Larry W. Hurtado

New Testament Christology: A Critique of Bousset's Influence

The subject of NT Christology is so important and the amount of discussion on the subject so large that surveys of research are helpful from time to time. This survey of recent studies relevant to NT Christology intends to advance the discussion by showing that the new directions being taken in some recent work mean that it is time to engage in a complete restudy of the formation of belief in Jesus in the early Church. Because the views of Wilhelm Bousset expressed in Kyrios Christos have dominated the study of NT Christology heretofore, the following discussion is also a critique of Bousset organized around key issues in his book. But before I turn to this critique, it may be helpful to summarize quickly the nature of Boussets work.

New Testament studies in the 20th century

Abstract Considered diachronically, NT studies in the twentieth century is a story of vigorous scholarship. Especially after World War II, there is increasing diversification in approach and in the makeup of scholars, with a noticeable shift of centre to English-speaking settings (especially North America), and greater involvement of Roman Catholic, Evangelical, and Jewish scholars, a growing prominence of women, and a proliferation of approaches.

Fashions, Fallacies and Future Prospects in New Testament Studies

In New Testament studies, over the last century or so, there have been both ‘fashions’ (short-lived approaches) and ‘fallacies’ (approaches and ideas widely accepted for many years that later proved wrong), a few of which are reviewed here. With reference to these fallacies, especially, why did so many scholars entertain them, and what can we learn from them? As we look toward the future of the field, what developments and emphases might we foresee as proving more than passing fashions?

Devotion to Jesus and Historical Investigation. A Grateful, Clarifying and Critical Response to Professor Casey

It is obviously very gratifying to have my recent book (Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity, hereafter referred to as LJC) given the attention represented in Professor Casey’s commissioned reviewessay. It is all the more encouraging to receive such a gracious and positive estimate of it, along with a constructive engagement with some central matters, by a scholar of Professor Casey’s stature and competence.1 Given the limitations of space, and in respect for Professor Casey, in what follows I shall give particular attention to the matters highlighted in his discussion.

The Gospel of Mark: Evolutionary or Revolutionary Document?

The commonly accepted view that the Gospel of Mark was the first attempt to produce a written narrative portrait of Jesus’ ministry, and that it was the major narrative source used by the writers of Matthew and Luke obviously makes Mark a historically significant document that had immediate and farreaching acceptance and influence. Mark’s distinction as the apparently pioneering Gospel makes important the question of the relationship of this document to the rest of first-century Christian.ity. My purpose in this paper is to evaluate a couple of recent attempts to portray Mark as radically disjunctive in its firstcentury context. In brief, both works to be discussed offer a view of Mark as a revolutionary text, although they differ considerably from each other in what it is about Mark that

Martin Hengel's Impact on English-speaking Scholarship1

Professor Martin Hengel is one of the most widely respected and influential New Testament scholars of the late twentieth century. Though German, he has also been very widely read and influential among English-language scholars, his influence facilitated through the prompt translation of so many of his works. He is also distinguished in having made major contributions to the study of second-temple Judaism as well as the NT and early Christianity.

Revelation 4-5 in the Light of Jewish Apocalyptic Analogies1:

evidence whatsoever of Christian influence’;3 and (b) Rev. 4 is ’incidental to the overriding purpose of the work as a whole’.4 Nearly all scholars recognize that the most transparent evidence of Christian theology in the vision of God in Rev. 4-S is in ch. 5, with the appearance of the Lamb and the worship directed ’to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb’ (5.13); and implicit in Rowland’s understanding of Rev. 4 is the notion that only in Rev. 5 do the writer’s Christian experience and theology come to expression. The concern in this paper will be to determine whether this notion is

Review of N. T. Wright's Paul and the Faithfulness of God

Tom Wright’s huge new work on Paul is an expansive treatment reiterating views familiar from his previous publications, and reflecting his passion for his subject. Questions remain, however, as to the persuasiveness of some key claims and the adequacy of discussion of some matters.

Revelatory Experiences and Religious Innovation in Earliest Christianity

Over a number of years I have contended that powerful religious experiences comprised a major factor in the religious innovations represented in earliest Christianity. These are experiences that strike the recipient with the force of new revelation, typically introducing new beliefs or a significant reconfiguring of previous beliefs. In this essay, I return to the topic, surveying more recent interest in religious experience and also proposing some of the specifics of the experiences that helped to generate innovations in earliest Christian circles, with special attention to the eruption of the remarkable Jesus-devotion that distinguished them.

Resurrection-Faith and the ‘Historical’ Jesus

It is clear that a remarkable Jesus-devotion, in which Jesus was accorded unprecedented kinds of reverence, was central in early Christian faith from its earliest extant expressions, and represents a significant escalation from the kinds of reverence that followers expressed during Jesus’ earthly ministry. This devotion seems to have been prompted by the conviction that God had raised Jesus from death and given him heavenly glory. The impact of Jesus’ own activities was certainly a factor, but experiences of the risen Jesus were crucial in generating this belief. Moreover, Jesus’ resurrection meant a resounding vindication of the earthly Jesus. Belief in Jesus’ personal resurrection, thus, contributed strongly to interest in Jesus’ own activities and teaching, the formation and circulation of Jesus-tradition, and the composition of narrative accounts of his career. In short, the earliest ‘quest for the historical Jesus’ was prompted by the conviction that he had been resurrected.