A Theologian and Scholar Gerd Theissen

Gerd Theissen is a famous German Protestant theologian and Brand-new Testament scholar. Sixty years ago he composed a book “The Shadow of the Galilean” which supplies extremely scrupulous image of Judaic social traditions and political scenario in Bible times. It is a historic novel about the social world of Jesus. The peculiar feature of this book is that the author has the aim to teach and not just entertain his readers and takes them on an expedition of the world of the New Testament.

While Theissen combines history and fiction, he familiarizes us with not only the Jews and Romans, however the politics and hostility between the two. Theissen’s representation of the stress within Judaism itself I find particularly interesting.

The main protagonist of the Theissen’s book is a Jewish businessman, Andreas, who is recruited by Pilate to end up being a spy on religious, cultural, and even political matters adhered to by the Jewish people and their numerous sects.

One of his assignments is to watch Jesus and identify whether Jesus is a threat to Roman peace.

The investigation of Andreas triggers him to check out and communicate with Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots, Essenes, and even followers of Jesus. Through the letters between Theissen himself and a fictitious pal and likewise Andreas’ narrative, Theissen attempted to illustrate how the seditious nature of the different groups two thousand years earlier resembles that held to by optimistic youths today as he reflects upon his own life.

Andreas has never spoken with Jesus, he was constantly step behind, always remained in Jesus’ shadow and himself was a shadow for Jesus.

The entire book is stuffed with interviews and different stories about Jesus. These are sources which Theissen takes terrific discomforts to price quote and connect with throughout the novel. Evidently, the historical-critical technique of Theissen leads to his judgment about Jesus and the Galilean world which differs from classic analyses.

Theissen has own vision in his depicting of the Pharisees. Contrary to current opinion supported in the New Testament’s criticism against them, Theissen implies that the severe charges are unfair. The assumption on which the book is based seems to be that the Pharisees were good people with strong religious convictions who should not be ascribed the blame that they are.  But this assumption is a bit illogical, if to recall their protests when medical help was summoned for the child Miriam on the Sabbath.

An example of their goodness is seen when a Pharisee challenges Jesus’ indulgence of homosexuality (a conclusion drawn from Jesus sympathy for Gentile centurion’s orderly and his cure by Jesus. It’s assumed that the orderly could have been a homosexual lover; thus, Jesus offends the Pharisees through his leniency of homosexuality. So, in such a way, Theissen’s representation encourages the readers to feel more sympathy to the cause of the Pharisees and other religious leaders (i.e., Sadducees and scribes) than it might otherwise appear. Theissen portrayal of the Jewish people in a positive light seems to be careful enough.

At the beginning of the book the depictions of Jesus are a little unusual. Despite the fact that the protagonist never meets Jesus, he receives a lot of information about this man; actually Jesus seems to appear in nearly every conversation. At first, the conversations about Jesus focus upon perceptions of his philosophical and political concepts. Thus Jewish and Greco-Roman philosophies serve as the foundation for the novel. These topics were really wonderful and valuable, but Jesus’ philosophical basis was not the only aspect Andreas would hear about him. The gospels state clearly that Jesus was a colossal miracle man and that his reputation was enveloped in his miraculous signs and wonders.

Until the eleventh chapter the reader receives no sighs of Jesus’ miracles; and then even when his deeds are mentioned, the author presents them in an extremely skeptical light. When the main character hears about an array of Jesus’ healings, Andreas first contemplates that they sound superstitious and primitive; then he gives theoretical meditations that some of the stories have been invented to provide comfort. When the miracle of the feeding of the crowds is mentioned, Theissen tries to rationalize this event by explaining that the bounty was produced when Jesus and his disciples brought out the food which his rich supporters had provided for him—not by miraculous force.

Theissen appeals Jesus’ exorcisms, but emphasizes that other miracle men also claim to perform the same miracle with very close and similar details. In the novel, Theissen tries hard to ensure that his readers understand that the day that Jesus was crucified was a normal day: the sun did not literally darken and the earth did not literally shake, but physical earthly mourning is merely a good illustration of people’s internal grief. Clearly, Theissen’s interpretation of the historical Jesus is free of any emphasis upon the supernatural.

It seems that Theissen believes that the miracles of Jesus were not the only examples of embellishment, there were also some of his teachings that provoke skepticism from Theissen’s side. When an old man retells the parable of the marriage feast, based upon the gospel of Luke, a tax collector then concludes the parable with Matthew’s account of the same story which is different from that of Luke. This act is met with protests by the tax collector’s audience.

It is obvious that author’s skepticism of the historicity of Jesus’ miracles and certain pieces of recorded words brings us to a basic belief that Jesus was an excellent teacher for the lower class and unlearned, however, accordingly to Theissen’s own conclusion, Jesus was still so much more. Theissen perceives Jesus as more than just a good teacher — he is also portrayed as a prophet who strived to encourage people to change their behavior by threatening judgment and promising rewards. It is clear that author suggests that Jesus wished to achieve his aim from within the Jewish religion but not by abolishing Judaism in favor of Christianity.

The core issue regarding the identity of Jesus is the question about ability of this man to be the Messiah. The greatest part of the novel essentially steps aside from that question, but by the conclusion of the book, it seems that the main character has come to believe this truth in his heart. The deeper issue, the deity of Jesus, is not touched upon in this book. Theissen keeps silent on this issue. Christians often advert to the resurrection of Jesus as proof of his deity. Though Theissen’s work conveys a strong skepticism of the Easter account, he is likely to believe the resurrection was a kind of vision or hallucination. The novel seems to indicate that the resurrection is simply a matter of the heart, not the mind.

Though there can be a great deal of historical as well as critical methodologies and many interpretations questioned and disputed by those who read this book, undoubtedly, this is a book which really illuminates the reader’s comprehension of the New Testament. There is big difference between remembering facts from history books and having the possibility to get the understanding of the background in an individual way. Theissen does New Testament students a good service while he gives them a chance to understand the conflicts between the Jews and Romans, between Herod Antipas and Pilate, as well as between the different Jewish sects.

As the conclusion, Theissen will assist his students to understand why all of these groups felt threatened by Jesus. The exciting discourse of the invented story elements causes the reader to grab an objective, distant comprehension of these events.

And final remark is that if a reader is trying to read a book that can help to understand the history and background of the New Testament, this book is not actually appropriate one. However, if the reader already has a profound understanding of the history and content of the New Testament, then this book might be useful to enlarge readers’ perspective.

References:

1. Richard S. Hess (1999) An Online Review of Current Biblical and Theological Studies. Denver Journal. Volume 2.
2. Theissen G. (1987). The Shadow of the Galilean. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress.