There is an extraordinarily wide range of portraits of Jesus, based on the New Testament and other sources. Scholars, of course, disagree about everything, though to different degrees on different points. One of the debates is whether it is possible to read behind the theological emphases of the various New Testament Gospels (and other sources) to establish a historically reliable account of the life and teachings of Jesus.
Beginning with Peter's speech on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), Christianity has generally proclaimed a gospel (good news) of faith in Jesus, whose life, death, and resurrection open the door salvation. According to this view, the core of Jesus' teaching appears in such statements as "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except by me" (John 14.6). During the nineteenth century, many scholars became convinced that the traditional Christian gospel did not represent the gospel of the kingdom of heaven that Jesus actually taught, that Christianity had become a religion about Jesus, not the religion of Jesus. What Jesus really proclaimed, according to Adolf Harnack, was the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.
Albert Schweitzer's influential The Quest for the Historical Jesus (1906) argued that it was impossible to read between the lines to delineate the true Jesus. Jaraslov Pelikan's Jesus Through the Centuries (1985) leads one to think that in each historical period, believers have constructed an image of Jesus as the fulfillment of the values that were most important to them at the time. There is a new quest for the Jesus of history led by Robert Funk (who attributes to Jesus only those sayings that could not possibly have come from the Jewish environment of the day), John Dominic Crossan, and others, portraying Jesus as a radical Jewish prophet.
There are problems for those who regard the New Testament Gospels as divinely true in every detail and problems for those with more liberal views. "Conservatives" sometimes accuse "liberals" of "picking and choosing" passages to emphasize that suit their interpretation, without acknowledging that they do the same thing. "Liberals" point to discrepancies between the various accounts and to passages that portray Jesus saying or doing things that seem inconsistent with his status as a great teacher.
Here is one abbreviated profile of Jesus' life. Jesus was born in Bethlehem in 4 or 6 or 7 BCE to Mary and Joseph. Because of rumors that the "king of the Jews" was born there, King Herod jealously tried to eliminate him by ordering the massacre of baby boys in that city. Jesus' parents, however, were forewarned, and they took the child to safety in Egypt until King Herod had died and they could return home to Nazareth in Galilee where Jesus then grew up. Nazareth was in a rural area, but just four miles from Sepphoris, a gentile city where major building projects were going on. It is likely that Jesus, the son of a carpenter, learned his father's trade and that they traveled to Sepphoris for work. Jesus was likely tri-lingual, learning Hebrew (in the synagogue school), Aramaic (the commonly spoken language), and Greek (the language of the Hellenized people of Sepphoris). Because of the caravan routes that came near, Jesus could have been well informed on events and perspectives from near and far.
At age twelve, Jesus went to the temple in Jerusalem. He joined in the temple discussions with the religious teachers; he asked questions and gave answers to the questions put to him. The New Testament gives no further information about Jesus' early years except to indicate that Jesus had four brothers and at least two sisters (Mark 6.3). He would then have been the oldest in a family of at least seven children. After that episode, Jesus' father Joseph is mentioned no more; if he died, it is possible that Jesus may have shouldered major responsibilities for his family.
Jesus' cousin, John the Baptist, inflames the countryside with his striking proclamation, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." To a majority of Jews at that time, the coming of the kingdom meant the coming of the messiah (="Christ" in Greek), God's "anointed" one, who would overturn the Roman rule, restore the older monarchy, "the throne of David," and establish Jerusalem as the center from which God's justice and peace would become effective among the nations. Jesus goes to John's baptism and experiences an extraordinary event in which a spirit presence says, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Jesus then goes into the wilderness for forty days to pray, to confront his universe opposition, and to formulate the great decisions that will guide his public career.
During the first period of his ministry, mostly in Galilee, Jesus functions primarily as a teacher and healer, proclaiming a simple positive gospel. He reluctantly accepts the popular terms "kingdom" and "messiah," although though these terms embodied misconceptions cherished even by his apostles. Jesus prefers to use family terms to speak of the new social order. He presents God not as a king-judge but as a loving father. The simplicity of his message and his powerful appeal, disconnected from the official center in Jerusalem, arouse antagonism in the religious leaders, whose opposition grows increasingly hostile. At a certain point, Jesus takes the offensive and escalates his response, beginning to say more about who he is. The bread of life will not be a king.
Jesus' basic message of entering the "kingdom" by faith remains the same. The kingdom of God is the family of God. The key terms of Jesus' teaching are used with different meanings in different contexts. The kingdom of God, for example, is within: it is an experience in the life of the believer. God is not only a personality focalized in heaven; his spirit can be found within the mind. The kingdom of heaven is a present reality in the experience of the individual believer; it is also a group that one can join; it is also a future condition for this world; and it is a heavenly dominion. The family language also has multiple meanings. One becomes a son or daughter of God by faith; but it is also true that all are the children of God. Jesus' parables and his way of treating all people, Jew and gentile alike, proclaim an inclusive message of kinship.
Plan A is for the religious leaders to accept the new spiritual gospel and for synagogues throughout the Mediterranean world and beyond to spread it. Jesus makes repeated trips to Jerusalem, but attacks on him, his message, and his followers increase. The hour comes when, as Jesus puts it, the good shepherd is prepared to defend his flock and to lay down his life.
Jesus returns to Jerusalem for a final confrontation, entering the city riding a donkey to symbolize a mission of peace and friendship. Jesus' defense of his followers demonstrates the superiority of his spiritual way over all the material force and intellectual arguments his opponents can muster. He "cleanses" the temple, overturning the tables of the money-changers (who were charging high rates to exchange money into the coin in which the temple tax could be paid) and opening the animal pens (where ritually "perfect" animals were sold for the bloody and noisy sacrifices associated with the temple services of that day. In this revolutionary and ethically elegant act, no person was injured, no money stolen, no property destroyed. But the business was disorganized. The following day Jesus teaches in the temple and answers challenging questions. Then there comes the final temple discourse in which Jesus sharply denounces the murderous hypocrisy of his enemies, and leads his followers out of the temple. The Sanhedrin pronounce the death sentence. Jesus is betrayed into the hands of his enemies. The weak Roman governor Pontius Pilate allows himself to be manipulated into having Jesus--whom his investigation finds innocent--scourged (whipped with ropes containing sharp pieces of metal) and then crucified on a Roman cross.
According to various accounts, the following Sunday morning Jesus is seen in resurrected form by some of the women who traveled with him. (Why has it been assumed that only men were active in proclamation and ministry?) He appears a number of times with a message of peace, and he restates his core message, his gospel of the kingdom of God. At last, he ascends into heaven and on Pentecost sends his Spirit of Truth "upon all flesh." Under the leadership of Peter, the apostles go forth proclaiming a new gospel of the risen Christ. The religion of Jesus is changed into a religion about Jesus. The latter view dominates the community of believers, the teaching of Paul, and thus the New Testament.
The foregoing profile shows how it is possible to accept both a "liberal" reading of Jesus' leading message and a "conservative" reading of who he was. Jesus prayed that his followers would enjoy spiritual unity (John 17). If that unity is tied to intellectual uniformity, then it is not on the horizon. Questions about what Jesus actually said and did and questions about the truth of his sayings will be discussed for the foreseeable future.
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