The historicity of Jesus: a criticism of the contention that Jesus never lived, a statement of the evidence for his existence, an estimate of his relation to Christianity

361 Pages·1912·12.72 MB·English

by  Shirley Jackson Case

THE HISTORICITY
OF JESUS
A CRITICISM OF THE CONTENTION THAT JESUS NEVER
LIVED, A STATEMENT OF THE EVIDENCE FOR
HIS EXISTENCE, AN ESTIMATE OF HIS
RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY
By y
SHIRLEY JACKSON CASE
of the Department of Netv Testament
Literature and Interpretation in
the Uni-versity of Chicago
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Copyright 1912 Bv
The University of Chicago
All Rights Reserved
Published March 19 12
Composed and Printed By
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago, Illinois. U.S.A.
PREFACE
The main purpose of the present volume is to
set forth the evidence for believing in the his-
torical reality of Jesus' existence upon earth.
By way of approach, the characteristic features
of more recent opinion regarding the historical
Jesus have been surveyed, and, on the other
hand, the views of those who deny his existence
have been examined in detail. The negative
arguments have been carefully analyzed in
order accurately to comprehend the problem.
In presenting the evidence for Jesus' historicity,
an effort has been made both to meet oppo-
nents' objections and at the same time to give
a fairly complete collection of the historical
data upon which belief in his existence rests.
Finally, the practical bearing of the discussion
has been indicated by briefly considering Jesus'
personal relation to the founding of the Chris-
tian movement and his significance for modern
religion.
The needs of two classes of readers have been
kept in mind. The general public, it is believed,
will find the treatment suited to their tastes.
vi Preface
By a free use of footnotes the more technical
side of the subject has also been presented for
the benefit of readers wishing to study the
question more minutely. No important phase
in the history or in the present status of the
problem has intentionally been ignored.
The author has made free use of some
opinions which he had already expressed in the
pages of the Biblical World and the American
Journal of Theology, but these materials have
been largely recast in becoming an integral
part of the present work.
Shirley Jackson Case
The University of Chicago
February 15, 191 2.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAG€
I. The Historical Jesus of "Liberal"
Theology i
11. The Mythical Christ of Radical
Criticism 32
III. An Estimate of the Negative Argu-
fi. -V-^'-.-C-~' *:
ment: Its Treatment of the Tra-
ditional Evidence 62
IV. An Estimate of the Negative Argu-
ment: Its Proposed Explanation of
THE Origin of Christianity ... 89
V. Pragmatic Phases of Primitive
Tradition 133
VI. The Pauline Evidence for Jesus'
Existence 178^ r,-
VII. The Gospel Evidence for Jesus'
Existence 202 ' u^it^^
VIII. Extra-Biblical Evidence for Jesus'
Existence 238
IX. Jesus the Historical Founder of
Christianity 271
X. Jesus' Significance for Modern
Religion 304
vii
CHAPTER I
THE HISTORICAL JESUS OF "LIBERAL"
THEOLOGY
Is Jesus of Nazareth a historical individual,
or is he purely a creation of fancy ? While he
is commonly thought to have lived in Palestine
nineteen hundred years ago, Christendom has
recently been disturbed by occasional voices
proclaiming that this current belief is altogether
without foundation in fact, Jesus' life of asso-
ciation with disciples, his ministry of healing
and teaching, his conflicts with the religious
leaders of that day, his death on the cross, in
fact the whole of his alleged earthly career
depicted in the New Testament is held to be
entirely fictitious. He is not to be classed
among those historical founders of religion who
left so strong an impression upon their con-
temporaries that after death their memory was
held in peculiar reverence by their followers;
he belongs rather with those heroes of mythol-
ogy who never had any earthly existence except
that created for them by the anthropomorphiz-
ing fancy of naive and primitive peoples.
This doubt about Jesus' existence is not an