John P. Meir in Volume IV of his monumental A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus takes an in depth look at Jesus and the Law. Here are a few of his observations in the opening chapter:
"Indeed, it could be argued that the "Christianizing" of the historical Jesus reaches its high point in the question of Jesus and the Law, where the Jewish Jesus regularly morphs into the Christian Paul, Augustine, Luther, or Barth - not to mention those anonymous Christian theologians of the Law whom we cal Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John."
"In other words, to comprehend the historical Jesus precisely as a historical figure, we must place him firmly within the context of the Jewish Law as discussed and practiced in 1st-century Palestine."
" . . . the historical Jesus is the halakic Jesus, that is, the Jesus concerned with and arguing about the Mosaic Law and the questions of practice arising from it."
If Meir is correct, how has "Christianizing" shaped (misshaped) your understanding of Jesus?
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2 comments:
Wow. This merits lots of thought. I love this from Meir, especially his use of morph: ...Jewish Jesus regularly morphs into the Christian Paul, Augustine, Luther, or Barth - not to mention those anonymous Christian theologians of the Law whom we call Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John." It makes me think of when I was a kid and summarily dismissed Christianity. It ought to be called Paulianity, I railed. And now here I am still trying to glimpse the historical Jesus. It is no easier now than it was then to tease him out!
Jesus' understanding of Torah and his concept of end-time are two of the most difficult aspects of his teaching, difficult to get to historically and difficult to grasp theologically. But without the effort, we get a Jesus disconnected from his culture and religion, a Jesus more "mythical" than historical.
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