What impact does the debate over the Jesus of History have on our faith as Christians? If the “real” Jesus is not related to what we know about the Middle East in the first century C.E., then he is merely a mythic figure. Yet the: New Testament message is that Jesus of Nazareth was an actual, living person.
In A Believer’s Search for the Jesus of History, Philip Cunningham, C.S.P., takes a hard look at the distinctive – and sometimes irreconcilable – view of scholars involved in this debate: Raymond E. Brown, John Dominic Crossan, Luke Timothy Johnson, E.P. Sandres, John P. Meier and Geza Vermes. Current debate over the “real” Jesus need not be a threat to our Christian faith. Father Cunningham shows that our understanding of Jesus will be enriched, placing him within the concrete history of his time. Jesus, of course, transcends that history. Only by appreciating the Jesus of history can we begin to grasp that transcendence.