Alternate viewpoints to the gospels. Alan Humm
posts & analyzes references to Jesus in Josephus, the Mishnah, Babylonian
Talmud & Toledoth Yeshu.
Websites
focused on biblical texts & their interpretation are listed under Biblical
Studies.
Anthony Maas' 1912
defense of classical orthodox christology against modernist
criticism (Catholic
Encyclopedia).
Felix Just surveys the
titles used to characterize Jesus in the Bible (Catholic
Resources).
Full text of C. H. Dodd's'1970 assessment of
the impact of Jesus' distinct mindset upon his behavior, fate & followers (posted by
Religion-Online).
Peter Kirby's cyber-catalogue of the range
of modern scholarship on the quest of the historical Jesus. (Early
Christian Writings).
Complete text of Shirley
Jackson Case's 1912 critique of the claims of radical criticism that
the historical Jesus never existed (Internet
Archive).
E. R. Coates provides a hypertext edition of
Thomas Jefferson's harmonized & expurgated version of the gospels,
portraying Jesus as an ethical teacher.
Full text of Martin Dibelius' 1937 Shaffer
Lectures at Yale reconstructing Jesus' life and message as a call for active
commitment to God's kingdom in opposition to the forces of this world (posted by Religion-Online).
Collected essays by Mahlon H. Smith on
Jesus and Christology (Jesus Seminar Forum).
Full text of Rudolf Bultmann's reconstruction &
interpretation of the message of Jesus. A seminal work for the renewed Quest
of the historical Jesus (posted by Religion-Online).
Archive of the e-mail debate generated by the
cyber-symposium celebrating the 2nd millennium of Jesus' birth (Feb/March
1996). Questions & answers regarding the historical Jesus posed to/by
Marcus Borg, Dominic Crossan & Luke Timothy Johnson.
R. W. Kropf reviews the philosophical issues
involved in the renewed quest of the historical figure of Jesus & its
potential for renewing the faith of (rather than in) Jesus, with responses (DiaLogos
6).
Full text of Maurice
Goguel's 1926 rebuttal to claims that Jesus is a purely mythic figure
who never actually existed within human history (Internet
Archive).
Full text of John Knox's 1958
trilogy on the origin, development & modern relevance of christology (posted by
Religion-Online).
PBS Frontline surveys leading scholars' views
of Jesus.
Earl Doherty argues that the Jesus of Christian
faith began with a mythic figure of Christ which gradually evolved into the
'historical' person Jesus of Nazareth.
N. T. Wright argues that a very Jewish
Jesus could view his vocation was to embody God's mission (NTWrightPage).
Official website of the cooperative scholarly
project to identify the historical core of all ancient reports of Jesus'
sayings & deeds and reassess profiles of Jesus.
Rudolf Bultmann's seminal essays calling for a
demythologized existentialist interpretation of the NT message & picture
of Jesus, with critiques by Julius Schniewind, Ernst Lohmeyer, Helmut
Thielicke, Friedrich Schumann & Austin Farrer (posted by
Religion
Online).
Well-informed succinct essays on topics in
biblical scholarship and Christian tradition include
Did
Jesus Really Exist?,
The
Historical Jesus vs. the Christ of Faith,
A Historical
Approach to Jesus,
Authentic
Sayings of Jesus &
The
Jesus Seminar (Kevin Davidson).
Full text of the 1863 book that shook the
Catholic world & cost the author his chair at the U of Paris. The first
complete naturalistic biography of Jesus as a Jewish carpenter who was
"not a founder of dogmas or a maker of creeds" but who "infused
into the world a new spirit." English translation with A.D. Howell
Smith's biographical preface to the 1935 edition & an appendix on Renan
& his critics, published on the Secular
Web.
Jona Lendering analyzes the historical
sources of the messianic concept & traces its development from its
origins in ancient Israel through Jesus to the 20th c. hasidic rabbi
Menachem Schneerson (posted by Livius).
Full text of James M.
Robinson's 1959 analysis of illegitimate and legitimate expectations
of historical study of Jesus (posted by
Religion
Online).
John P. Meier's assessment of problems &
progress in recent historical Jesus research [Biblica 80 (1999)
459-487].
Full text of Montgomery's English translation
of Albert Schweitzer's 1906 landmark critical study of Jesus scholarship from
Reimarus to Wrede (posted in Peter Kirby's Early
Christian Writings).
Full text of Norman Perrin's seminal 1967 study
that revived the quest for the historical Jesus (posted by
Religion-Online).
Peter Kirby presents a detailed review of
references to Jesus in the works of the 1st c. Jewish historian Josephus & the
critical debate regarding their authenticity (Early
Christian Writings).
Links to the renewed debate regarding the relic
presented as Jesus' burial cloth are found on the Art & Archaeology page.
Full text of Episcopal bishop John Shelby
Spong's 1974 meditation on the religious significance of a non-religious Jesus.
Robert Kraft's 1992 JUDAIOS article highlights
evidence that before Jesus of Nazareth some Jews in northern Palestine
anticipated appearance of a second Joshua.
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