Who Needs 'The Historical Jesus'? An Essay-Review

Abstract

"From the beginhings of the quest for the historical Jesus, before the middle of the last century, to the present day, intense historical study has addressed to the Gospels a secular agendum grounded in three premises. These have been [1] historical facts, unmediated by tradition, themselves bear theological consequence, the gift of the Reformation (show me as fact in the sources, e.g., Scripture); [2] historical facts must undergo a rigorous test of skepticism, the donation of the Enlightenment (how could a whale swallow Jonah, and what else did he have for lunch that day); and [3] historical facts cannot comprise supernatural events, the present of nineteenth century German historical learning (exactly how things were cannot include rising from the dead)"