The quest of the historical Jesus

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

45422

Title

The quest of the historical Jesus

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

Albert Schweitzer's critical study traces the evolution of Jesus research from Reimarus to Wrede, exposing how modern theology constructed a historical Jesus in its own image. A rigorous, intellectually demanding work that challenges readers to confront the gap between the constructed figure and the primitive Christian faith.

Summary up to 500 words

Albert Schweitzer's *The Quest of the Historical Jesus* offers a critical survey of the scholarly attempts to reconstruct the life of Jesus from Reimarus through the nineteenth century. Schweitzer argues that the 'historical Jesus' is not an objective fact but a literary invention, shaped by the theological biases and contemporary struggles of each era. He traces the evolution of these quests, beginning with the rationalist lives of Paulus, Hase, and Schleiermacher, who sought to demythologize Jesus, and moving through the pivotal works of Strauss, Bauer, Renan, and Kalthoff. Schweitzer highlights a fundamental tension in this scholarship: the conflict between thoroughgoing scepticism, which denies Jesus' messianic claims, and thoroughgoing eschatology, which insists on their centrality. He critiques the tendency of modern theology to project the modern spirit onto the past, creating a Jesus who serves contemporary needs rather than reflecting historical reality. Figures like Bruno Bauer are analyzed for their literary-critical approach, which exposed the Fourth Gospel as a work of art rather than history, while Kalthoff is noted for suggesting Christianity arose through spontaneous combustion from social ferment, rendering the historical Jesus unnecessary. Ultimately, Schweitzer concludes that the search for a purely naturalistic portrait of Jesus is futile because it contradicts the faith that produced the Gospels. The true task of scholarship, he asserts, is not to find a modernized Jesus but to understand the primitive Christian faith and the intense eschatological expectations that defined the first century. The historical Jesus refuses to be detached from his own time; he cannot be modernized without an act of 'historic violence' that injures both religion and history. Schweitzer rejoices in the feebleness of these constructed portraits, urging theologians to abandon the pursuit of new advertisements in colored lights and instead seek to bring the living power of the Spirit of Jesus into the modern world. The book serves as a warning against the degenerate offspring of rationalism, which creates a Jesus in its own image, and calls for a return to the eschatological reality of the early church.

LLM editorial rating

4.2/5

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Categories

• Religion
• History