Der historische Jesus

The contributions gathered here on the research of Jesus combine the socio-historical and memory-hermeneutical approaches. The demonstration of a plurality of roles in the Jesus tradition connects to real and socio-historical research that embeds Jesus within Jewish history. The observation of role transformations in the Jesus tradition corresponds to memory hermeneutics: everything we know about Jesus has been altered in the memories of him in early Christianity. The plurality of roles is the basis for recognizing authentic traces of Jesus in these memories, which would be incomprehensible without his actions. Their transformation follows the tendencies of a community that saw in him the beginning of a new world. Gerd Theissen continues historical approaches by integrating results from the last two phases of Jesus research in the fields of form and religious history, and he counters a skepticism that renders him invisible in the fog of legends and myths.