The Third Quest: Where the Debate Stands Today
As part of my preparation for next week's lecture about Modern Christology/Historical Jesus, I have to complete my historical survey of the quest for the historical Jesus. So far, I've covered the previous three periods in the links below:
In providing the overview of the third quest, the editors identified two obstacles. The first difficulty is related to the use of the term "third quest." Some consider such labeling misleading, for the distinction undermines the continuity through the history of the quest for the historical Jesus. Even those who agree with the use of the term differ in the way they utilize it. N. T. Wright used the term "synchronically" (the study of the term as understood in a specific period of time). Others reject such use and prefer to use the term "diachronically" (the study of the evolution of the term that covers different periods). These days majority of scholars use the term in the latter sense, and that includes the editors of the book under study.
The second difficulty is about the identification of the exact year the third quest started. It was N. T. Wright, who coined this term in his 1982 article, Towards a Third 'Quest'? Jesus Then and Now. However, 1982 was not identified as the exact year the third quest started. Other years are proposed, such as 1985 and the late 1970s. 1985 was suggested as the inauguration year because of two important events associated with this year, "the publication of E. P. Sander's groundbreaking volume Jesus and Judaism and the launch of the Jesus Seminar (p. 29).
Nevertheless, despite the disagreement, it was widely accepted that the third quest "was incrementally inaugurated through the 1970s and early 1980s" (ibid.). That period marked a renewed interest in continuing the quest for historical Jesus. Initial studies have been published, and since then, from 1990 to 2010, the period witnessed massive works of scholars on historical Jesus. Interestingly, among numerous names in current scholarship, five of them were contributors to the book under study:
John Dominic Crossan (chapter 2)
James D. G. Dunn (chapter 4)
Darrell L. Bock (chapter 5)
Robert M. Price (chapter 1)
Luke Timothy Johnson (chapter 3)