Jesus as a teacher

Jesus as a teacher is the title of Rainer Riesner's dissertation , which was published in 1981 and then had two further editions. The subtitle of this 600-page book is: An Inquiry into the Origin of the Gospel Tradition ; According to this book, most of the words of Jesus reported in the Gospels actually go back to Jesus' ministry.

Content and theological position

It is a dissertation accepted at the Evangelical Theological Faculty of the University of Tübingen . "Doctoral supervisor" was Otto Betz , the second reviewer was Martin Hengel . Riesner followed up on the research of the Swedish New Testament scholars Harald Riesenfeld and Birger Gerhardsson around 1960, according to which Jesus, analogous to the rabbis , presented his students with concrete formulations that they should memorize . Riesner expanded the base of comparison to Israel and the ancient environment and gave an overview of the learning methods practiced there.

Riesner essentially traces Jesus' speeches reported in the Synoptics back to him and therefore assesses the origins of the Gospel tradition as "pre-Easter". In this respect, his point of view can be classified as "theologically conservative". However , Riesner only takes the Gospel of John into account sporadically.

The first two chapters are devoted to the Jesus tradition and Jewish popular education - so the research status on the two variables are examined, which are then connected with each other. Then Riesner refers to the authority of Jesus (Chapter 3) - this authority claimed by Jesus was significantly higher than that of a Jewish rabbi, it was more to be equated with the position of the Torah in the respect of religious Jews. The last two chapters take a closer look at the teaching of Jesus, first his public teaching , and finally the teaching of the disciples - this is about the peculiarities depending on the addressee.

Reviews

In the reviews, it was generally recognized that Riesner processed the specialist literature in a wide range. The extent to which reviewers agreed with Riesner's theses depended heavily on their own theological position. From a fundamentalist point of view, there was recognition for Riesner's argument. So said Helge Stadelmann :

“Riesner's book means a (hopefully) epoch-making frontal attack against this negative Gospel declaration. His work offers a preliminary climax in the examination of the current criticism of the gospel. "

At the same time, Stadelmann regrets that no clear understanding of inspiration is the starting point:

“He refutes many of the results of historical-critical theology without abandoning their approach. In a sense, Riesner fights with the weapons of the theological 'opponent' and wins on points. "

Strong approval came from Ian Howard Marshall , a British New Testament scholar with a conservative attitude:

Riesner "has undoubtedly provided constructive and well-founded evidence for the rootedness of the Gospel tradition in the actual teaching activity of the earthly Jesus and demonstrated the unbelievable and - sometimes - arbitrariness of the skeptical alternative."

There was also strong approval from conservative Catholics, e. B. judged John P. Heil:

"Riesner has succeeded in an almost masterful way in presenting his thesis of a historically reliable pre-Easter beginning of the Gospel tradition as possible, plausible, and even compelling."

Some New Testament scholars who are classified as “moderately critical” reacted thoughtfully, for example Franz Mußner about reading Riesner's book:

“Those who do not shy away from the effort to work their way through ... will not only be taught richly, but will also be pensive as to whether the skepticism about the 'authenticity' of the Jesus tradition in the synoptic Gospels is really justified. Riesner largely takes a different path than that which has been taken in recent years by exegetes, including reviewers, when they 'ask about Jesus'. "

And Rudolf Schnackenburg said: "You are constantly torn between agreement and contradiction". From an evangelical “liberal” point of view, there was clear rejection, for example from Werner Georg Kümmel , who sees a “basic apologetic tendency” in Riesner's book and believes that Riesner's opinion is “based on various convincing arguments, but also with a large number of questionable theses and problematic exegeses " will. Walter Schmithals judged that Riesner builds "more on general considerations than on precise text analysis". Where the historicity of the Gospels is judged to be unimportant, there is little understanding for Riesner's question; this is how Dieter Nestle sees him on "an evangelical-positivist wrong track".

Jesus and his disciples

Following Riesner's book, Franz Stuhlhofer wrote an apologetic book with the title: Jesus and His Students. How reliably were Jesus' words delivered? The title already suggests a proximity to Riesner's topic (teacher / student). Stuhlhofer specifically presents those aspects that deal with the reliability of the transmission of Jesus' speeches. His book is described as a “helpful summary of the results that is also easily accessible to non-experts”. In addition to Riesner, Stuhlhofer also extensively includes the Gospel of John, and he refers to the small scope of the speeches of Jesus presented in the four canonical gospels: "Three hours of Jesus speeches".

The characteristics of Jesus' teaching activity that Riesner identified continue to form a starting point for the search for the historical Jesus .

Hermeneutics

In his methodology for the NT , Wilhelm Egger takes up Riesner's observations and refers to them with the following statement:

"A number of observations on the words of Jesus confirm this view of the production and reception of text as early as the pre-Easter period".

That is why “even in the pre-Easter group of disciples one can count on the principle of tradition and with more fidelity in the transmission of tradition than the classical history of forms assumed”.

Religious education

The image of Jesus' transmission of faith conveyed in Jesus as a teacher was applied by Reiner Braun to the analogous current ecclesiastical task, specifically to the evangelical confirmation work . There is a tendency here to avoid a lesson, to focus on the questions and opinions of the confirmands and to limit oneself to their current environment. Against this tendency, Braun refers to the teaching activities of Jesus as a model that is also relevant for the present.

Studies on the same topic

Veronika Tropper: Jesus Didáskalos. Studies on Jesus as a teacher with the Synoptics and in the context of ancient cultural and social history (Austrian Biblical Studies; 42). Peter Lang, Frankfurt / M. u. a. 2012 (on Riesner Chapter II / 1). Table of contents as 'Extract'

Bibliographical information

Rainer Riesner: Jesus as a teacher. An investigation into the origin of the Gospel tradition (Scientific investigations on the New Testament; 2nd series, vol. 7) JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck) , Tübingen 1981 ( ² 1984, expanded: ³ 1988).

Web links

Quotes from Google Scholar

Individual evidence

↑ Craig Blomberg : The Historical Reliability of the Gospels. VTR, Nuremberg 1998, pp. 45f.
↑ The following reactions were compiled by Franz Stuhlhofer: Jesus and his students , pp. 101-104.
↑ In: idea-spectrum 1982, No. 18.
↑ In: Journal for he Study of the New Testament 1984, pp. 113f. For Marshall see the article in the English Wikipedia .
^ In: Catholic Biblical Quarterly 1983, pp. 702f. - See also Prosper Grech in Augustinianum 1982, pp. 596f: A “Milestone in Research”.
↑ In: Biblische Zeitschrift 1983, p. 276.
^ In: Biblische Zeitschrift 1985, p. 134.
↑ In: Theologische Rundschau 1988, pp. 241–244.
^ Reformed Church Newspaper 1983, p. 136.
^ In: Deutsches Pfarrerblatt 1984, pp. 261f.
^ Franz Stuhlhofer: Jesus and his students. How reliably were Jesus' words delivered? Brunnen-Verlag, Giessen 1991. Can also be read on the Internet .
↑ Reiner Braun: "Teach them to keep ..." Impetus for confirmation work from Rainer Riesner's book "Jesus als Lehrer". In: Theological Contributions 41 (2010) pp. 179–186, here p. 180 (“The book is unfortunately out of print; a new edition would be desirable!”).
↑ Stuhlhofer: Jesus und seine Schüler , pp. 28–31.
↑ Franz Graf-Stuhlhofer: In search of the historical Jesus. About the credibility of the Gospels and the doubts of the skeptics. Leun 2013.
^ Wilhelm Egger: Methodology for the New Testament. Introduction to linguistic and historical-critical methods . Freiburg / Breisgau 3rd edition 1987, p. 42f.
↑ Braun: "Teach them to keep ..." , 2010, pp. 179–186.

[1] Craig Blomberg : The Historical Reliability of the Gospels. VTR, Nuremberg 1998, pp. 45f.

[2] The following reactions were compiled by Franz Stuhlhofer: Jesus and his students , pp. 101-104.

[3] In: idea-spectrum 1982, No. 18.

[4] In: Journal for he Study of the New Testament 1984, pp. 113f. For Marshall see the article in the English Wikipedia .

[5] In: Catholic Biblical Quarterly 1983, pp. 702f. - See also Prosper Grech in Augustinianum 1982, pp. 596f: A “Milestone in Research”.

[6] In: Biblische Zeitschrift 1983, p. 276.

[7] In: Biblische Zeitschrift 1985, p. 134.

[8] In: Theologische Rundschau 1988, pp. 241–244.

[9] Reformed Church Newspaper 1983, p. 136.

[10] In: Deutsches Pfarrerblatt 1984, pp. 261f.

[11] Franz Stuhlhofer: Jesus and his students. How reliably were Jesus' words delivered? Brunnen-Verlag, Giessen 1991. Can also be read on the Internet .

[12] Reiner Braun: "Teach them to keep ..." Impetus for confirmation work from Rainer Riesner's book "Jesus als Lehrer". In: Theological Contributions 41 (2010) pp. 179–186, here p. 180 (“The book is unfortunately out of print; a new edition would be desirable!”).

[13] Stuhlhofer: Jesus und seine Schüler , pp. 28–31.

[14] Franz Graf-Stuhlhofer: In search of the historical Jesus. About the credibility of the Gospels and the doubts of the skeptics. Leun 2013.

[15] Wilhelm Egger: Methodology for the New Testament. Introduction to linguistic and historical-critical methods . Freiburg / Breisgau 3rd edition 1987, p. 42f.

[16] Braun: "Teach them to keep ..." , 2010, pp. 179–186.