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Foreword.EdgarsJundzis100CHAPTERJANUARY2007
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SolveigaKrumina-KonkovaInstituteofPhilosophyandSociology-UniversityofLatvia5PUBLICATIONS1CITATION
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Rev. Edgars Jundzis, Dr.theol. 19 January 1 9 0 7 - 2 1 October
1986
FOREWORD
EDGARS JUNDZIS - 1 0 0
Being in almost total isolation from the exchange of thoughts
and the formation of new concepts that were taking place in
theology and religious research elsewhere in the world, Christian
theology in Latvia did continue to develop even under the
conditions of the Communist regime; and, research authorships did
appear, which, if they were written in the West, could become a
sensation or at least an object of serious scientific
discussion.
Although these writings were not hidden in deep drawers and
authors did dare to publish them, only a few people in Latvia were
aware of their existence; and, therefore, we can consider these as
belonging to the silenced literature." One such work is the 1980
doctoral dissertation, "The Life of Jesus Based on the Foundation
of the Synoptic and Johannine Tradition" by Edgars Jundzis, which
offers an untraditional, and as considered by Jundzis himself
revolutionary version about Jesus' life and his activities.
The fate of E. Jundzis' dissertation, in our opinion, obviously
points to the fact that, even under occupation conditions, a
Christian theologian was capable of preserving his dignity, beliefs
and world viewpoint, and that scien-tific interest is not barred by
political or other obstacles, and moreoverthat occupation in our
minds, unfortunately, does not end with the liquidation of the
political occupation.
Edgars Jundzis was born on 19 January 1907, in the "Kalnmicii"
homestead in reme in Omuu County of Valka District. He obtained his
ba-sie education in 1914-1919 at the Omuu Elementary School,
followed by the State Secondary School for Adults in Riga,
completing it in June 1925. In the
5
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fall of that same year1, he was enrolled in the Faculty of
Theology, University of Latvia, graduating from it in the spring of
1929. Professor Haralds Biezais remembered that, during 1927-1928,
Jundzis wrote a prize-winning essay2
about Albert Schvveitzer's radically eschatological hypothesis
concerning the life of Jesus, which was also accepted as his
graduation thesis3 in 1929. On 9 November 1929, at the Riga Old
ertrde Church, he received holy bless-ings from Bishop K. Irbe and
was ordained as a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church,
becoming a vicar for the Riga congregations. In 1930, he worked at
the Jelgava Classical Secondary School; from 1931 to 1940, he was
the minister of the Estonian Valka St. John's Church and founded
the Latvian Secondary School in Estonian Valka, working there as
the principal. Jundzis also continued his scientific research, and
in 1932, he successfully defends his Candidate's thesis,
"Charismatcs in the Pre-Christian Church in Relation to St. Paul's
Theology."4 In 1936, he is retained at the University to prepare
for scientific research, and during 1937-1938, as a recipient of a
scholarship from the University of Latvia, he furthered his
theological education at the Basel and Zurich universities5 in
Switzerland.
From 1940 to 1944, E. Jundzis was a teacher in Riga at the
French Ly-ceum and Rainis Evening Secondary School and performed
the functions of a pastor at the Estonian St. Peter's - St. Paul's
Church. Jundzis met the end of the war at the Piltene
Congregation.
In June 1944, under the leadership of Archbishop Irbe, there was
a gath-ering of 16 representatives from different Protestant
denominations at the Con-sistory of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church. The objective of the meeting was
1 This dat is mentioned in the Curriculum Vitae written by E.
Jundzis himself, which includes infor-mation through 1956. The 1987
necro!ogy, however, nots the year 1926. 2 E. Jundzis received the
2nd prize for his work "Albert Schvveitzer's Eschatological
Viewpoint Con-cerning the Life of Jesus" which was completed in
1927-1928. This fact is noted in a book entitled: Latvijas
Universitte divdesmit gados, 1919-1939. II daa [University of
Latvia in Twenty Years, 1919-1939. Part II]. Riga: University of
Latvia, 1939, page 68. 3 This fact is fixed in the book, Latvijas
Universittes Teoloijas fakultte - 1919-1939, 2n
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On 22 July 1980, the Assistant Professor of the Theology
Seminary, the Theology Licentiate E. Jundzis successfully defended
his doctoral dissertation on the theme "The life of Jesus Based on
the Foundation of the Synoptic and Johannine Tradition." During
6-13 September of the same year, E. Jundzis, together with other
pastors of the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church and professors
of the Theology Seminary, attended the Lutheran World Federation
Conference in Tallinn. In 1986, E. Jundzis hoped go to the land of
his youth, Switzerland; however, this dream failed to be
fulfilledon 21 October 1986, in Jaunpiebalga, E. Jundzis goes to
eternity. He was buried at the Jaunpiebalga Cemetery on 25 October
1986.
As emphasized by a nekrology dedicated to the memory of E.
Jundzis, "it appears that participatiori'in the training of new
theologians, especially within the confines of the Theology
Seminary, was the Senior Pastor's great-est love. Here was an
opportunity for his scientist's-finder's soul to develop, and for
fruitful growth of his rich knowledge of the New Testament and the
ancient Greek language."9 Here, it should be noted that Edgars
Jundzis had a good command of the Latin, English, and Lithuanian
languages; he was also fluent in German, Estonian, and Russian and
that he successfully applied these skills in his studies.
In 1980, two doctoral candidatesE. Jundzis and R. Akmentihad
decided to defend their doctoral theses. As noted in the article
"The Science of Theology in Latvia from 1944 to 1990" by Juris
Rubenis, "battles took place concerning the defence of these
dissertations. Both doctoral candidates requested that the defence
of their dissertations should take place in accor-dance with the
rules established by the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Latvia, namelyduring a meeting of the Faculty Board of the Theology
Seminary, in the presence of at least three theology doctors. It
was impossible to assure the last part of the request. The
officials (Soviets) placed obstacles to block the participation of
theology doctors from abroad. Then the doctoral candidates agreed
to defend their doctoral theses outside Latvia. Conversations were
begun with the GDR and the Hungarian theology universities, which
in
9 Necrology. Latvijas ev. lut. Bazncas kalendars 1987. gadam
[Latvian Ev. Luth. Church's 1987 calen-dar]. Rga: Ev. lut. Bazncas
konsistorija, 1987, 187. lpp.
principle gave their concurrence.10 However, the Soviets forbade
the doctoral candidates to leave Latvia."11
On 22 July 1980, in the Theology Seminary Auditorium in Riga, at
7 Ja Street, a Faculty Board meeting of the Theology Seminary of
the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church was held, during which E.
Jundzis defended his dissertation, "The life of Jesus Based on the
Foundation of the Synoptic and Johannine Tradition" and received a
Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Theol-ogy-
In the course of the defence process, during which the
dissertation by Edgars Jundzis was called a heresy more than once,
the process left out parts that were most important to him as a
scientist, namelyhis offered concept of Jesus' two-period life and
an objective analysis of the proof.
The dissertation by E. Jundzis was written in isolation from the
studies of Jesus' life, which took place in the West, and
therefore, the author could not evaluate its originality. However,
even without any knowledge about the dis-puts and quests that were
typical for his Western colleagues of that time, he has worked in
parallel in his studies, and consequently, should be considered to
have shared the quest. For example, like the Swede Jalmar Soderberg
in his novel Jesus Barabbas (1928), also Jundzis identifies Jesus
from Nazareth with Jesus Barabbas.12 A similar opinion was brought
forward in 1968 by Hyam Maccoby, an expert in Judaism, and in 1973,
he published a book on this sub-ject, Revolution in Judaea: Jesus
andJewish Resistance. Initially, this version was not taken
seriously, but since the mid 1970s, various alternative stories of
the life and also of the death of Jesus have been created on its
basis, alternative to the evangelical version. It is to be noted
that the work by Maccoby was not available to Jundzis.
10 J. Rubenis does not mention the news, which was provided by
Professor H. Biezais at the beginning of 1990that E. Jundzis was
looking for the opportunity to defend his dissertation also at Obu
Acad-emy (Finland) and at Wittenberg College (USA). 11 J. Rubenis.
Teoloijas zintne Latvij no 1944. ldz 1990. gadam [Theology Science
in Latvia from 1944 until 1990]. Filozofija un teoloija. Rakstu
krjums [Philosophy and Theology. Collected articles]. Rga: LZA
Filozofijas un socioloijas institts, 1991, 12. lpp. 12 Here it is
to be remembered that the name of Jesus, as the first name of
Barabbas, appears only in the translations of the Gospels into
Syrian, and therefore, it is considered that in the initial
versions of the Gospels this name had been absent.
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However, there is something in his dissertation, which allows
one to deem this work unique when compared to similar studies in
the West. Namely, this is the theory of the two-period life of
Jesus, or his version about two crucifixions: the first one, where
Jesus of Nazareth as Jesus Barabbas (a ruler, strictly keeping to
Judaism traditions, and a potential Messiah within the
com-prehension of Judaism) is liberated, thanks to people's will;
and the second one, where Jesus of Nazareth, as Jesus Christ
(already a denier of Judaism and preacher of a new teaching) is
crucified. Undoubtedly, Jundzis himself was sure about the
originality of his theory and considered it revolutionary in the
studies of Jesus' life.
The first, and as far as we know, the only review that is close
to being an academically scrutinized evaluation, was given by
Professor H. Biezais, after having become familiar with the
dissertation published in 1994 by the Institute of Philosophy and
Sociology of the Latvian Academy of Sciences. During
correspondence, which took place during the period from spring 1992
to fall 1994, he has written about Jundzis' work several
times.13
On 18 October 1994, he writes, "I have been able to review it
very carefully with intense interest. It is based on vast knowledge
and is written by a clearly gifted mind. Here, I must insert a
personai note. When I enrolled in the Theology Faculty in 1928, he
was already close to graduation. Our studies together included only
three semesters. During that time, I got to know him very little;
but, nonetheless, he had a unique and unorthodox personality [...].
Now, the dissertation reveals, that until its defence, he had been
"fighting" with those problematics for which he had received a
prize already during his studiesA. Schvveitzer's radical
eschalogical hypothesis, which was repudi-ated by J's teacher, K.
Kundzi. This dissertation is J's life-long workits final outcome.
Indeed, it is truly written in an elegant way. I read it in simple
and easy language with intense and elevated interest, without
academic ex-pression, head-spinning, knotty phraselogy. It reads
like an astute criminal investigator's report, where arguments are
arranged next to each other like small jevvels that at the end
bring forth a complete, rounded-out scene, without
13 H. Biezais was the editor-in-chief of the renewed
Reliiski-filozofiskie raksti [Religious-Philosophi-cal
VVritings].
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any contradictions or misunderstandings. My NT [New Testament]
knowl-edge does not go that far for me to teli, if J's hypothesis
about the radically different two-period images of Jesus is his
unique revelation, or whether it has already been previously
presented by researchers of Jesus' life. J himself keeps silent on
that point. That makes one believe that this hypothesis is his
creation. That alone is enough and your efforts to publish this
dissertation are fully justified. Moreover, I would like to go even
farther and point out that in all Latvian theology research
history, there is no other work that has expressed itself so
radically about any of its own hypothesis. The old fathers who
dis-putedRezevskis, Maulns, Sanderswere concerned with some
individual minte problem, trying to understand it. None of them had
J's scope of effort nor the investment in work and thought. If it
is permitted, I would say, that it is some kind of obsession that
has accompanied him during this lengthy fifty-year period, when he
wrote this work during such hard times and sometimes under inhumane
conditions."14
Biezais once again retums to Jundzis' two-period hypothesis,
express-ing his doubts about its validity. In his opinion, Jundzis'
"mistake is a purely scientifically methodological one. Reading
this work, one sees as if a red path-way threads itself through his
completely free utilization of the NT, chosen from different
writings, both, in a positive as well as a negative sense. [...]
Thus, the texts are categorized not by their semantic context
position, but by their compatibility with a two-period hypothesis.
It is noted here that it is not understood by me, how the highly
educated J applies such mixture of subject matter from different NT
texts. [...] Here is J's methodological mistake, which is not
understood by me as a thinking person. [...] The efforts of history
to express the rationally indescribable in a rationally-based way
are impossible. Rationally, there is no substantiation that Jesus
was a Messiah and, it can't rationally be said that Jesus has saved
the world with love. The gifted and knowledgeable believer Jundzis
wanted to provide a basis for his faith, utiliz-ing different views
from other faiths. That is enough for us to venerably note his
work."15
14 From the letter by H. Biezais letter to S. Krumina-Konkova,
18 October 1994 in Tby. 15 Ibid.
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A week later, on 27 October 1994, Biezais retums once more to
J's dis-sertation: "Nostalgia! It turns out that Jundzis is not the
only faithful student of Kundzi, who preaches, i.e., provides a
scientifically-based, redeeming universal love. Biezais also
faithfully follows this 'scientifically-based' view-point that
Jesus has preached it. I have uncovered this truth also, after 50
years, in my own dissertation. What a wonderful experience! [...]
Beautiful are also those 50 years that the author has spent in his
world of thoughts."16 In another of Biezais letters appear some
harsher lines: "Of course, everything has its ba-sis and processes
have their motivs. I know this world from the inside and it does
not surprise me; it can only be recorded as it is. Hopefully, this
published work will provide joy to one or another while reading and
contemplating about it. It would even be better, if spmeone were to
comment about it in the press. However, there are no high hopes for
that. The 'bush-people' seldom venture out from bushes to show
themselves on an open field."17
Here, it only should be added, it seems, that the importance of
a sci-entific work, and this dissertation is certainly to be
considered as such, is fre-quently determined by the fact whether
or not it arouses interest and, eventu- l i with thata discussion.
The evaluations of E. Jundzis' dissertation, no matter how negative
they may be, undoubtedly show that this work belongs to those
worthy of discussion.
With this "Thesis" and "Short Summary" publication, the reader
will get an insight about this work.
Solveiga Krmia-Kokova, Nikandrs Gills,
Researchers of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology,
University of Latvia
, 6 ibid. 17 From the letter by H. Biezais to N. Gills, 12
December 1994, in Tby.
10 12
The Life of Jesus Based on the Foundation of
Synoptic and Johannine Tradition
by Rev. Edgars Jundzis, Dr.theol.
Rev. Jundzis' Doctoral Dissertation Theses and Summary
