review of willimons - why jesus

8/7/2019 review of willimons - why jesus

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T. Michael W. Halcomb

02.15.11 | NT520: Intro to New Testament Theology | Asbury Theological Seminary

Lecture on The Historical Jesus & Review of the Willimons Why Jesus?

Dom Crossan, the infamous Catholic priest and controversial Jesus Seminarmember (if you would like to learn more about the Jesus Seminar, see Dr.

Witheringtons, The Jesus Quest, especially the first three chapters)1, states in the

prologue of his bookThe Historical Jesus: Even under the discipline of attempting to

envision Jesus against his own most proper Jewish background, it seems we can have as

many pictures as there are exegetes[Their] stunning diversity is an academicembarrassment. It is impossible to avoid the suspicion that historical Jesus research is a

very safe place to do theology and call it history, to do autobiography and call it

biography.2

This claim, in many ways, is quite accurate for, as nearly as long as therehas been a Jesus, there have been different portraits of Jesus painted. Even our four

Gospels writers sought to portray him in a variety of different ways.

I am reminded of the poster that contains awide variety of portrayals of Jesus within

different cultures throughout the world. One

of the things that this poster says to me is

that on some level or another, for humans tobe able to encounter Jesus in personal and/or

meaningful ways, we have to not only

meet but also, make him in our ownimage. To put it differently: Jesus is shaped

by the shapers and since our world is

constantly changing and since cultures are

constantly being reshaped, depending onwhere you are and when in time you are

there, Jesus is always getting reshaped. In

short ones theology about Jesus is to a great degree, predetermined by thepresuppositions and perspectives they already bring to the table.3

This is not too far from the first two lines in the introduction of Willimons book,

where he answers the question posed in the title Why Jesus? saying, Because he is themost fascinating person in the world. Into my life he came, unsought and uninvited, took

over, and refused to go (Intro, 7).4

Willimons book, a popular addition to the so-

called Quests for the Historical Jesus, unapologetically contends that Jesus, a Jew fromNazareth, is also God (Intro, 7) raised from the dead (Intro, 10) and that the four

1

Ben Witherington, III, The Jesus Quest: The Third Search for the Jew of Nazareth (Downers

Grove, Ill: IVP, 1997).2

John D. Crossan, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant(Nashville:

Harper Collins, 1992), xxviii.3

See Dale C. Allison, The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI:

Eerdmans, 2009), 16.4

Note that I am using APA formatting to cite portions of the Why Jesus? Kindle edition.


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Gospel accountsall accurateare four testimonies from ancient persons who, much

like Williimon himself, had their lives radically transformed by Jesus (Intro, 9).The truth of the matter is: Any reconstruction of the historical Jesus relies, to a

great degree, on how limited or not our access to sources about Jesus are. In Willimons

treatment, however, he says that he will not follow the reconstructionist patterns and try

to prove Jesus historically (Intro, 10-11) because, after all, Most of what we hanker toknow about Jesus is beyond historians reach for world history was never an adequate

vehicle for Jesus (Intro, 11). This approach is related to the Quests that I mentionedmoments ago in that it is dubbed the Third Quest. And so, we might say, To Quest or

Not to Quest? That is the Quest-ion!5 So, maybe the heart of the real question that

Willimon is getting at is not Why Jesus? but rather, Who is Jesus?And the most fruitful way to begin to answer that question starts with engaging

the texts of the New Testament in their ancient contexts, as Willimon himself asserts

saying that we meet Jesus through his first followers or we meet him not at all (Intro,

14). He qualifies this by contending that, Knowledge of the historical and culturalcontext of Jesus protects us from the sin of making Jesus anything we wantFew

followers of Jesus trudge after him on the basis of historical details. Its who Jesus is andyet shall be that is most compelling (Intro, 15). So, Willimon shifts the ground alreadyin the introduction and his book morphs into an apologetic focused not on the question of

Why Jesus? but rather Who is Jesus as portrayed in the New Testament and why

should we trust those portrayals?In chapter one, which Willimon titles Vagabond, he jumps headfirst into some

of the Gospel stories and attempts to make the case that Jesus, one who was always on

the move, expected the same of his so-called disciplesespecially after he returned to

them post-resurrection. Jesus challenged his disciples with movement or what we mightrefer to today as mission or evangelism, both of which can be scary things in their

own rights. Here, while Willimon certainly over-caricatures and even anachronistically

psychologizes the disciples of Jesus, defining them as a ragtag group of Galilean loserswho failed him (1, 16), he also gets to the nub of the matter, essentially arguing that

one proof for Jesus existence is found none other than in the existence and testimonies of

his followers. See, for Willimon, Jesus as the true God is to be contrasted with any otheridol-god: Whereas the void-of-movement-idol demands nothing of its followers, the on-

the-move-Jesus, absolutely does (1, 23). This contrast, however, is a bit deceptive as

idols in antiquity were not viewed so lowly and even as 2 Kgs 17:41 tells us, Israel

served, that is, moved or did things, for idols whom they believed expected things fromthem.

5

Michael Bird, Shouldnt Evangelicals Participate in the Third Quest for the Historical Jesus?

Themelios 29.2 (Spring, 2004): 9.

What would make Christianity unique in an absolute sense, with no possible historical

rival, would be for Jesus to be what is claimed for himthe one and only Son of God,

God who has come in the flesh; and to have done what is affirmed for himto havebrought a salvation and relationship with God that no one else than the Son of God

could have brought. There we pass from history to faith. -Everett Ferguson,

Backgrounds of Early Christianity (3rd ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 620.


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Building even more on this contrast, Willimon contends that Jesus is not a deity

that any of us could have ever concocted in our imaginations. The plea here is one forthe uniqueness or unusualness of Jesus, or, in terms of logic: The exception to the rule.

Willimon, however, cannot prove that a person like Jesus could never be created in the

imagination of persons; indeed, more and less creative characters have been fashioned

throughout history. Nor is it apt to appeal to such unverifiable claims so as to attempt tostake the validity of Christianity on its uniqueness. To be sure, Christianity borrowed

many features from its Jewish and Graeco-Roman stories and surroundings.6

Even Jesushimself uses familiar quotes from rabbis and tells familiar riddles or stories. To appeal to

Jesus as a vagabond, as opposed to an expected king or some royal figure, in order to

validate him, simply fails.Willimon, in the company of many preachers Ive heard, says so

straightforwardly as if it were fact, that Jesus (as God), showed up as a homeless man,

unmarried and unemployed (1, 27). Yet, Jesus may have in fact owned a home (the

Greek in Mk can be read this way) and certainly, we know that he was a carpenter orstoneworker (and all probability suggests that he made money from this job) as well as a

rabbi of sorts. In fact, it is not until after he begins his ascent to Jerusalem that Jesusactually leaves behind his trade and home and makes the statement about having nowhereto lay his head (Lk 9:58) and of course, he has left all that behind because soon, he will

die. Here, Willimons tenet of maintaining a degree of modesty and tentativeness in

what we claim to know about Jesus (1, 36), I think, actually seems to work againsthim!

Following the concept of the

first chapter, Willimon offers

eleven subsequent chapters orbetter yet, images, of Jesus.

And before I talk a little bit

about each of those, I thinkthis would be a good point to

say a few words about the

Quests for the HistoricalJesus, just so you can see

precisely what it is that

Willimon is doing, beyond

say, the average laypersonlevel. If the First Quest

began just before the 1900s

and was based on sourcecomparisons and focused on

how a variety of scholarly

groups or schoolsunderstood Jesus (e.g. in

terms of rationalism

6

For more on this, see Frank M. Cross, The Ancient Library of Qumran (London: 1958), esp. 184;

Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity (3rd

ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), esp. 619-20.


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mythicism, romanticism, etc.), then when Albert Schweitzer later declared a moratorium

on the First Quest (which likely was never really the case!) and the Second Quest started(early to mid 1900s), its focus was on the relationship of the Gospels to literary modes,

literature and sources outside of the New Testament works (what we refer to as non-

canonical or extra-biblical, with extra meaning outside of).7

Not satisfied with the approach or results, a Third Quest ensued and in a nutshell,we can list at least three fundamental elements of this Quest and some of the gains they

have to offer:8

1. Focus/emphasis on the Jewishness of both Jesus and Early Christianity (Considers

various strands of Palestinian Judaism; Provides a greater sense of ecumenism asopposed to a Continental Lutheranism)

2. Jesus focus/emphasis on the Reign/Kingdom of God, often with Jewish emphasis

on its fulfillment at the parousia (the consummation of Gods reign here on

earth)3. A higher degree of optimism concerning the historical accuracy and reliability

about Jesus and the canonical Gospels (reexamination of texts and sources; Newinsights from archaeology, philology and sociology in the illumination of Jesusand his context; clarification of historicity and more knowledge of miracle

traditions)

Taking this data together, the

belief is that, what we now

have, is a more balanced way

of getting at who Jesus is.So, at this point, if you think

that when I say Historical

Jesus Im saying that Jesuswas a historian or an avid

reader of history books, I

most certainly am not; youvemisunderstood! Well,

returning now to Willimon,

whose main question again is

not really Why Jesus? butrather Who is Jesus? it is

no surprise to find him

offering up a veritablesmorgasbord of Jesuses that

he believes are encountered

in the Gospels. After the

7

A concise introduction to these matters can be found in Robert E. Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the

New Testament: An Introduction to the Evidence (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), esp. 3-5.8

Bird, Shouldnt (8-9) who draws also on John P. Meier, The Present State of the Third

Quest for the Historical Jesus: Loss and Gain, in Bib 80 (1999): 459-87.


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Vagabond Jesus, in chapter two, we meet Jesus the Peacemaker. While Id love to focus

on the non-violent, pacifistic, peace-making Jesus at this point, given the main topic athand, the Historical Jesus, Ill pass on that and simply point out that here, we find

Willimon using all three of the things we just noted: 1) Emphasis on Jesus Jewishness;

2) Focus on Jesus view of Gods reign/kingdom; 3) An engaging with and reexamination

of various texts and sources, to illustrate the historical accuracy and reliability of Jesus aspainted in the canonicals. Willimon will continue to do this throughout the remainder of

his book, sometimes more overtly, sometimes less.In chapter three of Willimons work, one of the places where the Historical Jesus

data is a bit harder to recognize, we find some thoughts about Jesus the Riddler or

Parabler. For the most part, this chapter offers some creative and modern retellings ofJesus close-to-jokes stories. Zooming-in for a close look, we see Willimon brilliantly at

work elucidating the Jewishness of Jesus and his insistence on Gods Kingdom or reign.

These, of course, are Historical Jesus matters. Yet, what I think Willimon really

accomplishes in this chapter is to show that when it comes right down to it, to theHistorical Jesus, this storyteller and his stories that are the centerpieces of the Gospels,

are not at all out-of-keeping with what we should expect to hear or seeeven if we mightnot initially have the eyes to see or the ears to hear! Stated more simply: The issue has todo, in large part, with plausibilityit is wholly plausible that this Jesus (and his story

catalogue) makes sense within the ancient Mediterranean (Jewish/Graeco-Roman) world

of which he was a part.And part of that world he most certainly was, argues Willimon in the fourth

chapter, which focuses on Jesus the partier. In my estimation, the Historical Jesus is

pushed front-and-center here, as he is presented as a public figure. As Willimon so

creatively states, He [Jesus] seemed intent on making the private go public (4, 9) forhe was a supremely social, communal person (4, 10). On the one hand, this caused

him problems with the religious officials of his day but on the other hand, it all peers into

Jesus view of the consummation of Gods reign, a daywhen all of Gods people will begin to relive

the party with Jesus for the rest of time. For

now, however, Willimon contends, thechurch is the party before the party (4,

34).

Without a doubt, as we near the

halfway point, we can see that Willimon iskeen on the principles of the Third Quest as

he continues to reiterate them.9

At this

point, we see his views align more clearlywith folks like Markus Bockmuehl, who has

argued that, It is historically legitimate to

see Jesus of Nazareth in organic, causal,continuity with the faith of the early

9

At one point it is unclear as to whether or not Willimon lapses into universalism when he says,

This is what reality will benot just on Saturday night but for all eternity, not just for a fortunate few but

for everybodyonce God gets Gods way and the promised kingdom comes (5, 33).


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church10

and Michael Bird who says, Any

study of Jesus that does not take intoaccount the follow-on effect that he had with

his followers is historically deficient.11

Indeed, we must really question the whole

notion that in studying the Historical Jesus,we are trying to distinguish between the

Jesus of history and the Christ of faith! Or,to put it more in lay terms: We must realize

that in our studies of the Historical Jesus, we

are not attempting to decide between thehuman Jesus before the cross and the

spiritual or theological one written about

post-resurrection!

I should also stop and point out here something that I hope youve alreadynoticed, namely, that while Willimon has the gift of writing on a very catchy, positive

level, just beneath the surface of his work, he is actually dialoguing with hundreds ofyears of scholarship. There is something to be said for the Christian thinker who knowshis or her stuff well enough, who really does his or her homework, and is able to keep a

foot in both the academy and the church or better yet, bridge the two! As a PhD student

who spends lots of time, the majority of my time in fact in the scholarly realm, sometimesit can be difficult to step out of that and engage people where they are.

Yet, it is not just one-sided is it? Ive found too, that others have a hard time

stepping outside of their own worlds and into mine, engaging me on my level! I want to

encourage all of you, as one who has done four years of Bible College, 4 years ofMasters work and now almost 2 years of PhD work (thats 10 years of Christian higher

education; by the time I finish, Ill have been in higher education more than k-12!), to

strive to find ways to bridge what youre learning through your studies with yourecclesiastical lives! I can promise you that if you do this, you will get much more

mileage out of your education than if you didnt! Also, while I know that many of you

are Mdiv students, I really want to encourage you to take as many Bible and exegesiscourses (IBS, etc.) that you can. I can almost guarantee you that once you leave here and

get into your pastorate or other profession, you will lean more heavily on the Bible than

anything else and if youre going to engage it, know how to engage it correctly!

Getting back to Why Jesus?, I want to take chapters five and six together here, thefirst of which considers Jesus as Preacher and the second, which understands him as a

Magician. In five, Willimon spends much time linking Jesus the Preacher not only with

the God of Israel, but Israels most vocal patriarchs, such as Moses, the prophets and thepsalmist(s). Once again, we see Jesus being placed squarely in his Jewish milieu. Here,

Jesus is a man of many words, powerful words, and the thirst-quenching word-giver that

Israel had been waiting for after a long period of prophetic silence. Jesus brought forthwords in the synagogues, he was Spirit-filled, steeped in scripture (5, 15) and believed

that the ancient writings provided a clue for understanding what is going on in the

present (5, 21).

10

Markus Bockmuehl, This Jesus: Martyr, Messiah, Lord(Edinburgh: T. & T Clark, 1994), 8.11

Bird, Shouldnt (10).


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While Willimon is certainly on to something here, I do have to wonder if there is

a little bit of a sleight of hand, when he makes the move from Old to New Testamentseem soseamless? In short, it is not as clearly articulated as one would like it to be

regarding precisely how Jesus is related to inspiration, how that affects him as a

historical being, and how that extends to those who preach today. What I can glean from

this, however, is the overt emphasis on the Jewishness of Jesus, for he is placed squarelywithin Israels history and story.

When it comes to Jesus and magic, Jesus is a social force to be reckoned with ashe is a threat to the Jewish priesthood, the governmentally sanctioned healthcare

professional(s) of his day (6, 9), and the keepers of the status quo (6, 15). This

was all a sign, yet one more way for this JewishMagician to make clear his point about the in-

breaking of a new reign or kingdom of God (6,

33). Beyond all of this, Willimon squarely

challenges the readings of First Questers whosimply tried to re-read and re-interpret the so-called

miracles, from rationalistic points of view. ForWillimon, terms like miracles, supernatural,etc. are all misleading because, for all we know,

these signs that Jesus performed are the way the

worldin Christactually and naturally functions(esp. 6, 36, 42). (Indeed, maybe it is normal after

all for Jesus to show up in toast and grilled-cheese! Not really!) The Third Quest

mindset shows up here, too, when Willimon unabashedly connects the Easter Jesus with

all that came before Easter saying, we are to work backward from the great big,unexpected miracle that happened on Easter toward everything else that Jesus said and

did (6, 47).

This claim is fleshed out in chapter seven, where Willimon begins by talkingabout baptism (7, 1)something he certainly overstates the case on (any decent Jewish

person would have been familiar with such immersions and ritual baths and it would not

have been as shocking to them as it is to modern folks!). Yet, in this chapter about Jesusthe Homewrecker, Willimon puts us in a position to look backwards from the empty

tomb, to the life of Jesus, and to make sense of what he was doing. Prior to the

resurrection, there was no church per se, just some followers and a teacher. Yet, once

we put on our resurrection goggles and re-encounter the story, no longer do we see it thatway, we see the beginnings of a new family, the church!

In the next two chapters,

eight and nine, we encounter Jesusthe Savior and Jesus the Sovereign.

In eight, Willimon, who once again

borders on universalism (esp. 8, 37), points back to Jesus emphasis

on Gods reign and its magnetic

draw for all people. Problematically,he narrowly defines salvation

(whenever Jesus intrudes on your


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space; 8, 23) and he is unclear on precisely how it is that individuals attain salvation

(again, it seems that he borders on universalism here). Unfortunately, in many ways, thisis the weakest chapter of the entire book, when in all reality, it should be one of the most

potent and forceful! Following this, in Willimons thoughts on Jesus the Sovereign,

Willimon returns to situating Jesus firmly within his Jewish context and elaborating on

the concept of Gods reign / kingdom (9, 1ff). In terms of Historical Jesus matters, thebiggest takeaway from this chapter is the reminder that while Jesus was surely Jewish, he

also operated within a context where the Roman Empire ruled, a rule he was overturningand as such, bringing the climax of Israels history to its fulfillment (9, 27, 30).

The last three images in Willimons book, Lover, Delegator and Body, are not at

all out of keeping with the chapters that preceded them or the drive of the Third Quest.Jesus inherent Jewishness, Jesus reiteration of Gods new reign, the connection of

Jesus resurrection to all that preceded it in his life, and the push against earlier Quests to

box Jesus in by way of religio-scholastic ideologies, are all encountered. For Willimon,

Jesus the Lover is also one who is a risk-taker; one who loves people enough to suffer forthemnot fight for them in a military or lead a rebellion to protect their bodiesso that

they might enter the realm of Gods reign. In his chapter dealing with Jesus theDelegator, Willimon moves away from the Gospels to focus on the Apostle Paulsexperiences, namely, the role delegated to him by God to carry the Gospel to the

Gentiles.

Here, I take issue with Willimon defining Pauls Damascus Road encounter as aconversion, which Willimon does acknowledge but does not necessarily shy away from

(he prefers the term call but still uses conversion). Paul, in fact, never stopped

paying allegiance to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob but rather had a paradigm

shift in understanding this God through the filter of Jesus; this indeed, was his call! Justas well, I would challenge the contention that Paul received a new name after this

Damascus Road experience (e.g. Saul to Paul; we know that the Apostles name was

likely Saulus Paulus of Tarsus, where he used one name when beneficial forRoman/Gentile purposes and the other when beneficial for Jewish purposes) (11, 11).

What I do agree with,

however, is the main argument of thechapter, namely, that Paul, like

everyone else invited by Jesus to

follow him, has been delegated a

role: to advance Gods reign onearth. This, of course, does not mean

we need to be the types of Bible-

thumping, anti-intellectual, arrogantChristians we all know (and

probably that many of us have been

or are). It doesnt amount to puttingJesus bumper stickers all over your

car like I did in high school. It

doesnt mean putting on your bestChristian t-shirts or Jesus costumes


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all the time. It means putting into practice the ethics of Jesus, which may even be a

rebuke to the cultures way of living, and maintaining that identity in the face of all thatchallenges, belittles or questions it.

Finally, as Willimon comes to a close with the twelfth image / chapter, he

considers Jesus as Body. In a way, this chapter reminds me of the Gospels, each of

which ends with the resurrection as a new lens through which to go back and reread thestory. Most, I believe, once they get to this chapter, will return to the entire book again

sometime later to take up and read. Indeed, here, Willimon gets to the heart of theHistorical Jesus at its very core: The resurrected body of Jesus. I cited Everett Ferguson

above and really, all of what he says rings true here. What Willimon has done in the

preceding eleven chapterseven though the average reader not privy to all of the issuessurrounding the Quests for Jesusis set the stage for this final point. And what is the

point: The risen Jesus cannot and should not be distinguished from the Christ to faith.

Passing from the Jesus of history to the Christ of faith is not to differentiate

between the two; they are one and the same; Jesus physical body is intertwined with hisspiritual body of believers! Instead of reviewing this brilliant chapter with a fine-

toothed-comb here, Ill simply close with one quote, a kind of echo from chapter one, adenouement of sorts: Now Jesus is no longer confined even to his remarkably itinerateresurrected bodyIf you meet Jesus, then you must be introduced to him through the

corporate lens of his first followers (Paul and the gospels). Jesus is so embedded in his

body, from the very first, that theres no way to extricate some real Jesus or originalJesus from the Jesus as presented by those who first followed him (12, 6-7).

Questions for Group Discussion:12

1. How might understanding issues surrounding studies of the Historical Jesus be

fruitful in your respective vocations and/or ministries?

2. How might understanding the four different perspectives of the four Gospelswriters assist us in understanding the Historical Jesus (as the Third Quest asserts)

rather than finally making him look like the Jesus who mirrors each of our own

interests (as the First Quest did)?3. What, if anything, allows us to hold the Jesus of History and the Christ of Faith

together, as opposed to dichotomizing them?

4. Do you think that Willimons approach (e.g. looking at 12 different images of

Jesus he believes are encountered in the Gospels and Paul) is either helpful orbeneficial? Is this an approach you yourselves would take?

5. What do you find convincing about the Third Quest as opposed to the first two?

Is there anything that youd add to what has been suggested here?6. Thinking about chapter 11 and the concept of delegation, especially in light of Dr.

Witheringtons comments in your first class session about being the local Bible

experts in our faith communities, how might knowing more about the ways thatthe Historical Jesus relates to the Bible, assist you in responding to outlandish

ideas that people today have about either?

7. What is the value of your testimony when engaging others about the HistoricalJesus? Has it been crafted like the Gospel writers crafted theirs?

12

You can access a copy of this lecture on my website www.MichaelHalcomb.com

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review of willimons - why jesus