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RR 2016/077 Jesus in History, Legend, Scripture, and Tradition: A World Encyclopedia General editor Leslie Houlden; Editor Antone Minard ABC-Clio Santa Barbara, CA 2015 ISBN 978 1 61069 804 7 URL: www.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=A4465C Last visited November 2015 Contact publisher for pricing information Also available as a 2 vol. printed set (ISBN 978 1 61069 803 0 £119 $189)
Keywords Christianity, Encyclopedias, History
Review DOI 10.1108/RR-11-2015-0263
When long ago Alben Schweitzer investigated the historical Jesus, he shone a critical light on an issue - of scholarship and religious faith - that has persisted since the start of Christianity. The issue is not only "did Jesus exist?" (rather than asserting, say, that we believe he did so) but also why it is important to ask and keep asking the question, and the extent to which a spirit of inquiry is consonant with changing forms of belief and changing attitudes to religious belief. Interest in the figure (and divinity and historicity and sayings) of Jesus continue to this day. This interest may be motivated by Christian believers (and new forms of Christian worship and witness attest to this) or by theological scholars and cultural historians (who often ask why it is that interest persists and what evidential basis such interest might have, in the past and today).
Reference books, like all works in the religious field, can, if they choose, take missionary or proselytizing stances on Jesus (for instance, as the Christ or Messiah, as Son of God and Man, as divine and an instrument of grace and salvation). On the other hand, they can stand back objectively, even sceptically, and present a range of historical and critical evidence - about Jesus and God, about resurrection and salvation...