The Historical Jesus? Necessity and Limits of an Inquiry

A very active member of the École Biblique et ArchÉologique Française de JÉrusalem that has done so much to introduce historical criticism into the believer's reading of the Scriptures, Étienne Nodet proposes here a beautiful history book. Certainly, in putting forward to the general public an accessible synthesis of scholarly and dense works carried out successfully in these recent years, he spares the reader the ponderousness of a critical apparatus and consigns to Appendix I the citation of his principal ancient sources. He invites the reader to a fascinating effort of the intelligence and of the heart that constitutes the profession of a historian: documentation, appraisal of documents, examining witnesses, comparisons, inductions and deductions; even textual criticism is sometimes called upon: for example, he is one of those who postulates the existence of a "Western Text" of the New Testament, and draws interesting hypotheses from its comparison with the standard text of the critical editions. In a second appendix, not found in the original French work, he presents a new translation of Josephus' War of the Jewsfor hints of authentic non-Christian evidence about Jesus and John the Baptist. Beginning with the Gospel accounts of the infancy of Jesus, the author opens up for us the main features of the life of Jesus in a reading that oscillates between the questioning of the historical reference and the penetrating understanding of their verbal expression. Finally, there is the very suggestive sketch of the figure of James, "the brother of the Lord" and the head of the early Jerusalem church.

ForewordPrefaceTranslator's NoteIntroductionAbbreviations1. The Eucharist    I - Structure of the Eucharist    II - Song and Sin    III - Scripture and Word of God    Conclusion2. The World of Jesus    I - The Sacred Library        A. The Hebrew Bible        B. The Greek Bible    II - Galilee        A. A Pharisaic Province        B. Jewish Movements    Conclusion3. The Gospels    I - Two Paradoxes        A. Why Four Distinct Accounts?        B. About Disciples Become Apostles. Information from the Gospels    II - Synoptic Gospels        A. Difficulties        B. The So-called Theory of Two Sources: A Brief Review        C. The Theory of Two Sources: A Discussion        D. The Stakes - Datings4. Life of Jesus    I - The Fulfillment of the Scriptures    II - The Accounts of the Infancy of Jesus        A. Discordances and Significant Details        B. Luke's Account        C. Matthew's Account    III - Baptism of Jesus        A. The Baptism of Jesus in the Gospel        B. John the Baptist        C. Jesus' Break with his Relatives    IV - The Passion        A. The Group of Accounts        B. The Trials        C. The Last Supper    V - Public Life of Jesus        A. Disciples        B. Identity, Teaching and Miracles of Jesus        C. Jewish ControversiesConclusionAppendix I: Ancient Texts    1. Essenes    2. Suffering Servant Glorified, A New World    3. Was Herod the Great the Messiah?    4. John the Baptist    5. Jesus    6. Curtain of the Temple and an Empty Tomb    7. Inscription about Jesus    8. Disciples of the Miracle-Worker    9. James the Less    10. Initiatory Wake    11. Chronological ChartAppendix II: The Slavonic Version of Josephus' War of the Jews Bibliography