The Elusive Messiah
A Philosophical Overview Of The Quest For The Historical Jesus
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- $49.99
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- $49.99
Publisher Description
What might the findings of researchers engaged in the quest for the historical Jesus mean to Christians? In posing this question and others, The Elusive Messiah opens a window for looking anew at the age old problem of faith vs. reason.To fully understand the implications of the historical search, Raymond Martin suggests we must first examine the inquiries of the individual scholars. In the book's first section, he provides an insightful overview into the major players who have written on the subject, among them E. P. Sanders, John Meier, Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza, J. D. Crossan, and Luke Timothy Johnson.In his second section, Martin discusses various Christian responses to the challenges presented by the historians' work. Martin goes on to argue philosophically that faith and reason are able to coexist alongside each other, and then suggests how this may be the key to Christianity's future.Through readily understandable language and examples, Martin poses basic questions, looks for the answers, and explains how these answers correspond to the overall problem. His accessible writing synthesizes complex academic arguments in ways that bring them down to earth, enabling Christians and other readers to understand what is being claimed and to test these claims for meaningfulness.
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The quest for the historical Jesus has come and gone in New Testament scholarship since the 18th century, when Reimarus challenged the historical veracity of the Gospels. In the late 20th century, this quest is dominated by two groups that Martin calls "conservatives" (E.P. Sanders and John Meier) and "liberals" (Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza and John Dominic Crossan). He contends that scholars Marcus Borg and N.T. Wright "cross the lines" of these distinctions and use the methods of the "liberals" to emphasize the Jesus of faith of the "conservatives." After a historical overview of the quest for the historical Jesus, Martin (The Past Within Us) provides a brief sketch of the work of contemporary Jesus questers like Crossan and Wright. Martin contends that Christians respond to such arguments in one of three philosophical ways: "Only Faith"; "Faith Seeking Understanding"; "Only Reason." The first option, he says, denies that secular historical scholarship can make any contributions to understanding Jesus because it contradicts traditional religious claims. "Faith Seeking Understanding" attempts to "integrate the diverse claims of secular scholarship and religious faith into a single coherent account." The final position, he notes, asks Christians to allow their faith to be subsumed into the "expert" opinions of secular scholarship. Martin asserts that what he calls "multiperspectivalism," simply looking at various interpretations--religious and secular--of the evidence for the historical Jesus, offers the most consistent philosophical response for Christians confronting the challenge of the quest for the historical Jesus. However, Martin is on ground already well trod by Ben Witherington III (The Jesus Quest) and adds little that's new to the contemporary quest for the historical Jesus.
