Jesus and the Church: the beginnings of Christianity PDF
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JESUS AND THE CHURCH The Beginnings of Christianity Willi Marxsen Selected, Translated, and Introduced by Philip E. Devenish TRINITY PRESS INTERNATIONAL PHILADELPHIA JESUS AND THE CHURCH First Published 1992 Trinity Press International 3725 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19104 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, electronic, mechan ical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the pub lisher, Trinity Press International. Translation © 199·2 Philip Devenish Cover design-Brian Preuss Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Marxsen, Willi, 1919- Jesus and the Church : the beginnings of Christianity / Willi Marxsen ; selected, translated, and introduced by Philip E. Devenish. - 1st ed. p. cm. Essays translated from the German. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 1-56338-053-6 : 1. Jcsus Christ-History of doctrines-Early church, ca. 30-600. 2. Church-Biblical teaching. 3. Bible. N.T.-Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Devenish, Philip E. II. Title. BT198.M39635 1992 232-dc20 92-33155 CIP Printed in the United States of America 92 93 94 95 96 6 5 4 3 2 1 IV CONTENTS Foreword VII Victor Paul Furnish Introduction: The Jesus-kerygma and Christian Theology Xl Philip E. Devenish 1. Jesus Has Many Names 1 2. The Jesus-business: In Defense of a Concept 16 3. Jesus: Bearer or Content of the Gospel? 36 4. Jesus of Nazareth: An Event 55 5. When Did Christian Faith Begin? 76 6. Christian Faith as Resurrection of the Dead 96 7. The Meaning of the Cross for Salvation: Discipleship as the Way of the Cross 117 8. The Meals of Jesus and the Lord's Supper of the Church 137 9. Toward the New Testament Grounding of Baptism 147 172 Index v FOREWORD Although the essays presented in this volume are available for the first time in English translation, Willi Marxsen's work has by no means remained unknown to readers in the English-speaking world. From 1968 to the present, more than a dozen of his books and arti cles have appeared in English. These include his Introduction to the New Testament (Fortress Press, 1968), through which thousands of college and seminary students have been introduced to the earliest writings of the Christian movement. They include, as well, his pio neering redaction-critical study of the Gospel of Mark, Mark the Evangelist (Abingdon Press, 1969), his important discussion of the traditions about Jesus' resurrection, The Resurrection ofJ esus oJNazareth (Fortress Press, 1970), and his classic, The New Testament as the Church's Book (Fortress Press, 1972). A number of his publications, including those available in English, are devoted to the question of the historical Jesus and christology. The most recent of these are the lectures that were prepared specifically for delivery in the United States, Jesus and Easter (Abingdon Press, 1990). The nine short studies carefully selected and translated by Philip Devenish for this volume are all responsive, in one way or another, to the question posed in the title of chapter 5, "When Did Chris tian Faith Begin?" Thus, as the volume's own title indicates, these studies all have to do with Jesus and the beginnings of Christianity. This is a topic of fundamental importance for anyone who wishes to understand the history of Western civilization, as well as for every present-day Christian. It is, moreover, an issue that demands of investigators both skill in the application of the appropriate his torical methods and theological acumen. Professor Marxsen's work, VII FOREWORD as the following essays demonstrate, is distinguished in each respect. He is an able and knowledgeable New Testament scholar who, at the same time, is a discerning theologian. Indeed, one is tempted to say that as such, he belongs to an "endangered species." It will be noted that the earliest of these essays was originally published in German in 1966, and the latest in 1978. In most respects, however, the essays remain as fresh and up-to-date as when they were first written. This is the case, in part, because the specific topics to which they are devoted are such fundamental ones that they continue to be the subject of investigation and discussion. This is shown very well by Professor Devenish's insightful intro duction. That these essays still have so much to offer is, above all, a tribute to Marxsen's own sound scholarship and keen insight. In particular, he is able to identify and to articulate with exceptional clarity the key questions and the most critical issues. Thus, even where one may not agree with the conclusions, one is informed and challenged by the lines of inquiry that Marxsen opens up. As a result, readers will often find themselves thinking about familiar topics in new ways, reexamining matters that they may have long since regarded as settled, and in the process gaining greater clarity about their own views. Three particular distinctions of Marxsen's work are evident in the essays collected here. First, these studies of Christian origins manifest his concern to understand the meaning and significance of Christian faith itself. His interests thus move beyond the rather narrow boundaries observed by many New Testament scholars today. Indeed, he once remarked that he considers himself more a "theologian" than a "New Testament schoJar," at least as New Testament scholarship is often conceived. Yet his theological inquiries proceed on the basis of and in association with his histor ical and exegetical investigations. For this reason his work can con tribute in an especially fruitful way to wider theological discussion. How this has been true and how it may continue to be is the par ticular subject of the editor's introduction in the present volume. It is a further distinction of Marxsen's work, including the essays offered here, that it cannot be easily identified with any particular' "school of thought" or hermeneutical approach. This is not to sug gest that it is in any way idiosyncratic, or that it is out of touch with mainstream scholarship. Marxsen has by no means neglected Vlll FOREWORD the work of other interpreters. He knows it well and engages it criticall y and appreciatively. Yet he has steered his own course, examining texts and thinking through issues without feeling beholden either to the current scholarly consensus or to the latest scholarly innovations. A recent volume of essays presented to him on the occasion of his seventieth birthday demonstrates this impres sively. (jesu Rede von Gott l,md ihre Nachgeschichte im fruhen Christentum, edited by D.-A. Koch, G. Sellin, and A. Lindemann, 1989). Its contributors represent not only several different confessional tradi tions, countries, and scholarly disciplines but also several distinct approaches to the study of the New Testament and to "doing the ology. " Finally, readers of the following essays will come away with an appreciation of Professor Marxsen's concern for the faith and wit ness of the Christian church. This does not mean that his approach or interests are in any way sectarian. Nor can it be claimed that his views have always found favor even within his own confessional tradition. But there is no question that his published work, and also his university teaching and lectures to Christian laity, show him to be a scholar who cares about the gospel by and for which the church exists. He writes with great clarity and with evident commitment on behalf of this gospel. What he provides, however, is not a tradi tional "defense of faith" or of some particular doctrinal formulation of it. He offers what many will regard as a better and more lasting gift: studies that are in themselves compelling examples of "faith seeking understanding." Victor Paul Furnish Perkins School of Theology Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX IX Introduction THE JESUS-KERYGMA AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY* Translating essays from a previous generation of scholarship calls for special justification. There are several reasons why the I following essays by Willi Marxsen should be made more widely available, especially at this time. In the essays collected here, Marxsen focuses on the earliest stratum of tradition that can be reconstructed from the synoptic gospels. This material constitutes the greater part of our most direct evidence for encounters between Jesus of Nazareth and his contem poraries, encounters that Marxsen argues should be regarded as the founding events of what in time came to be called the Christian church. As such, this stratum of tradition and the situations it reflects are of special importance to the work of theologians and historians. Understanding these presynoptic traditions has fundamental importance for accomplishing the task of Christian systematic the ology if, as Schubert Ogden has joined Marxsen in arguing, it is this earliest stratum that constitutes the source for reconstructing that "Jesus-kerygma" which is the true "canon before the canon" or "norm of appropriateness" for Christian claims.2 Ogden has fol lowed Marxsen's lead in arguing with great power and precision for this revisionary alternative to classical Protestant and Roman Cath olic interpretations of canonicity in terms of "scripture alone" and "scripture and tradition," respectively. If their arguments for for- *Numbers in parentheses refer to specific page numbers in this volume. XI INTRODUCTION \. mally identifying the canon in this way are valid, the task of deter mining the appropriately Christian -character of a given claim evidently presupposes understanding the material content and meaning of the presynoptic traditions that comprise this norm. Here Marxsen's work is invaluable, for, as we shall see, he has paid sustained attention to the subject-matter of the Jesus-:-kerygma in the essays that follow. Marxsen's explorations in the presynoptic Jesus-traditions are also especially significant in two particular respects for New Testa ment scholarship at the present time. In the midst of a resurgence of explicitly historical interest in Jesus of Nazareth, Marxsen makes clear that the Jesus who is accessible to historical reconstruction is the always interpreted Jesus of the Jesus-kerygma, rather than a so-called historical Jesus (in the sense of "Jesus without and before any interpretation." [58]3). This recognition of the "form critical reservation" imposed by the character of our sources serves as a reminder of the limits, as well as of the proper object of historical reconstruction. Secondly, given contemporary emphasis on the nar rative character of scripture, including both the gospel genre and pregospel passion accounts, Marxsen's pursuit of the "canon before the canon" to its source in independently circulating Jesus kerygmata, not all of which have a narrative character, properly relativizes claims to canonical primacy on behalf of narrative as such. Finally, Marxsen offers several absolutely basic insights into both the logical structure of the remarkably diverse interpretive witnesses to Jesus and the actual processes by which such witnesses were generated. He suggests how and why ~ wide variety of titles were ascribed to Jesus, how a new and different interest in his "person" came about, and how ritual practices such as baptism and the Lord's Supper took on disparate shapes and meanings. Marxs en's work on these topics has far-reaching implications for both Christian theology and worship. As we have indicated, Marxsen's work as a whole serves to chal lenge not only Christian witness, but also the method and content of Christian theology at the most basic level. We might put this somewhat pointedly by saying that his work has proven so far to be too theological for contemporary theology and too exegetical for contemporary exegesis. Indeed, this introductory essay is intended xu
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