The problem of Paul's understanding of the historical Jesus in critical study : a historico-critical study of the Jesus-Paul problem in the nineteenth century and in the first half of the twentieth century

Abstract

The primary Intention of this study is to investigate the problem of the relationship between Jesus and Paul. However, it was necessary to retrace our steps to the beginnings of the discussion and to set forth the problem in all its complexity and in all its ramification for the task of biblical study and interpretation. It is therefore hoped that this study will shed some light upon the present situation and task of biblical research. In the discussion of the problem of Jesus and Paul, two more or less independent lines of the nineteenth century historical research converged: the study of the life of Jesus and Pauline research. The lines of research initiated by Strauss and Baur were made possible by the development of methodology, and this methodology was in turn rooted in the new philosophies of history which emerged at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. The history of the problem of Jesus and Paul is closely tied to the development of methodology and philosophy of history. The problem of Jesus and Paul is also a theological problem. Every answer to the problem of the historical relationship of Jesus and Paul has direct implications for the content and nature of the Christian faith. Here basic theological issues and historical problems are inextricably intertwined. What is Christianity? Is it religion of Jesus or the gospel of Paul? What is the proper object of faith? Is it the person of the historical Jesus or the Christ of Pauline theology? These issues involve particularly the whole problem of Christology, the relationship of faith and history, of theology and historical research. Wrede's work is here treated as the focal point of the development of the discussion of the problem of Jesus and Paul. The various attempts to deal with Wrede's solution to the problem continue until World War I, after which a decreasing interest in the problem becomes apparent. More recently there has been a favorable shift from Jesus to Paul and an endorsement of Paul through contemporary mysticism and existentialism. In the final part it is necessary to account for the dwindling interest and to discuss the present state of the problem of Jesus and Paul. A reopening of the problem might prove salutary and assist in the clarification of the problem of the relationship of revelation and history.