A New
Perspective
on Jesus

What the Quest for the
Historical Jesus Missed

James D. G. Dunn

©2005 by James D. G. Dunn

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakeracademic.com

Second printing, February 2006

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dunn, James D. G., 1939–

A new perspective on Jesus: what the quest for the historical Jesus missed / James D.G. Dunn.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 10: 0-8010-2710-1 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-8010-2710-9 (pbk.)

1. Jesus Christ—Historicity—History of doctrines—20th century.

2. Jesus Christ—History of doctrines—20th century. I. Title.
BT303.2.D85 2005
232.9p08—dc22 2004023187

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations labeled RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations appearing in parallel columns in the appendix are the author’s own translation.

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

1. The First Faith: When Did Faith Become a Factor in the Jesus Tradition?

2. Behind the Gospels: What It Meant to Remember Jesus in the Earliest Days

3. The Characteristic Jesus: From Atomistic Exegesis to Consistent Emphases

Appendix: Altering the Default Setting: Re-envisaging the
Early Transmission of the Jesus Tradition

Subject Index

Preface

The following chapters represent a vintage matured over many years and often sampled during the maturing process to check that the process was properly under way. Different aspects under a variety of titles, usually variations on “Looking for Jesus,” were delivered as lectures in San Antonio, Texas (1999); Uppsala (2002); Oxford (2002); and Hong Kong (2003); and as part of the Nils W. Lund Memorial Lectures, North Park Seminary, and Zarley Lectures, North Park University, Chicago (2000); the East Lecture, Lynchburg College, Virginia (2001); the Newell Lectures, Anderson University, Indiana (2002); the Thatcher Lecture, United Theological College, Sydney (2003); the Selwyn Lectures, St John’s College, Auckland (2003); and the Dunning Lecture at the Ecumenical Institute of Theology, St. Mary’s Seminary and University, Baltimore (2004). Simply running over these names again brings back many ...