of God was soon to be established.
Coda
In the final pages of The Quest of the Historical Jesus, it sounds as if Dr. Schweitzer is reverting to the Christ of faith, or the Jesus of faith, compared to the Jesus of history. At best, he sounds as if the impossibility of recovering a true Jesus of history compels a continuing devotion to the Jesus of faith.
In these remarks, I think it best that we allow Dr. Schweitzer to speak for himself.
Jesus means something to our world because a mighty spiritual force streams forth from Him and flows through our time also. This fact can neither be shaken nor confirmed by any historical discovery. It is the solid foundation of Christianity.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
