Prologue

For one whose major interest, relative to Jesus, has its base in his thinking and teaching, many portions of the records that have reached us concerning Jesus make no contribution. They lack content of teaching, and they provide nothing toward the outline structure of the history.

Because we have four different records about the events of the life of Jesus, many accounts duplicate what is to be had elsewhere. Often the similarities are so close that the parallels do not have any separate or distinctive value for one whose concern is with the main historical movements and the substance of the thought.

Sayings of Jesus are reported as frequently as five or more times in widely differing contexts and sometimes in strikingly divergent forms. It becomes the task of the serious student to endeavor to determine the occasion or occasions of the saying and to press back through its several reported forms to that which may be regarded as most nearly its original cast.

Some of the makers of our books about Jesus have used notable freedom in their distribution of the source material that was at their disposal. Any study of the book of Matthew which takes account of the other books will make that fact evident to the observant reader. In that freedom -- obviously exercised by an author who had literary sources but no immediate knowledge -- may be inherent some justification for such transpositions of material as are ventured upon by the maker of “Jesus as Teacher.”

Major contemporary national hopes of the people of Jesus have left their imprint deeply upon the traditions of his life and teaching. Segregation of these messianic elements has been effected here not only because, on critical grounds, their nature seems alien to the mind of Jesus, but also because they supply vividly the background of his activity and teaching.

When that which was resident and implicit in the personal religion of Jesus made its way into the Hellenistic world, it apparently became explicit through the creation of another type of biographical representation. While appeal may not be confidently made to the record of John for the accurate phrasing of the sayings of Jesus, nor may all of the elements in the self-consciousness there portrayed be assuredly attributed to him (least of all certain forms of their expression), forthright dismissal ought not perhaps to be made of the philosophy and psychology of religion there sketched as being altogether out of harmony with the essential position of Jesus elsewhere depicted.

When the concern is to discover the foundations for the judgments exercised in the construction of “Jesus as Teacher,” or when the interest ranges beyond the limits of the teaching of Jesus, reference may be made to “Records of the Life of Jesus*” -- where the complete phenomena of the canonical traditions about Jesus are set forth with freedom from surmises or theories but in such form as to provide the basis for independent conclusions as to both teaching and events.

*The “Records of the Life of Jesus” are not offered on this website.

Prologue

For one whose major interest, relative to Jesus, has its base in his thinking and teaching, many portions of the records that have reached us concerning Jesus make no contribution. They lack content of teaching, and they provide nothing toward the outline structure of the history.

Because we have four different records about the events of the life of Jesus, many accounts duplicate what is to be had elsewhere. Often the similarities are so close that the parallels do not have any separate or distinctive value for one whose concern is with the main historical movements and the substance of the thought.

Sayings of Jesus are reported as frequently as five or more times in widely differing contexts and sometimes in strikingly divergent forms. It becomes the task of the serious student to endeavor to determine the occasion or occasions of the saying and to press back through its several reported forms to that which may be regarded as most nearly its original cast.

Some of the makers of our books about Jesus have used notable freedom in their distribution of the source material that was at their disposal. Any study of the book of Matthew which takes account of the other books will make that fact evident to the observant reader. In that freedom -- obviously exercised by an author who had literary sources but no immediate knowledge -- may be inherent some justification for such transpositions of material as are ventured upon by the maker of “Jesus as Teacher.”

Major contemporary national hopes of the people of Jesus have left their imprint deeply upon the traditions of his life and teaching. Segregation of these messianic elements has been effected here not only because, on critical grounds, their nature seems alien to the mind of Jesus, but also because they supply vividly the background of his activity and teaching.

When that which was resident and implicit in the personal religion of Jesus made its way into the Hellenistic world, it apparently became explicit through the creation of another type of biographical representation. While appeal may not be confidently made to the record of John for the accurate phrasing of the sayings of Jesus, nor may all of the elements in the self-consciousness there portrayed be assuredly attributed to him (least of all certain forms of their expression), forthright dismissal ought not perhaps to be made of the philosophy and psychology of religion there sketched as being altogether out of harmony with the essential position of Jesus elsewhere depicted.

When the concern is to discover the foundations for the judgments exercised in the construction of “Jesus as Teacher,” or when the interest ranges beyond the limits of the teaching of Jesus, reference may be made to “Records of the Life of Jesus*” -- where the complete phenomena of the canonical traditions about Jesus are set forth with freedom from surmises or theories but in such form as to provide the basis for independent conclusions as to both teaching and events.

*The “Records of the Life of Jesus” are not offered on this website.