The historical Jesus

McMenamin, M. A. S. 2008. The historical Jesus. Homiletic & Pastoral Review, v. 109, no. 1, p. 6.

The historical Jesus Three cheers for Peter D. Brown’s recent article (May 2008) “Preaching the historical Jesus.” Brown’s conclusion, that the best recent scholarship supports the assertion of historical accuracy for the Gospels, deserves to be more widely publicized. Brown’s main thesis could profitably be taken even a step or two further. Brown notes (p. 48) that “almost no one” in the Catholic New Testament guild considers the fourth Gospel to be “historically reliable,” and that the “traditional apologetic on this point” is still “in some disrepair.” Internal details of the Gospel of John, however, strongly support the contention that this document contains at least one eyewitness account. John 21:15-23 recounts a seemingly awkward exchange between Peter and Jesus where Jesus alludes to Peter’s forthcoming martyrdom and notes that a similar fate does not await John. Peter protests to Jesus (“What about him?” in verse 21), and John is at pains to explain that Jesus was not saying or necessarily implying (John 21:23) that he (John) was never going to die a natural, physical death. In my opinion, this exchange bears the unmistakable signature of authentic dialogue, complete with the need for John’s additional clarification to avoid misunderstandings and to avoid the manufacture of rumors. If this is indeed the case, then we can reject the hypothesis that the exchange between Peter and Jesus is a later embellishment from within the Johannine tradition. The introduction to John’s Gospel in the New American Bible notes that “the accuracy of much of the detail of the fourth gospel constitutes a strong argument that the [Gospel text] rests upon the testimony of an eyewitness.” Taken together, the above considerations indicate that we can give new credence to the concept that the fourth gospel is an accurate and historically reliable account based on eyewitness testimony. Mark A. S. McMenamin South Hadley, Massachusetts