Mikä Jeesuksessa on juutalaisinta – Osa 1

Kirjoitus aloittaa projektin, jossa tarkastellaan Jeesuksen juutalaisuuden eri aspekteja. Projekti ilmestyy useampana sopivan mittaisena osana IESUS ABOENSIS -journalin peräkkäisissä numeroissa

Esipuhe suomalaiselle ja kansainväliselle lukijalle

Toisen IESUS ABOENSIS -journalin esipuh

The Most Jewish about Jesus – Part Two

The most Jewish aspects of Jesus, part two: the belief in One, Jealous God

Foreword for Finnish and Foreign Readers

Foreword to the second issue of IESUS ABOENSI

Seven Theses on the so-called Criteria of Authenticity of Historical Jesus Research

La discussió sobre els anomenats criteris d’autenticitat no és precisament una poma de la discòrdia dintre la recerca del Jesús històric. Mentre s’originava en el moment del darrer alè de la First Quest (die Leben Jesu Forschung) no havia estat pròpiament incorporada en l’agenda de la recerca sobre Jesús fins als dies d’auge de la Second/New Quest. En diverses branques de la Third Quest, novament, aquests criteris es consideren com a centrals i necessaris, tot i que també és una eina problemàtica per a la recerca. No obstant això, van sorgir perspectives més crítiques i pessimistes. A més d’ordenar les diferents tesis, aquest article intenta d’intervenir en la discussió d’alguns d’aquests criteris i en la majoria dels seus punts més crítics. Aquestes tesis ens remeten a qüestions plantejades sobre aquests criteris durant molt de temps, així com a algunes de noves que esperonen, inter alia, els plantejaments actuals i obliguen a refer la tradició històrica dels evangelis (sinòptics) en la investigació actual.The discussion about the so-called criteria of authenticity is not a particularly old bone of contention within historical Jesus research. While originating from the time of the last breaths of the First Quest (die Leben Jesu Forschung), they were not properly included in the agenda of Jesus research until the heydays of the Second/New Quest. In the various branches of the Third Quest, again, the criteria are seen as a central and necessary albeit also problematic tool of research. However, even more critically or pessimistically disposed views appear. In putting forward straightforward theses, this article seeks to intervene in the discussion about the criteria at some of its most critical points. The theses address some long-standing questions about the criteria as well as some newer ones that are spurred, inter alia, by the ongoing rethinking and refashioning of the tradition history of the (synoptic) gospels in current research

The Most Jewish about Jesus – Part 1

This is a start of a project that studies different aspects of Jesus' Jewishness. The project will be divided in several parts of suitable length appearing in successive issues of IESUS ABOENSIS

Esipuhe suomalaiselle ja kansainväliselle lukijalle

Ensimmäisen IESUS ABOENSIS -journalin esipuhe

Mikä Jeesuksessa on juutalaisinta – Osa 2

Toinen osa, jossa tutkitaan Jeesuksen juutalaisia piirteitä. Usko kiivaaseen, ainoaan Jumalaan

"Jeesus ei ollut kristitty vaan juutalainen!": Historian Jeesus nykytutkimuksen valokeilassa

This article takes its point of departure in the famous dictum of Julius Wellhausen: “Jesus was not a Christian but a Jew.” The article sets out by asking how current research, the so-called Third Quest for the historical Jesus, understands Jesus’ Jewishness, and takes notice of the radical change in picturing Jesus as a Jew that has taken place during it: The integral Jewishness of Jesus has been the center and the most elaborated question of the Third Quest. Through this emphasis, with which it contrasts earlier quests for the historical Jesus, current research has also efficiently thwarted the modernization of Jesus; a tendency to picture Jesus in light of the ideas and values of the time of the scholar so elementarily missing the archaic Jewish gure that Jesus was in reality. Indeed, this tendency has severly marred scholarhip almost throughout its history, and it only appears to loosen its grip through consistent emphasis on Jesus’ Jewishness. The modernization of Jesus was also the reason for Wellhausen’s dictum. The article then presents and examines more closely seven concrete topics in Judaism and in the teaching of Jesus in order to illuminate Jesus’ Jewishness and Jesus’ Judaism: The jealous, one God; the Holy Scriptures (the Torah); the Jews as the people of God; the temple of the Jews; Jesus keeping company with sinners; Jesus forgiving sins; and Jesus’ allusions to his divinity. The first part of the topics exemplifies some common characteristics of the Judaism of Jesus’ time, the second, again some particularities of Jesus’ Judaism. The result is that Jesus shared all the discussed common characteristics of the Judaism of his day. Yet, it is also evident that Jesus had interpetations of his own regarding these characteristics, interpretations that not unlike those of other contemporary religious leader figures, shaped Judaism in a certain way and moved it in a certain direction. Another result, emerging already in Jesus’ take on the common characteristics of the Jewish tradition but especially in the topics of his teaching and doing that exhibit particularity or even uniqueness within that tradition, is Jesus’ elevated self-understanding. In fact, the self-understanding is of the kind that could even challenge Jesus’ belonging to Judaism—unless we accept that part of it was formed by an exceptional unity with God that Jesus experienced and that he expressed in his words and deeds. As its conclusion, the article probes whether Jesus the Jew can be seen to lie in continuum with Christianity. Two opposite forms of Christianity are scrutinized, the primitive New Testament Christianity and an ultramodern “Christianity 2.0.” Based on the few examplary topics involved in the essay, New Testament Christianity can indeed be said to take its place as a continuation of the proclamation of Jesus the Jew. However, the modern Christianity 2.0 has little use for the archaic Jew of the first century. Finally, the Wellhausenian dictum is updated to meet today’s setting and to prevent contemporary interpretations of Jesus from falling victim to the modernizing tendency of the past centuries: For Christianity, Jesus the Jew is a sine qua non. The key to understanding Jesus as a Jew, again, is his elevated self- understanding.This article takes its point of departure in the famous dictum of Julius Wellhausen: “Jesus was not a Christian but a Jew.” The article sets out by asking how current research, the so-called Third Quest for the historical Jesus, understands Jesus’ Jewishness, and takes notice of the radical change in picturing Jesus as a Jew that has taken place during it: The integral Jewishness of Jesus has been the center and the most elaborated question of the Third Quest. Through this emphasis, with which it contrasts earlier quests for the historical Jesus, current research has also efficiently thwarted the modernization of Jesus; a tendency to picture Jesus in light of the ideas and values of the time of the scholar so elementarily missing the archaic Jewish gure that Jesus was in reality. Indeed, this tendency has severly marred scholarhip almost throughout its history, and it only appears to loosen its grip through consistent emphasis on Jesus’ Jewishness. The modernization of Jesus was also the reason for Wellhausen’s dictum. The article then presents and examines more closely seven concrete topics in Judaism and in the teaching of Jesus in order to illuminate Jesus’ Jewishness and Jesus’ Judaism: The jealous, one God; the Holy Scriptures (the Torah); the Jews as the people of God; the temple of the Jews; Jesus keeping company with sinners; Jesus forgiving sins; and Jesus’ allusions to his divinity. The first part of the topics exemplifies some common characteristics of the Judaism of Jesus’ time, the second, again some particularities of Jesus’ Judaism. The result is that Jesus shared all the discussed common characteristics of the Judaism of his day. Yet, it is also evident that Jesus had interpetations of his own regarding these characteristics, interpretations that not unlike those of other contemporary religious leader figures, shaped Judaism in a certain way and moved it in a certain direction. Another result, emerging already in Jesus’ take on the common characteristics of the Jewish tradition but especially in the topics of his teaching and doing that exhibit particularity or even uniqueness within that tradition, is Jesus’ elevated self-understanding. In fact, the self-understanding is of the kind that could even challenge Jesus’ belonging to Judaism—unless we accept that part of it was formed by an exceptional unity with God that Jesus experienced and that he expressed in his words and deeds. As its conclusion, the article probes whether Jesus the Jew can be seen to lie in continuum with Christianity. Two opposite forms of Christianity are scrutinized, the primitive New Testament Christianity and an ultramodern “Christianity 2.0.” Based on the few examplary topics involved in the essay, New Testament Christianity can indeed be said to take its place as a continuation of the proclamation of Jesus the Jew. However, the modern Christianity 2.0 has little use for the archaic Jew of the first century. Finally, the Wellhausenian dictum is updated to meet today’s setting and to prevent contemporary interpretations of Jesus from falling victim to the modernizing tendency of the past centuries: For Christianity, Jesus the Jew is a sine qua non. The key to understanding Jesus as a Jew, again, is his elevated self- understanding

Jeesus ja juutalaisuus

Vaikeinta Jeesuksessa on "uskoa" häneen aikansa juutalaisena. Kun häntä tarkastellaan historian henkilönä, ei näkyviin tulekaan ensimmäistä kristittyä, varhaishumanistia, esidemokraattia tai protoarjalaista, vaan Palestiinan juutalainen, jossa ei oikeastaan ole muuta erityistä, kuin että ilman häntä maailmanhistoria olisi totaalisesti toisenlainen. Kirkon ohella moderni yhteiskunta on tehnyt kauheimpia erheitään vähätellessään Jeesuksen juutalaisuutta tai kieltäessään sen